RUSTY: In September, while covering the Las Vegas Pickleball Open, we had a chance to learn more details about this unique venue. From players to staff and even the CEO of Plaza Hotel and Casino, and find out why they chose to gamble on pickleball at this legendary site. Hey, it's Rusty from Pickleball Channel and we are at the world famous Plaza Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas. This unique venue has got pickleball courts poolside. Hey everybody, I'm joined by Grant Garcia of Plaza Hotel and Casino.
Grant, thanks for being here. Why don't you share with folks why you guys are excited about pickleball? GRANT: Well, we're excited about pickleball because its obviously the fastest growing sport. We built these courts a little over 2 years ago for locals to enjoy as well as it being an additional amenity for the hotel guests. We've got camps, clinics, additional tournaments planned for the future, so we're very excited for the future. RUSTY: And now I'm joined by Jason and Sheri. You guys, where did you come from to come to the tournament? JASON: We're down from Soldotna, Alaska. RUSTY: And how's it going? JASON: It's going great. We're having a lot of fun. Brought our three kids. Enjoying the pool. We're enjoying a bunch of rec play. It's great. And enjoying the weather. RUSTY: Now I'm joined by Brian and Valerie who are players and guest here. You guys, thanks for taking a little moment. How's been things for you? BRIAN: Oh, this is great. This is one of the best tournaments we've been to. We literally have the best room in this whole hotel. We're literally feet away from the pickleball courts. We can watch it from our room. We are steps away from the jacuzzi, steps away from the pool. And this has been awesome. We won gold yesterday in the mixed doubles, so we're totally happy. RUSTY: So, Jonathan, thank you so much for taking some time out of your busy schedule to talk to me, to talk to our audience. So when people think about Las Vegas, they think about hotels and casinos. Tell us a little bit about what makes Plaza Hotel and Casino unique, and why pickleball? JONATHAN: Absolutely. Firstly, thank you for having me. It's great to be here. RUSTY: My pleasure. JONATHAN: We're sitting at one Main Street. This is the center of downtown Las Vegas. This is where it all began. And there's so much happening down here, so much new development, new excitement happening down here. Last week we had this Life is Beautiful Festival which brought 35,000 people to downtown. The week before that was the Nascar races in Las Vegas. The week before that we had the big blues band here. We're a diverse property. We just launched a new show called "The Mob Story" which is all about how the mob created Vegas, and it's a musical with amazing dancing. We have the Bingo room upstairs. We're sitting in Oscar's Steakhouse. And so we have a lot of different amenities here, and different sort of attractions, and pickleball just made sense. And we had this perfect space up on our 5th floor pool deck that wasn't being utilized, and I had the opportunity to meet with a few, I guess they call themselves, pickleball ambassadors. And they blew me away with their enthusiasm and their passion for the game. When they told me that no hotel and casino had dedicated pickleball courts, I said, "We're going to be the first one." It just seemed like something we should jump on and get behind, and that's why we built these courts. And communities continue to grow. And we get people stay here because of it. We launched this week the Las Vegas Pickleball Open which is off to a great start. And demographic is great for downtown and the Plaza, and I hope we have many, many more events here and grow the community supporting this game because it's a fun game. I love it. RUSTY: Well, thank you again for your time and for everything Plaza Hotel and Casino is doing to invest in the sport of pickleball. JONATHAN: Thank you, thank you, thank you very much. It's been great.
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AuthorAlyssa Braciszewski is author of this blog and writer at Edusson writing service. Alyssa was born on May 27, 1990, in New York City. She is also working on the newspaper with her husband Samuel. ArchivesCategories |