PPA Canada Ottawa 125: Teenagers Sweep Every Pro Gold
While the stars were in Hong Kong, the PPA Canada Ottawa 125 belonged to the next generation: every pro gold medal went to a player under 18, with Kelly Goodnow, Elsie Hendershot and Andrew Caldarella each winning two titles.
The headline names were in Hong Kong last weekend, but the PPA Canada Ottawa 125 produced a result worth noting of its own. Across all five pro divisions, every gold medal went to a player under the age of 18.
A weekend for the next generation
The Ottawa 125 was the second stop on the PPA Tour's Canadian Challenger swing and ran from 23 to 25 October, the same weekend as the PPA Hong Kong Slam. With many established pros in Asia, the draws opened up, and the tour's youngest players took full advantage.
Three teenagers each left with two titles:
- Kelly Goodnow (14): gold in women's singles and women's doubles.
- Elsie Hendershot (13): gold in women's doubles and mixed doubles, plus silver in women's singles.
- Andrew Caldarella (17): gold in men's doubles and mixed doubles, plus silver in men's singles.
Hendershot and Caldarella were each one match away from a Triple Crown, both falling in their singles finals.
Full podiums
- Men's singles: Gold Danny Phillips (16), silver Andrew Caldarella, bronze Braden Jacobson.
- Women's singles: Gold Kelly Goodnow, silver Elsie Hendershot, bronze Natalia Simson.
- Men's doubles: Gold Braden Jacobson and Andrew Caldarella, silver Wil Shaffer and Eduardo Santini Ayon, bronze Armaan Jiwa Mawji and Joel Poland.
- Women's doubles: Gold Kelly Goodnow and Elsie Hendershot, silver Mary McGowan and Natalia Simson, bronze Jessica Kawamoto and Tara Di Giuseppe.
- Mixed doubles: Gold Elsie Hendershot and Andrew Caldarella, silver Dale Kim and Mary McGowan, bronze Marie-Christine Salvas and Xavier Richard.
Familiar names, younger than ever
Goodnow and Hendershot are not new to the podium. Goodnow became the youngest gold medallist in PPA Tour history at a Challenger in Boise, and the pair had already reached a Challenger final together earlier this year. Hendershot, from Utah, has also been drafted into Major League Pickleball by the St. Louis Shock. Ottawa confirms that their results are no one-off.
The 13-year-old Natalia Simson also deserves a mention, taking silver in women's doubles and bronze in singles.
What's next
The Canadian swing continues with the PPA Toronto 125 from 26 to 29 November. Before then, attention turns to Texas for the MLP Nations Cup and the Pickleball World Championships in early November.
The Paddle Dept. take
Challenger events are where the next wave of pros proves itself, and Ottawa showed how quickly that wave is arriving. For junior and developing players here in the UAE, the lesson is that control, consistency and court sense win matches long before raw power does. If you are choosing a first serious paddle for a young player, start with weight and handle length that suit their grip, then compare options side by side on our Compare a Paddle page.
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