GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Andrea Koop laughed when she first watched pickleball on YouTube. Now the West Michigan native is one of the top-ranked players in the world.
“I'm going to be honest, (my friend) sent me a YouTube video and I looked at it, it was like, 'It looks kind of dumb," Koop admitted. "I don't want to do that. But I already told her that we would hang out and I kind of felt obligated to do it. She got me out on the court. I don't know if I love the game at first, but the community and the socialization and then just getting that workout in...I missed that."
Koop comes from a tennis background, winning an NCAA Women's Team Championship with the UCLA Bruins in 2008, her freshman year at school. She stuck with the team all the way through her senior year in 2011.
After graduating from the Michigan State University College of Law, she moved back to West Michigan. Her friend, who she used to play tennis with growing up, introduced her to pickleball.
Even after those first few days at the court, she still wasn't sold.
"When I first started, someone asked me to play a tournament and, again, it was like the same reaction," Koop said. "It wasn't even a pro tournament, it was a local tournament. It was the same reaction. I didn't want to do that."
She added, “I don't think I realized how much I missed competing until I played that first pickleball tournament. And [I was] like, 'Oh, wow, this is fun. You know, I should do this more often.' I guess the rest is history."
In addition to being a top-ranked player, Koop is also a two-time defending champion at one of the biggest tournaments in the country that takes place at Belknap Park in Grand Rapids - the Beer City Open.
However, one of her proudest accomplishments didn't come as a player. Rather, it came as Tournament Director of the Beer City Open.
"We started in 2018 with 300 or so people and 10 courts," she said. "Now we have 950 people and 21 courts. We don't run this tournament without our 200 awesome volunteers.”