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Aaron Byrnes is starting a standing pickleball meetup for players in and around Newport Beach, open to anyone who wants a game.
A local game, not a private one
California, USA, Sep 05, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — Aaron Byrnes has played pickleball for years, alongside sailing and travel as one of his regular pursuits. He decided this year to turn a personal habit into something local players can join.
Starting this season, Byrnes is committing to a recurring pickleball meetup for people in the Newport Beach area. The idea is simple: a regular time, a regular place, and an open invitation to players who want a match without needing an existing group of friends to show up with.
“Most people find pickleball through someone they already know,” Byrnes said. “I wanted a version of it where you don’t need the connection first. You just show up and play.”
Why he is doing this now
Byrnes spent his early career in construction, then moved into import and export work, a business built on reading people as much as reading numbers. He describes both worlds as places where relationships form on the move, not in advance.
“In my business, you meet someone once and you figure out fast whether you can work with them,” he said. “Pickleball is the same thing in miniature. You play one game with a stranger and you know.”
That instinct is part of why he is putting his name behind a meetup rather than just showing up to public courts on his own. He wants a standing group that other players can count on returning, week after week, whether or not he personally makes every session.
What the meetup will look like
The plan Byrnes has laid out is straightforward:
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A fixed weekly time slot, kept consistent so players can plan around it.
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Open sign-up, with no membership fee and no skill minimum.
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Rotating partners each session, so players are not stuck with the same matchup every week.
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A short warm-up period before games start, aimed at newer players who want to get comfortable before playing points.
Byrnes says he is keeping the format loose on purpose. “The second you add too many rules, people stop coming,” he said. “I want people showing up because it’s easy, not because they feel obligated.”
Beyond the court
Byrnes treats pickleball as one part of a broader pursuit of staying active outdoors, alongside sailing and time on the water. He has said in the past that fitness and being outside are routines he protects, not extras he fits in when there’s time.
He also plays pinochle and follows poker and other games of chance, activities he has described as close cousins to his import and export work: reading a room, weighing risk, deciding when to hold and when to fold. Pickleball fits into that same instinct, though he’s quick to say the stakes are lower.
“Nobody’s losing money on a bad serve,” he said. “That’s what makes it fun.”
What comes next
Byrnes plans to keep the meetup running as a standing commitment rather than a one-time event. He says the measure of success isn’t attendance numbers, it’s whether the same faces keep coming back and whether new players feel welcome enough to return a second time.
“I’m not trying to build a tournament circuit,” he said. “I just want a place where showing up is the whole point.”
He has not set an end date for the meetup and says he intends to keep it running as long as people keep showing up to play.
To read more, visit the website here.
About Aaron Byrnes
Aaron Byrnes built his career in import and export, following earlier work in residential and commercial construction. Byrnes is a pickleball player, sailor, and avid pinochle player, and he splits his time between Newport Beach and Phoenix, Arizona.
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