Home is where the paddle is, apparently. Filipino-American pro Marcela Aguila Ampon has returned to the Philippines for her “Marcela Comes Home: PH Tour 2026,” a pair of mall stops aimed at getting more Filipinos hooked on the fast-growing sport. Incidentally, Ampon’s visit comes just a couple of days before pickleball royalty Anna Bright arrived in the country for her own tour. Bright came straight from Hong Kong, where she won Women’s Doubles gold with Anna Leigh Waters at the Hang Seng Bank Hong Kong Slam
Two Malls, One Mission for Marcela Ampon
The tour made stops at SM City East Ortigas and SM City Marikina, organised in partnership with SM Active, Palakol and Paloo. The goal is to celebrate the country’s expanding pickleball community and promote active lifestyles by getting the public more involved in the sport.
Ampon, for her part, is no stranger to the big stage. She competes on the PPA Tour in women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles, and turned pro in 2024 following a background in tennis that helped smooth her switch to competitive pickleball.
Making Pickleball Easier to Find
Marcela Ampon’s visit is part of a broader push to make the sport more accessible to Filipino communities and to introduce it to new players. Through mall-based activities and community partnerships, SM Active and its partners hope to encourage more Filipinos to pick up a paddle and make physical activity part of their everyday routines.
The timing is fitting. SM Prime reported on 23 October that six new pickleball courts had opened at SM City East Ortigas, bringing the company’s nationwide total to 108 courts across 33 malls.
That’s a lot of courts for a sport that, not so long ago, few in the country had even heard of.
