Houston Hammers, a locally-owned-and-operated pickleball team in the National Pickleball League, a pro pickleball league for the 50+ age group, has announced that it will host one of two national NPL combines. The event is taking place from March 21-23 at Houston’s Pickleball Country Club. Based on player performance, two men and two women (ages 50 and up) will be selected and offered open spots on a National Pickleball League roster for the upcoming 2025 season.

The multi-day exhibition represents a prime opportunity for fans of the sport to watch it played at the highest level. Attendance is free and open to the public.

Founded last year by friends and pickleball enthusiasts Hugh Zhang and Amy Blumrosen – who met each other on the court at the Houstonian Club in 2020 – the Houston Hammers compete in doubles and mixed doubles at tournaments across the country. At this time, they are Houston’s only professional pickleball team.

Hugh Zhang Amy Blumrosen courtesy of Alex Montoya
Hugh Zhang, Amy Blumrosen (courtesy of Alex Montoya)

Led by team manager Blumrosen, a corporate litigation attorney by day, the Hammers’ inaugural season was deemed a great success given multiple first place finishes in competitions during league play and a season-concluding bronze medal finish against more established teams, which included a closely fought match against ultimate league runner up the Columbus Hotshots.

With the wisdom of experience under their belt, the Hammers are now enthusiastically gearing for the 2025 NPL season. The team’s roster will be selected via a virtual draft held in April and will ultimately consist of seven men and seven women. Once the roster is finalized, the squad will compete in three pods (lines), with each pod consisting of two men and two women each playing one gender double and one mixed double per match.

Well before launching the Hammers, Blumrosen and Zhang – an entrepreneur with expertise in a number of industries – sought ways to channel their passion for pickleball into tangible projects. The first test of a budding business partnership was twice (2022 and 2023) co-chairing the Big Brothers, Big Sisters Pickleball for Kids’ Sake initiative, the largest pickleball charity event in Texas. Subsequently, also in 2023, an opportunity arose for Houston to secure an expansion NPL team, and Zhang and Blumrosen leapt at the opportunity to be part of the bid. Working with several other investors, they landed the team and wasted no time beginning to build the Hammers brand.

According to Zhang, “The Houston Hammers is a team for all Houstonians. We hope more fans of the sport will adopt us as their own and come out to support during the 2025 season. We are also very excited to open up Pickleball Country Club – the Hammers’ practice facility – to the public for the combine in a few weeks.”

In addition to hosting the March combine, the Houston Hammers are actively pursuing other opportunities to grow the sport across the Bayou City, and as such, are prioritizing community engagement, partnerships with other pickleball facilities, and opportunities to teach the sport to students via physical education programs within the area’s school districts.

“Our goal is to serve as a flag bearer for pickleball in Houston by delivering an exciting product for fans on the court, being good stewards of the sport in the local community and utilizing our resources to be ambassadors of pickleball’s virtues,” noted Blumrosen.

She adds that some of the benefits of pickleball include it being an easy sport for people of a variety of athletic levels to adopt, the social connectivity it provides, plus its health benefits.

Ahead of the 2025 NPL season, Zhang and Blumrosen are in conversation with a number of potential sponsors to join the team’s robust list of existing boosters, whose pledges help underwrite costs – such as tournament travel.