<body><div>LEE COUNTY, Fla. — It’s no secret how popular the sport of pickleball is becoming. Thousands of people in Southwest Florida are picking up paddles each year and taking part in the fastest-growing sport in America. Millions of people across the country are doing the same. Now, pickleball is becoming an international affair thanks to an FGCU student.Miranda Cabieses was born and raised in Peru. She began playing tennis at three years old, eventually competing on the Peruvian national team. However, when Cabieses was nine, she suffered a severe injury and had to have surgery. That stopped her tennis-playing days.Fast forward to a couple of years ago, Miranda enrolled in Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) and joined her brother, Herciilio, in Southwest Florida. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate>He had already gotten bitten by the pickleball bug and passed that passion along to his younger sister the moment she got to the States.“He picked me up from the airport, and he drove me straight to the pickleball courts,” she said.From that moment on, Miranda was hooked.<h2>“Since that day, I play every single day,” she said.</h2><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1GFpiN_0pFoY37R00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1GFpiN_0pFoY37R00" width="1200" height="675" ><figcaption>Miranda Cabieses</figcaption></figure><nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate>She is now a professional pickleball player, teaming up with her brother in duos. They travel all over the state, country, and world to play. On top of that, Miranda is also in her sophomore year at FGCU. She is fluent in four languages and competes in pageants, even being named Miss Teen International in 2023. To balance everything, she is taking online classes at FGCU.Smiling ear-to-ear when discussing her accomplishments, none meant as much as her main focus — the Cabieses Foundation.Miranda and Herciilio are both World Pickleball Ambassadors, which entails traveling around the world to different countries and spreading the sport of pickleball.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2pEL5l_0pFoY37R00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2pEL5l_0pFoY37R00" width="1500" height="1000" ><figcaption>Cabieses Foundation</figcaption></figure><nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate>As part of their efforts, the Cabieses siblings began their own foundation, focused on growing the game in their home country of Peru.“Three years ago, I was in Peru, and no one knew about the sport,” Miranda said. “Now I go there, and we have a community of hundreds of people — kids playing, activities every single day. It just fulfills my heart.”The Cabieses Foundation is donating thousands of balls, paddles, and nets all across Peru. Miranda and Herciilio are also traveling back and forth from Southwest Florida to their home country multiple times a year to put on camps, organize tournaments, and help kids learn the sport.“Every single ball that we give to these kids is a new opportunity for them,” Miranda said.<nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate>Miranda and Herciilio say they are even reaching out to local schools in Southwest Florida to organize some events for kids in our area in the coming months and years.To learn more about the Cabieses Foundation, visit @CabiesesFoundation or @PickleballPeru on Instagram.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

LEE COUNTY, Fla. — It’s no secret how popular the sport of pickleball is becoming. Thousands of people in Southwest Florida are picking up paddles each year and taking part in the fastest-growing sport in America. Millions of people across the country are doing the same. Now, pickleball is becoming an international affair thanks to an FGCU student.