2nd annual pickleball tourney begins
More than 400 pickleball players from over 30 states are set to compete beginning today at Bank of the Ozarks Arena in the Mid-America Indoor Pickleball Championships.
The second annual championship has seen growth in excitement and numbers, Sandy McPherson, Hot Springs Village resident and co-organizer of the event, said Wednesday.
“Pickleball can be a social game or it can be as fierce a competition as your talent will allow. Picture tennis played with high-tech sawed off composite graphite paddles and a wiffle ball,” McPherson said.
This year’s championship has seen a 100 player increase and a 400 match increase from the previous year, McPherson said, noting it will be amazing to see 1,000 matches take place in the span of three days on the 24 courts.
She said the sport was born in Washington over 50 years ago, when half of a family’s tennis court was
sessed through eminent domain and through trial and error they created the game.
“After that courts began to spring up and thus began the United States of America Pickleball Association,” she said.
The tournament’s computer system creates matches for the tournament based on age and skill level.
McPherson said she urges everyone she meets to attempt the sport. After her vision deteriorated, she became a self-proclaimed advocate of the sport her and her husband began over 12 years ago.
“My husband and I realized this is a phenomenon all to itself. I do anything I can to ensure that the process of pickleball continues forward,” she said.
McPherson said attendees have hailed from Alaska and even Canada, but she takes pride in the sport she believes can be played by anyone from the age of 12 to 112.
“Pickleball has a positive effect on people, it is the most fun sport that you can imagine. Many great friendships have been forged of people who meet clear across the United States, ” McPherson said.
Winnie Montgomery, tournament director, said she expects lots of excitement for participants of all ages.
“It’s the fastest growing sport in North America. It’s expected by 2019 that there will be 8.5 million pickleball players in the U.S.” she said.
Montgomery said free referee training and skills clinics will be offered during the tournament for those willing to learn how to referee pickleball matches and or who want to learn skills from professional players from Indiana.
“You could take 6-year-olds to 80-year-olds, put them on the same court, and within 30 minutes they could be playing together,” Montgomery said.
She said the competition level has accelerated due to the intergenerational aspect of the sport. Spectators are welcome to attend, with admission free for viewers from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. today until the final tournament day Sunday.