Tournament

The tournament players.

 The mayor is front row center.  He read a proclamation, made March the Official Pickleball Month in LHC.  He's not a player - yet.  To his right are Tim and Carol; they got PB going here, have donated hundreds of hours to the effort.  Great people!

We had our first annual LHC pickleball tournament this week.  It was a 'fun' type event with only local players - as opposed to a sanctioned 'open' event with people coming from all over.  We only have 4 courts, all indoors, none at all outdoors; would need 10-20 outdoor courts to hold an open tournament.  The city has lots of park space but no outdoor tennis/pickleball courts whatsoever.  Go figure.

The sign in table.

Buy paddles, balls, T-shirts, raffle tickets.

Although not a big fan of tournaments, being one of the regulars, I felt obligated to participate.  If we make enough 'noise' and get enough publicity maybe we'll convince the city to build several outdoor courts.  I played in both men's and mixed doubles but didn't place in either one, didn't play all that well.  My partners did their best but both were new to the game, had only played a few times, lacked the skills and locked-in strategies that only come from spending many hours on the court.  I've been playing off and on for 35 years now and know the game well, have no excuse whatsoever for making dumb-ass mistakes - but make them I do.

The mayor's proclamation and tournament medals.

Partners are paired to even the playing field, to avoid having one highly-skilled team dominate the competition, making the winning team a foregone conclusion.  Thus, we teamed the most highly skilled player with the most lowly skilled, and then worked towards the middle, 2nd highest with 2nd lowest and so on.  Most of the winners were mid-skill pairs.

That guy in the foreground, is he as tall as he appears to be?

Yep: 6' 8".  He's also 15 years younger than most players - and is the best player I've ever seen.  Guess who won men's doubles; he could have won all by himself, didn't really need a partner.

If you want to learn more about the game and find out where you can play, go to usapa.org.  There you'll find the rules, tournament videos and state by state lists of the cities where the game is regularly played.  As we travel this summer, I'll be a drop-in player in several cities along the way.  It's a great way to get exercise, have fun, and meet the local folk.