Tips for Organizing a Community Pickleball Tournament

How to Organize a Pickleball Tournament in Your Community

Pickleball is the world's fastest-growing sport, and pickleball tournaments are a great way to bring community members together. It can be a competitive event, a fundraiser or a party-like atmosphere where people get to play the sport they love.

Organizing a pickleball tournament is a challenging yet rewarding experience. By following these tips from Bownet, you can make the process smoother and focus on having fun with family, friends and neighbors.

Start Early

Things rarely go according to plan when organizing even a small local event. Complications will arise, and tasks inevitably take longer than expected. Go through your list of things that need to be done, add up how much time you think you'll need to do them and add two to three weeks. Remember to save all contact info and keep records as this makes it easier to hold the event again in the future.

Choose the Right Venue

Before anything else, you'll need a place to play. Whether indoors or outdoors, it should be a venue large enough to hold everyone you're expecting - plus a little more in case registration is higher than you thought. If there aren't enough existing courts, you'll need to be able to set up a pickleball court or two without difficulty. Also, make sure there's enough parking and that the field conditions are comfortable. You don't want the sun to be in people's eyes.

Decide on the Format

There are several pickleball brackets you can use depending on the tournament format and why it's being held.

• In Single-Elimination Tournaments, players and teams are knocked out after one loss. They're a fast-paced option ideal for small tournaments and serious competitions.
• Double-Elimination Tournaments are a more forgiving format. Teams and players can have two losses and are funneled into a different section of the bracket after one loss.
• For Round Robin Tournaments, there are no eliminations. Teams either play every other team or a set number of teams with the winner determined by won-loss record.
• Pickleball Scramble matches players with partners and pairings of similar abilities. They then move up or down a "ladder" based on match outcomes. Sometimes the scramble format also has a time limit.

Have Extra Pickleball Equipment Handy

Any sort of sports tournament rarely finishes with all equipment intact. Pickleball rackets can break, and someone might get caught on the pickleball net or step on a field cone. By bringing or arranging for spare equipment, you can keep everything running instead of needing to improvise or shorten the tournament. As the saying goes, expect the unexpected.

Choose a Tournament Director or Commissioner

All the careful organization and planning won't matter if no one knows the tournament is happening. Having a director who can take charge of tournament promotion is crucial for success. They should start advertising at least two months before the event and more for bigger tournaments. Tournament directors also handle registration and putting together the initial matchups for the event.