The Bend Pickleball Club attracted hundreds of athletes from 9 different states to Pine Nursery Park in Bend for the Big Country RV Bend Pickleball Tournament.
Saturday featured the mixed doubles competition, which was seeded according to skill level.
The Women’s Singles and Men’s Doubles tournaments on Friday and the Women’s Doubles and Men’s Singles tournaments on Sunday were also seeded according to skill level.
Pickleball is played with a racket and combines elements of badminton, table tennis and tennis.
Bend Pickleball Club’s president AJ Fraties says its popularity has grown in the last four years .
“Pickleball has grown in Bend from 16 players to almost a thousand over the last four years, so public interest has helped us to fund these courts.”
Fraties explained that the Bend Pickleball Club has been working in partnership with Bend Parks & Rec, who own the courts that the tournament was played on.
“Next year, when we have eight more courts built that we just secured funding for, we will have 400-500 players on this court.”
Pickleball is more of a strategic, defensive game than tennis, and is much faster-paced.
In tournaments like the one on Saturday, a match will usually be scheduled for the best two out of three games, scored to 11. A game ends when one team reaches 11 points and is leading by at least two points.
For example, if a game is tied 10-10, the winning team is the first to lead their opposition by two points. Scoring in pickleball resembles volleyball in that only the team serving may score.
Some of the top ranked pickleball players in the world, according to the USA Pickleball Association’s ratings system, competed in the mixed doubles competition.
Four of the top ranked players in the world faced off when Gigi LeMasters and Enrique Ruiz were able to defeat Christine Barksdale and her partner, Wes Gabrielsen in a fast paced encounter that left spectators applauding loudly.
Fraties says pickleball is a laid back, fun albeit very competitive game. “If they’re not seeing people laughing, they’re probably not on the pickleball courts.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CHECK OUT THESE WEBSITES:
USAPA Pickleball – http://www.usapa.org/
Bend Pickleball Club – http://www.bendpickleballclub.com/
LIKE the Bend Pickleball Club on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/BendPickleballClub
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