Mike Crabtree (tournament co-director) reviewing scores with certified referees. (Left to right): Terry Brown, Randi Levenbaum, Mike Crabtree, Lynn Plesha, and Sandy Brown
Cynthia Schwartz
In February, the PebbleCreek Pickleball (PCPB) Club hosted the fifth annual PebbleCreek Pickleball Tournament. The PCPB Club’s tournament is a USAPA (United States of America Pickleball Association) sanctioned tournament and is classified as a tier 2 event.
Almost 500 players participated in 44 bracket events that included men’s, mixed, and women’s doubles. Matches were played according to age and skill levels, ranging from 3.0-5.0. More than 1,500 spectators attended the three-day tournament to watch their friends, neighbors, family members, and their favorite players compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Hosting a tier 2 tournament requires a year of planning and organizing. Spanning over three days of play, there were twenty referees on the courts continuously from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The referees worked 593 matches and were assisted by 54 line judges who worked in teams of four for all gold medal matches.
Mike Crabtree and Jim Brown were co-directors of this year’s event. After the three days of matches and medals, Mike Crabtree said, “The PebbleCreek Pickleball Tournament is regarded as one of the best in the country. That’s possible, because of the generous support of our volunteers and our sponsors.” Two hundred-ninety PebbleCreek Pickleball Club members volunteered in one of the twenty committees that ran the tournament. Some of the committees were vendors, silent auction, line judge station, referees, goody bags, medical/first aid, parking, sponsors, infrastructure, technology, accounting, seeding, awards, opening ceremonies, photography, tournament operations, volunteers, publicity, and hospitality/food.
PCPB Club members prepared and donated over one thousand pastries and baked goods for our “Sweet Treats” corner. The club provided over 200 pickleballs for three days of matches. The PCPB Club thanks the PC Tennis Club for allowing tournament players to use one of the tennis courts for warming up prior to their matches.
Planning for the sixth annual PebbleCreek Pickleball Tournament has already started as the club looks forward to the 2021 event. The PebbleCreek Pickleball Club is one of the largest pickleball clubs in the United States. Our membership is nearing 1500 members. The club offers opportunities for all skill levels to play in club sponsored events. Visit pcpbclub.org for more information.