The popular phrase “A little competition never hurts anyone” rings true in many sports including pickleball. As your club grows and players gain skills it’s only natural that members will want to see how they stack up against the competition.
For 11 years Pickleball Omaha has been connecting residents with the sport of pickleball and so much more. The club helps over 1,000 members keep dinking with leagues, tournaments, open play and social gatherings. We spoke with Justin ‘JD’ Drake, President of Pickleball Omaha, to hear his tips and tricks on growing successful tournaments.
Start Experimenting with Leagues
“We learn a lot with the leagues we do because it gives a small snippet into what a tournament might be like,” JD says. For example, they observed casual players are more likely to pause in between points and grab a beer or food and chat then pick up wherever they left off. However, the more serious players are bringing their own water bottles and not taking as many breaks since they are more focused on the game. With this knowledge, you can provide the best league environment for the style of player and have a more successful night for everyone.
Give a Tournament a Go
After trying their hand at leagues and gaining some insight into competitive play, Pickleball Omaha launched a larger-scale tournament. Now in its third year, the four-day tournament continues to grow and thrive. “Our first year saw 300 players, the second year 400 and this year we are expecting north of 500,” says JD. As the club gets more comfortable hosting they are adding more opportunities for all. “New this year is a Moneyball tournament as well as a youth division which we are excited about.”
The youth division is open to players ages 8 – 17/18 and will be a combination of tournaments and clinics to help expand the sport into the next generation.
Lean into Your Learnings
JD says they learned a lot after their first tournament.
“Three or four of us ran it and even though we used a scoring app, it wasn’t as efficient as we would have liked.” In their second year, the Club hired a “tournament guru” who was well worth the money. While the first tournament saw many open courts and time wasted tracking down players, the new methodology involves texting players when they are up to play and letting them know where to report using an app through Pickleball Brackets.com. “Our second year we hosted more people and finished the tournament nearly four hours earlier,” JD stated. “It got us excited about hosting again and we hope to get sanctioned for next year.”
Sponsorships
Pickleball Omaha wants to continue to promote pickleball and keep interest growing. With that in mind, they offered four nights last summer at a local park where the pickleball curious could come and try it out for free. To add more interest to the event they contacted sponsors to come and set up a booth, offer services or just chat. JD says they had upwards of 40 people each night – even in the sweltering summer – and saw a jump in new members after each event.
He adds sponsors are great to make an event more exciting as well as a way to support your tournaments. Pickleball Omaha offers tiers for their sponsors with varying levels of perks. The top tier sponsor logos are always featured behind the podium and on social media while lower-level sponsors are placed on promo items including t-shirts etc. And it helps to be strategic and thoughtful with sponsors.
Pickleball Omaha makes sure not to have competing businesses as sponsors and works to have them complement each other business-wise such as orthopedic surgery and physical therapy.
“We let our sponsors decide what they would like to do at the tournaments,” says JD. “Some want to set up a tent with swag while others set up a table for stretching or offer to wrap players ankles etc.” Either way, they are getting exposure to a great community that is their target market. Win-win!
Tournaments are a great way to generate revenue, encourage new members to join and have a great time while doing it. Whatever might be holding you back, now is the time to try!
