We’ve seen and heard the craze over pickleball for years now, but we have never caught the bug. In our neighborhood, they retrofitted the tennis courts to also be pickleball courts and we are seeing people playing on them all the time! We had been thinking of ways to continue the momentum for Faith for Hayden and engaging a different set of people that hadn’t come to our Annual Celebration event and Courtney had the idea of creating a fun, low pressure, pickleball event. So off we ran.
First, we had to learn the rules of pickleball. What is a kitchen? Why are people saying 3 numbers when they serve? I thought this was just a combination of ping pong and tennis for old people.
Then we had to organize a tournament without knowing how many people would sign up for the tournament. Should we go round robin, single elimination, double elimination, world cup style? How are we going to pair teams against each other, different brackets – advanced vs. beginner? Should we feed people?
So many questions and so much uncertainty, but in the end, those planning details didn’t matter. We were out there to raise awareness for SYS and Hayden and celebrate this wonderful little girl. We learned lessons, what worked, what didn’t work, how to run a tournament, how to not run a tournament.
We will get better the more we do this, but in the end, we continue to get amazed at the support our village provides us with. Raising a child with a rare disease is not easy, but it is made easier by the love and support we feel from our friends and neighbors.
Here is the final recap of the tournament: A total of 40 players, 20 teams. Dedmonds with a clean sweep – parents won the advanced bracket; twins won the beginner bracket. More than $3,000 raised and fun was had by all. With all the planning and learning, year 1 is a success.
With appreciation,
Matt and Courtney
