Pickleball tournament has successful two-day event

The 10th Paddle at the Beach Pickleball Tournament concluded play on Saturday afternoon after two days of volleying between 34 men’s and 21 women’s teams.

The tournament kicked off on Friday with “pool” competition and changed to a double elimination format on Saturday. Tournament director Rick Harpster explained. “Our format is very popular with players because many tournaments use the double elimination format throughout. This means if you lose a match you drop into the losers bracket. If you lose again you are eliminated from the tournament. We feel this is unfair to the teams who often travel to our event and incur costs in addition to the entry fee,” Harpster said.

Harpster stated that the tournament divides the teams into four or five team pools on the first day based on team skill level. The teams then play round robin matches against every other team in the pool, generally four matches of two games to eleven points. “Teams in the four-team pool play a ‘crossover’ match against a team in another four-team pool with the same skill level to get a fourth match. On the first day teams play a total of eight games for 88 total points, but no team is eliminated that day,” Harpster said.

Harpster stated that the second day is a double elimination tournament using the records from pool play to seed teams in brackets. “Each bracket in the double elimination tournament is also based on skill levels. If there are enough teams in the skill level they are further divided based upon the combined age of players on the team, since many players prefer to play against players close to their age,” Harpster said.

Harpster added that the USA Pickleball Association’s current skill rating system uses the results from USAPA sanctioned tournaments to calculate a player’s skill level using an algorithm that makes the rating more objective. The current rating system rates players between 1.0 and 6.5.

Harpster stated that the tournament went very well and praised those who assisted over the two-day event. “Our tournament would not be the success that it is without the volunteers that dedicate their time and effort to the event. They are really the ones that make the event the success that it is and as the tournament director, I would be lost without them. I sincerely appreciate their efforts,” Harpster said.

Results from the two-day event: Men’s 3.0 winner: Harry Errett/Tom Bishop; runner-up: Stan Felkner/Woody Strickland. Women’s 3.0 winner: Starla Grimes/Debbie Moore; runner-up: Carol Mouton/ Alice Matthews.
Men’s 3.5B winner: Franke Kolbe/Walt Meyer; runner-up: Tom Stanley/Jack Stine. Men’s 3.5A winner:

Jim Loving/Ronnie Broussard; runner-up: Tony Manning/Paul Brown.
Men’s 4.0A winner: Kevin Anderson/Scott Mannetta; runner-up: Marc Marziale/Bill Gillan. Men’s 4.0B winner: Ronald Playmers/Mark Hines; runner-up: Jeff Haynes/Tom Mannion.

Women’s 4.0 winner: Missi Underwood/Emily Taylor; runner-up: Michelle Harrison/Candice Moore.

Women’s 4.5 winner: Kristen Meyer/Chris Powers; runner-up: Priscilla Chambers/Teresa Shull. Men’s 4.5 winner: Alex MacKoul/John Littrell; runner-up: John Bullins/Gary Willmon.