Adventure & Wildlife Magazine - Vol 1|Issue 5-6| Nov 16 - Jan 17 Vol 1|Issue 5-6| Nov 16 - Jan 17 | Página 102

ADVENTURE & WILDLIFE
so they’re reluctant to invest in something they’ve in the long run.
never tried before. That paired with a lack of ‘return’ in
the form of sponsorships makes selling pickleball tricky.” AIPA has never been directly involved in product
distribution since it is a governing body, but they do
“No celebrities are currently endorsing it here, and support local enterprises as they arise.
finally, sports are still under the control of the
government. One of the most important conditions for a Pickleball Tournaments in India
sport to get approval here is that a governing body should Tournaments fall under 3 different categories: Local/
have full control on a national and international level, district, state and national levels.
which we haven’t managed yet.”
For local/district tournaments AIPA doesn’t have to
Sunil goes on to say that regardless of these get involved too much. Usually they’re one-day affairs
roadblocks, he will email, call, send materials, make and accommodations aren’t needed for players. The
personal meetings—whatever needs to be done to main concern in these instances is providing courts and
arrange demos for pickleball in schools.
food arrangements. During the past 5 years AIPA has
organized over 50 tournaments like this with 100 players
Getting Pickleball Equipment in India
taking part in each. These situations are cost effective as
Rally Meister still the gold standard for wood paddles? well, since they don’t need sponsors and costs are covered
Another challenge Sunil mentions is securing pickleball by player entry fees.
equipment. Originally it was solely on Sunil’s family to
distribute paddles and balls to newcomers free of charge, Conducting tournaments on state and national levels
and even today he tries to supply people as best he can. is more involved since the most important criteria is
arranging accommodations for players visiting from
However, as more players get into the sport, he different locations. In these cases AIPA usually
encourages players to get equipment themselves. needs to request sponsors, which are difficult to get
Other fans have offered to help, and some have companies may cover food or prizes but not facilities for
ventured into manufacturing wood paddles, but the players to stay.
quality has not yet matched Rally Meisters. The balls
cannot be manufactured in India so they still rely on The second most important aspect of dealing with larger
PickleballCentral or Pickleball Inc. for their supply.
scale tournaments is accessibility, in that the venue needs
to be open to public transport, railways or roads. The last
Sunil says that although importing is expensive, he requirement is choosing a venue that can be attended by
believes the quality of the products make up for it and the media and key persons so pickleball can get in front
may still turn out to be cheaper than local manufacturing of a larger audience and policy makers.
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Vol 1|Issue 5-6|Nov 16 - Jan 17