Pickleball Magazine 2-5 | Page 13

USAPA to Introduce Sanctioned League Play in 2018 A s a sport, pickleball’s humble beginnings have been well-chronicled. In an effort to provide a family activity, in 1965 co-inventors Joel Pritchard, William Bell and Barney McCallum of Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from Seattle, originated the concept and developed the game of pickleball—and the rest, as they say, is history. Fast forward to 2017 and pickleball has nearly 2.5 million players and the sport’s governing body, United States Pickleball Association (USAPA) has over 20,000 members and is growing every day. The 2017 National Championships to be played November 4-12 at Palm Creek RV and Resort has attracted nearly 1,400 participants. When registration opened up online, all age/skill brackets were filled within 30 minutes. A wait list of over 300 players had to be established. The sport, without question, is growing at a feverish pace. In an effort to keep pace with the increasing demand for structured play, the USAPA will introduce nationally sanctioned league play in early 2018. Local league coordinators throughout the country will help facilitate the new leagues, which will eventually lead to sectional and regional action and ultimately a national championship event. Multiple league coordinators within each region will be needed while a revenue component with earnings potential will be available for those individuals. So far, the reaction from USAPA Ambassadors across the country has been very favorable. “Pickleball is an extremely social sport, one often played with friends and family members, but there are many players in this country who strive for a competitive outlet away from tournament action,” said Drew Wathey, USAPA’s new Managing Director of Recreational Programs. “Our sanctioned leagues will provide that passage for pickleballers to hone their skills in an atmosphere that promotes fair and honest play and, at the same time, offer those who want to improve their games the opportunity to do that on a regular basis in league action.” For sanctioned league play, all participants must be USAPA members and leagues must compete under the rules and guidelines of the USAPA. Men’s and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles will be featured in eight- or 12-week leagues. “We are still working out the details for the leagues, but should have a working game plan for all league coordinators to utilize within a month,” added Wathey. “I have heard from ambassadors from every region of the country so our roll-out will be well represented.” In another exciting development relative to the opening up of sanctioned league play, USAPA is in discussions with the AAU, Amateur Athletic Union to co-brand the new leagues. “USAPA has built a strong membership base of adult athletes, so this strategic alliance would allow us to now provide youth athletes with opportunities for first- class competition in this unique sport,” said Dr. Roger J. Goudy, President and CEO of the AAU. The AAU is one of the largest nonprofit volunteer sports organizations in the country. As a multi-sport organization, the AAU helps promote and develop amateur sports and physical fitness programs. “One of our main focuses at USAPA is to introduce the sport of pickleball to our country’s youth and to have a continual pipeline to the players of the future, and what better way to do that than to align ourselves with the finest amateur sports organization in the United States, the AAU. A majority of their more than 700,000 members are between the ages of 8 and 18. We are very excited about this potential partnership.” Details of this new and exciting venture will be announced soon. For more information on the new USAPA nationally- sanctioned recreational leagues, visit www.usapa.org or email Drew Wathey at [email protected].  • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER2017 | MAGAZINE 11