NITRO, W.Va. — As the pickleball sport itself continues to grow, so too does an annual pickleball tournament in Kanawha County.
The third annual Metro 911 Serving for Safety Pickleball Tournament will get underway Friday and last through Sunday at the Nitro Athletic Complex.
Event organizer Johnny Rutherford joined professional pickleball players Susannah Barr and Dominic Catalano on 580 Live Thursday to talk about the tournament. They both came from Boise, Idaho to participate.
The Metro 911 Pickleball Tournament is now considered to be the largest pickleball tournament in West Virginia with players coming from across the country to compete.
Rutherford said it gets bigger and better every year.
“It’s great, Nitro has done a great job, they put a great facility in for us, they have a lot of team people that help us put this tournament on, it’s grown every year, we’re up to almost 300 people this year,” Rutherford said.
The tournament will also make the first to break in the brand new indoor pickleball facility at the complex. Nine of the 17 pickleball courts are now covered.
During the tournament, players have a chance to compete by themselves or as part of a duo with overall prize dollars amounting to $20,000.
According to the official Pickleball Tournament’s website, this is an MMP Sanctioned tournament, meaning it’s authorized by USA Pickleball, and all medal matches will be refereed.
Rutherford said they have people coming from 15 different states to compete this year.
“It’s encompassing the area outside of West Virginia all the way to Idaho, and we have quite a few pros coming in this year from all over the country,” said Rutherford.
The tournament will get underway Friday with Pro Singles matches starting at noon. The athletic complex will unveil the largest indoor pickleball facility in the state just before the tournament gets underway Friday at 11:30.
This will be followed up with Women’s and Men’s Doubles on Saturday and Mixed Doubles on Sunday.
First place winners in the Open Doubles will receive a $3,000 dollar prize, 2nd place winners $1,500, and third place $500. For Singles, the first place winner will get a $1,500 prize, second place at $750, and $250 for third place.
A 24-year veteran in the sport, Catalano now works for the Association of Pickleball Players (APP) Professional Pickleball Tour where he does commentary with ESPN and CBS Sports.
He said the commentary for pickleball is about the same as any other major sport.
“I prep the same, I watch a lot of pickleball when I’m not on the venue or on site, so I have a lot of notes and a lot of scouting reports for probably over 200 players,” Catalano said.
The professional pickleball players also hold clinics where they teach people to play the sport and harness their technique.
Barr said these clinics are a great way to recruit more people into the sport.
“We love coaching and so we’re excited to be able to come back here and share some of our knowledge with the players and just help grow everybody as players, and we try to make it a lot of fun as well,” she said.
A cross between tennis and ping-pong, pickleball has been growing rapidly across the country in the last decade or so now.
Barr said it’s just a lot of fun and a good physical and social activity, and that’s probably been the reason behind its enormous growth in the last several years.
“It’s easy to learn, it’s hard to master, but it’s just a lot of fun, and I think that’s the biggest appeal, you can go out and play with your grandparents, you can play with your friends.”
There will also be some free and open pickleball play during the tournament as well.