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Nikki Cooper and Roni Rhodes take home the women’s open doubles win at the Dallas Pickleball Tournament.

Nikki Cooper and Roni Rhodes take home the women’s open doubles win at the Dallas Pickleball Tournament.

Organizers rate it as akin to a hard volley at the net for a winner.

They say the second annual Dallas Pickleball Tournament, played July 15-17, came off as a new and improved (and larger) version of the inaugural.

Two-hundred competitors of nearly all ages took part on the courts near the Dallas Aquatic Center, and a sizzling men’s open doubles match on late Sunday afternoon capped the festivities.

“It went really well,” said Gail Burton, president of the Dallas Pickleball Club.

The tournament included dozens of round-robin matches in groups divided by skill level. A Friday exhibition match featuring four top players wowed onlookers. Hot dogs were provided on Friday, and sandwiches were made available on Saturday.

And the overall theme of the weekend was simply having a good time with friends and fellow pickleball people.

“We had a lot of good, very positive comments,” said Susie Buckingham, another Dallas club member.

That final match was a best-of-three with each game played to 11 points, and featured the team of Wes Gabrielson and Jason Bock against the challenge of Stefan Andren and Julian Illingworth. The match went to a third game, which Gabrielson and Bock won 11-3.

“That was some really hard-hitting competition,” Buckingham said.

Already, the club and tournament director Shane Denning of Corvallis are planning the third annual event. It’s likely to take place in July again, with few changes needed but some things likely to be different that would make for an even better experience among the participants.

One of the main suggestions from players this year was to have more food available at the site, so tournament organizers hope to line up some food carts for next year. That would make it easier for players to stay by the courts, which they like to do so they can socialize as well as watch other people’s matches.

“I think with the food trucks, it can be more of a party atmosphere,” Denning said.

Also, after going through three warm days this year, the tourney plans to make sure more ice is on hand in 2023.

Adding at least one more porta potty also is a goal for next year.

And the plan is to make sure all the gold-medal matches will be played on the tennis courts next to the parking lot, because that is where most of the players and fans congregate and set up their chairs and tents.

The tournament can expand in number of players – but only to a degree.

“We could probably comfortably take 50 to 70 more players, but not much more than that because we only have 12 courts for matches,” Denning said.

Play began at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, July 15, and then at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. To accommodate some added entrants in 2023, the start time could be moved up a bit on Friday, Burton said.

Expect to see more categories next year, with the various skill levels divided by age for the first time.

“Given the number of older adults we had, I think we’ll add a senior category at each level, so we’d have an under-50 and 50-and-over bracket,” Denning said.

Entry fee was $50. Some players chose to compete in more than one category, and it cost $15 to enter each additional category.

Denning was pleased with how the matches came off on schedule this year and with the balance in gender – the Dallas tournament had 120 men and 80 women.

Burton, 79, was the oldest player. She teamed up with Dawn Brooks of Salem in the women’s 3.5, 3.0 doubles.

“We won one game, but we had fun,” she said. “It’s so much fun watching all the good players, and everybody was really good sports.”

Dallas Pickleball Club member Richard Bouie, who turned 85 on July 19, was among the many volunteers.

To make things easier for everyone, the tournament hopes to have special shirts for the volunteers next year, as that would make them easier to locate.

In the women’s open doubles, Roni Rhodes of Keizer and Nikki Cooper from Beaverton swept their six matches by a combined total of 90 points to 31.

Here are the gold, silver and bronze medal winners in each category:

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