Review of Northern Illinois Pickleball Round Robin Tournament 2011

Dear NIP players,

We had 52 participants in the Northern Illinois Pickleball Round Robin Tournament on Saturday, July 30, 2011. We hosted local players from Rockford and the Chicago suburbs. We also drew players from Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Utah and Louisiana. I appreciate your participation in making this a successful event. 

I would like to thank our sponsors for their donations to our event: 

• Culligan – Rock Valley
• Panera Bread
• Mary’s Market
• Great Harvest Bread
• Hinkley Spring
• Minute Man Press

Thank you to Connie Jacobs, Sherry Guzzardo, and Michael and Melissa Peterson for your personal efforts in acquiring these donations. 

Our tournament showcased the first class Sinnissippi Pickleball Center that was built by the Rockford Park District in 2010. The Rockford Park District showed great support for our tournament by partnering with us months in advance. They provided First Aid and AED training to Leigh Ann Heidemann, Sarah White, and me. They also provided the use of an AED the day of the tournament.  Our partnership afforded us the use of a 16’ x 16’ tent, public announcement system, and other needed equipment. Thank you to the staff of the Rockford Park District for your constant support of the growth of Pickleball in our community; we sincerely appreciate it. Jay Sandine, Tonya Reuber, Heidi Saavedra, Laura Gibbs Green, Lamont Jones, and all those that help to support your positions. Thank you.

The Mixed Generation bracket was the most popular bracket and all seemed to enjoy it. The bracket required that teammates be a minimum of 18 years difference in age. We had a wonderful turnout of family members. There were two father-daughter teams, a mother-son team, a father-son team and two mother-in-law and son-in-law teams. The bracket ran fairly smoothly and I was pleased with the results.

Lunch was provided to participants by Backyard Grill & Bar that performed on-site grilling. The food was first rate and we heard many compliments from participants. Their staff was on time, served early, and was very professional.

Next up was the Men’s and Women’s Doubles. We were short on referees and I pulled myself from the score table to referee games and literally dumped the score table on the volunteers. They had a large task with trying to pair scores sheets with faces that they didn’t know. A special thank you to Leigh Ann Heidemann, Kirshna Selchow, and Kelly Detweiler who did an excellent job of keeping the courts filled throughout the afternoon.

Thank you to the referees who were active all afternoon. Many of you were players, local and distant, and some were just spectators who volunteered throughout the afternoon. A special thanks to Amy Peil who was a diligent referee.   

We have come up with a few ideas to make the score table run more smoothly. I would like to request that more participants and non-participants take an active role in refereeing games to have future tournaments run in a more timely fashion. We need your help and support. If you need referee training, please contact me for a lesson.

The tournament started months ago with planning. It was far more work than I anticipated, but I had a great support team of volunteers behind me. We raised enough money to purchase four USAPA portable nets for use at ISC on East Riverside Blvd. The remaining funds were deposited in our account at the Rockford Park District Foundation. I hope that you had a pleasant experience and will return to future events. 

Respectfully,

Jennifer Selchow