While many will be downtown on Saturday making the most of the BBQ Block, those interested in one of the fastest growing sports in the country have the ability to see lots of action at the Owensboro BBQ Bash pickleball tournament at Moreland Park.
The event runs Friday-Sunday with ranked tournaments on Saturday and Sunday. Friday night play will consist of juniors and singles players with competitive play starting the next morning.
On Saturday, the action will start at 8 a.m. with Men’s 4.5/5, Women’s 3.5 19+, Women’s 3.5 50+ and Women’s 3.0. At 11 a.m., Men’s 3.0, Men’s 3.5 19+, Men’s 3.5 50+ and Men’s 4.0 will get underway. At 1 p.m., it’ll be time for the Women’s 4.0 and Women’s 4.5/5.0.
Sunday will be mixed doubles with Mixed 3.0 and 4.0 at 8 a.m., Mixed 3.5 19+ and Mixed 3.5 50+ at 11 a.m. and Mixed 4.5 and 5.0 at 1 p.m. Sunday’s action will be played indoors at Merchant Centre Court.
Bretnea Turner, one of the events organizers, said their goal is to get the area’s youth interested in pickleball.
“We did it to benefit the schools in our area with starting pickleball programs in their schools,” she said. “The goal with that is, a lot of people think the game is just for older people because that’s where the hobby first started, but now that it’s becoming a legitimate sport with a pro circuit … It’s becoming popular with younger athletes.”
Turner, a teach at Owensboro Catholic, said OCHS has had pickleball for a while, as well as most of the other area high schools. It’s also already in several middle schools and elementary schools but their want is for the kids to have even more resources to play.
“We’re going to outfil them with nets, paddles and balls, so they play during P.E.,” she said.
As Covid has changed many things, Turner said one thing it did was bring pickleball into the mainstream.
“It kind of works out perfect and there’s been an explosion during Covid because it’s naturally socially-distanced,” he said. “You’re 14 feet across from the person in front of you and at any given time, you’re probably 7-10 feet from the people beside you.”
Turner herself plays the sport and has traveled as far as Florida to compete in tournaments.
“We started playing about a year ago and jumped into the tournament scene after about two weeks of playing and kind of became obsessed with it,” she said.
The action starts Friday and runs through Sunday at Moreland Park. Turner said spectators are free if they wish to come and see what the sport is all about.
