Every club needs funds to cover the costs of nets, balls, paddles, public liability insurance, etc. Sometimes when club fees only cover venue hire, there is a need to raise funds. An ideal way to raise funds is with a friendly fun tournament. We were asked to attend the January Jinks fun tournament at Maidstone YMCA last night. 24 players, 12 doubles teams representing 6 different clubs. We each payed £10 for the 3.5 hour evening and had a minimum of 6 games each. It was a lot of fun.
The format was simple, 2 groups of 6 teams were established after ranking players. Then each of the groups had 5 round robin games (everyone playing each other). At the end of the games, each of the teams are ranked in order 1 to 6 based on the number of games won/lost and in the event of a tie, the points scored minus points conceded (points difference). If still tied the outcome of the game when played each other will determine. The top 2 from each group went straight through to the Semi Finals. The remaining played in a Sudden Death knock out, with the winners going through to the Semi Final. All games to 11 win by 1.
Play took 3 hours and then the final and 3rd/4th playoffs took place. These games were 15 win by 1. There were some incredibly close games. Biggest upset of the night was in group 2, the bottom team who hadn’t won a game all evening won their sudden death match against the 3rd place team and went on to win bronze!
To add a social element to the evening, everyone bought something for the ‘pot luck’ snacks table.
If you are interested in running a tournament and would like a template, email us at info@pickleballengland.org
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