Pickleball club holds inaugural tournament

“We’re pretty happy with the turnout,” club vice-president Trish Black said.

“It’s been amazing and everyone’s had a great time.”

Each club sent 16 of its best for the tournament, two four-player mixed teams taking part in the Major and Minor leagues, for a total of 64 players across eight courts.

Individual matches were composed of four doubles contests, one men’s, one women’s and two mixed, with teams initially playing a pool stage within their league, before semi-finals and final rounds.

Accredited coach Gail Miller took the lead organising the competition, supported by committee members Helen Mubariz and Sue Shinners.

“Whatever Gail told us to do, we would do because (president) Doug (Black) and I are not au fait with tournaments, but Gail had her expertise from her previous club,” Trish said.

“She knew about how to run tournaments and she basically put it all together.

“She’s got the knowledge, which we’re incredibly grateful for because the rest of us would be pretty much floundering around.”

The Major and Minor leagues fell within certain grading bands, players’ rankings needing to fall within a certain threshold to participate in either league.

Echuca-Moama 3 took out the Minor league, the quartet of Debra Long, Todd Curtis, Toni Hunt and Shaquile Mubariz prevailing in the final.

Shepparton 1 won the Major league.

Every match across the day contributed to the club v club battle, with semi-finals and finals given a higher weighting, and it was Bendigo that came away as the overall club champion.

“Pickleball Victoria is looking to get regions involved in pickleball,” Black said.

“They want to run tournaments in the regions and so we’re trying to put on this tournament so that we can see, from an Echuca-Moama point of view, that we’re capable of running a tournament.

“(Pickleball Victoria) are looking to grow it all the time, so we’re trying to get Echuca-Moama on the map.”

The Echuca-Moama Pickleball Club has quickly grown to 70 registered members in the five months since beginning sessions and now holds play five times a week.

Two sessions, Tuesday (10am-11.30am) and Thursday (10.30am to noon), are intended for beginning and intermediate players, while graded, competitive sessions are held on Tuesdays (7.30pm-9pm), Fridays (6pm-8pm) and Sundays (4pm-5.30pm).

The Friday session is held at Echuca College, with the others held at Echuca Basketball Stadium.

While many members are local, there is a travelling contingent capitalising on Echuca-Moama’s open schedule.

“Some of the other clubs are struggling to get court time in places,” Black said.

“They’re hearing that we’ve got a lot of opportunities for them to play, so they’re coming over here to get that practice, and they really like it.

“I think the bench is pretty high here and they’re striving to do what we’re doing here, which is pretty amazing.”

President Doug Black also highlighted the coaching opportunities at the club led by Level 2 coach Miller.

“They're members of both clubs and when people are joining our club, they’re travelling down two or three times a week to get the training that we’re providing,” he said.

“The Tuesday night training is tournament-level. We’re talking about national standard training.”

You can find out more about Echuca-Moama Pickleball by visiting the club’s Facebook page.