Pickleball Magazine 3-1 | Page 57

SHOW LOVE FOR THE SPORT WOMEN & MEN Tournament and Event Trophies Our wedding party had many skill groups, ranging from absolute beginner to National medalist, so our event forced us to think outside the box. We did random court assignments and everyone got a scorecard with four rounds to be scored. At the end of each game, a player marked the score and moved up a court if he or she won, or down a court if he or she lost. At the new court, a player split from a partner and joined a new partner. Play continued like this for four rounds. If players wanted to continue playing in the next session, they put their scorecards into a basket. As the hosts, Shonda and I knew everyone in attendance, which helped a lot when sorting out a good way to seed the players for the next round. We entered all the scores into a spreadsheet with names and ratings, and then filtered by rating. The top eight went to the first two courts, the next eight to the next two courts, and so on. The eight players then played one game with each player. The play took about two hours to complete. After our pickleball mixer, we had lunch and everyone separated for a few hours to shower and get dressed for the ceremony. It was held on a tennis court, with a wooden archway assembled in the corner of the court, and a semi-circle of chairs arranged in the front. The ceremony kicked off with our good friend (and 5.0 pickleball player) Pete Bresciani, a professional trumpet pla