Pickleball’s popularity in the Santa Barbara area is evident all over the community.
Some examples of the growth include:
- At peak hours, the wait time for games at public courts has gotten longer.
- There’s been an increase in participation from college and high school-aged players.
- More community organizations are using pickleball tournaments as fundraisers.
- Players are reserving courts to conduct scrambles within their social group.
- The Santa Barbara YMCA schedules a block of time for indoor play in its gym. (That’s been a blessing for the fanatics on rainy days).
- The privately-owned Dynamite Pickleball Club actively promotes the game with clinics, scrambles, leagues and other activities for all skill levels at its shared facility at the Earl Warren Showgrounds.
All this activity excites Richard Salzberg, the USA Pickleball Association Ambassador in Santa Barbara and the co-director of this weekend’s American Riviera Classic Pickleball Tournament.
The event begins Friday and runs through Sunday at the Santa Barbara Municipal Courts.
Salzberg, the co-director of the seventh edition of the tournament with Barb Kloos, credits the rise in pickleball popularity to the fundamentals of the game being easy to learn and the social aspect that the sport triggers.
The American Riviera Classic will stimulate players to test their skills against those at equal or higher levels. Players of all ages will compete in doubles in women’s, men’s and mixed divisions.
“The majority of our players are between 60 and 69 for this one. However, we have a 12-year-old player and we have an 80-year-old,” Salzberg said.
The women play on Friday, the mixed doubles go on Saturday and the men cap the weekend on Sunday. The divisions are determined by age and a skill-level rating system, with the highest being 5.0.
“I would say the average player is between 3.5 and 4.0,” Salzberg said. “We will have some on the higher end, we’ll have some on the lower end. That’s the beauty of the sport and of these tournaments. We tried to make it welcoming for everybody.”
Last year’s tournament had the celebrity star power of actor Fred Savage (“The Wonder Years”) and famed pop-rock singer/songwriter and Santa Barbara resident Kenny Loggins competing.
However, this weekend’s edition of the ARC won’t include any celebrity entries, said Salzberg, who played with Loggins last year.
But he has some exciting news for the future.
“I’ll give you a teaser about next year. I’m working with Kenny Loggins on next year’s tournament. We’re going to be partnering up to support the Santa Barbara Unity Shop and that one will have celebrities,” Salzberg said.
“This year, we were going to do a celebrity pickleball tournament in August, but we couldn’t get commitments from some of the players that we really wanted.”
This weekend’s tournament has drawn participants from all over the country and as far away as Australia.
“We’ve got people coming in from New York we’ve got someone come in from Australia,” Salzberg said. “I played with the ambassador from Australia (Monday) morning. We’ve got people from Washington, Utah, Illinois, Indiana and Nevada.
“So, (the tournament) does attract people from other areas. It’s good for commerce.”
The ARC is a fundraising event hosted by the non-profit organization Santa Barbara Pickleball. Last year’s tournament benefitted children’s charities.
“We donated a substantial amount to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, Shriners Hospital and the Make-a-Wish Foundation,” Salzberg said. “This year, we’re raising money for Santa Barbara Pickleball, our Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
“Within that nonprofit, we’ve raised funds for schools, we’ve donated to the Boys and Girls Club and given paddles to people in need. Sometimes we have some of our players play in other countries where pickleball is just starting and they’re teaching children how to play.”
The tournament’s primary sponsors are Fidelity Financial and the Santa Barbara Pickleball Shop.
