The inaugural Santa Barbara Open for pickleball is taking place this weekend at the Dynamite Pickleball courts at the Earl Warren Showgrounds.
The three-day tournament will include men’s doubles on Friday, women’s doubles and men’s singles on Saturday and mixed doubles on Sunday. Admission is free; spectators are encouraged to bring their own chairs as seating is limited at the seven-court venue.
Dave Wilcox, owner of Dynamite Pickleball, said 250 players are entered in the Santa Barbara Open, making it one of the largest tournaments held the community.
“We’ve had several other tournaments (at Dynamite Pickleball) but this is the first one we’re calling the Santa Barbara Open,” said Wilcox.
The name is also used in beach volleyball and tennis, which have held Santa Barbara Opens for decades.
Since establishing a home base at the Showgrounds in 2023, Wilcox has seen a steady rise in entries at the tournaments hosted by Dynamite Pickleball.
“We’re picking up. We’re getting more out-of-town interest. It’s helping. We get (players) from Bakersfield, Las Vegas all these hot places, that are excited to come to Santa Barbara to enjoy the 60- to 80-degree weather,” he said.
Wilcox said Dynamite Pickleball teamed up with a L.A. group called the Diamond League to run the tournament and add Santa Barbara to its network of destinations for pickleball events.
On its website, Diamond League Pickleball describes itself as “your go-to destination for premier pickleball tournaments and programming across California.”
Said Wilcox: “The idea was, ‘Let’s team up with the L.A. group and that will pull a lot of that L.A., Bakersfield connection up here.’ And, the idea would be they’re getting connected to the Santa Barbara people and, when they have a tournament down the road, our, if you want to call them, ‘tournament junkies’ will travel down there.
“The Diamond League run tournaments and do some clinics as well. They are a similar type of organization to Dynamite. It’s been a good little partnership.”
Friday’s competition starts at 2:45 p.m. and should run to around 8. On Saturday, women’s doubles action starts at 8:15 a.m., and the first group of men’s singles begins at 1:35 p.m. The first mixed doubles groups start playing Sunday at 8:15 a.m. There is no women’s singles due to a lack of entries, said Wilcox.