Pickleball has found a new home in Hot Springs.
The Hot Springs Convention Center will host one of the largest indoor tournaments in the sport this summer, and a festival transforms the streets of downtown Hot Springs into temporary pickleball courts during Labor Day weekend.
According to Pickleball USA, Pickleball combines many elements of tennis, badminton and Ping-Pong. It's played as doubles or singles with a paddle and plastic ball with holes on either indoor or outdoor badminton-sized courts. It can be enjoyed by all ages and skill levels.
In 2019, Kate Tully and David Tappe founded Vulcan IQ Pickleball, a local game development system for the sport.
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"Here's the thing about pickleball: It's the fastest-growing sport in the U.S.," Tully said. "The industry is exploding, and we've seen what it's done in other cities and for their economies, and there's just a magic to the sport. Like I've never seen another sport that has this ... community, camaraderie and competition, like this one does.
"You can have multiple generations on the same court, so we've seen a lot of grandparents with their grandkids, which is always fun. The girls can definitely take it to the guys, and it's just in this era when so many things are separating us, fracturing our families and societies, this is just something that can bring people together, even with COVID -- maybe especially with COVID."
Having founded their pickleball company in 2019, Tully and Tappe had all of 2020 to think about what direction they wanted to go in as the pandemic halted some of their initial plans. Now, as for what 2021 has in store for pickleball, they are looking to two main pickleball events coming to Hot Springs.
[Take our pickleball quiz at http://www.hotsr.com/pickleball-quiz/]
The Spa City Classic Indoor Pickleball Championships will be July 15-18, and The Big Pickle: The World's Greatest Pickleball Festival will be Sept. 4 and 5.
"Pickleball brings in a lot of tourists," Tully said. "Pickleball players are addicts. They'll go anywhere, they play all the time. So the first one is the Spa City Classic. That's going to be in the convention center. We've actually done that one for a few years now, but we're in a rebrand now, which is very exciting."
"Tournaments are a huge draw for pickleball players," she said, "so our target is about 600 ... and they're pretty die-hard, so I feel pretty good about our chances of being able to have it, even during the pandemic."
Tappe said this is one of the largest indoor pickleball tournaments in the country.
"And the indoor concept is just a very convenient thing for pickleball, so it's a big draw," he said. "Like Kate said, the goal is 600 players, and when you've got 600 players you've got mamas and daddies and aunts and uncles and kids, and so we're hoping to bring a large group of people into the community and push them your way."
"These are big opportunities for all the businesses," Tully said.
There will be sponsorship opportunities available for local businesses with Spa City Classic.
Tappe said Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort has already purchased their largest sponsorship package for the event. To view all sponsorship opportunities, visit iqpickleball.com.
As for the festival being held Labor Day weekend, Tully said she is particularly excited about that.
Being in the downtown entertainment district, pandemic permitting, there are plans to combine The Big Pickle with Hot Springs JazzFest and Hot Springs Blues Festival. There will be live music, food trucks, sidewalk cafes and, of course, pickleball.
"They're going to let us shut down the streets and install some pickleball courts," Tully said. "We've got some activities from hikes and bike rides to a citywide scavenger hunt. It really captures the spirit of pickleball in a huge spectacle of event."
If the jazz and blues festivals are forced to cancel due to the pandemic, Tappe said they still plan to hold The Big Pickle as long as it can be done safely.