Welcome to the 1st annual MIDWEST PICKLEBALL Tournament. This tournament is a 3-day event beginning Friday June 14th to Sunday June 16th, and is being held at Ralph Wulz Tennis Center (Riverside Tennis Center) in Wichita Kansas.
The following is intended to acquaint you with the format, rules, and other particulars of this tournament:
THE TOURNAMENT WILL CONSIST OF:
• Men’s, Women’s, Mixed and Singles.
• All play will be double elimination bracket format with games being 2 out of 3, to 11, win by 2. Brackets may be changed to round robin at the directors discretion based on the number players in each bracket.
SCHEDULE
Friday, June 14th
o Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles - Age 19-39, 40-49 and 50+ Skill levels 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5+
o Seniors Mixed Doubles - Age 60-69. Skill levels 3.0-3.5 and 4.0+
o Seniors Mixed Doubles – Age 70+. Skill levels 3.0+
Saturday, June 15th
o Men’s and Women’s Doubles – Age 19-39, 40-49, 50-59. Skill levels 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5+.
o Men’s and Women’s Doubles - Age 60-69. Skill levels 3.0-3.5 and 4.0+
o Men’s and Women’s Doubles – Age 70+. Skill levels 3.0+
Sunday, June 16th
o Mixed Doubles - Age 19-39, 40-49, 50-59. Skill levels 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5+
FIRST 25 PEOPLE TO REGISTER WILL RECEIVE A TEAM LION INSULATED 40 OUNCE TUMBLER.
Practice Courts – The courts will open each day 1 hour prior to the first event. Practice courts during the tournament will be limited.
REGISTRATION:
Registration is now open. An early bird registration discount of $10 is available until May 15th. You and your partner must have a profile on pickleballbrackets.com to register. If you previously had a profile on pickleballtournaments.com the two have merged so your same login should work. Registration will close June 6th at midnight. Both partners must register within 5 days of each other. If a player registers but their partner does not sign up within that time period, the player will be automatically moved to the waiting list. Once the partner registers, the team will be moved back in if there are still spots available in the event.
Based on registration, the tournament director reserves the right to divide or combine brackets. Once registration is closed, the tournament director reserves the option to combine brackets as needed if brackets do not fill. If brackets are combined to create playable brackets, awards will be based on the original division and not the combined bracket. Brackets will be combined by age, if possible, to avoid combining skills.
Once the schedule has been posted the brackets and playing schedules are available by clicking on the “Events/Brackets” button on PickleballBrackets.com. Brackets and playing times are subject to change up to playing time, so check back often. Please check in 30 minutes prior to your scheduled start time.
PLEASE UPDATE YOUR PICKLEBALLBRACKETS.COM PROFILE TO ALLOW TEXT MESSAGING.
MEDAL AWARDS
Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be awarded to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers respectively in each bracket, regardless of whether ages and/or skills were combined.
Rules
In an effort to move matches along quickly and efficiently the following instructions are provided to tournament players:
It is your responsibility to read and understand the following instructions and rules of the tournament before reporting for play.
1. The USA Pickleball 2024 Official Rule Book will govern play.
2. Start of Matches
a) When your bracket is started, you must proceed to the Tournament Ops desk to receive your scoresheet and game balls. Your assigned courts will be text messaged to you.
b) Failure to report within 10 minutes of when your match is assigned will result in a forfeit of the first game. A match forfeit will be imposed when a player/team fails to report to play 15 minutes after the match has been called to play. The Tournament Director may permit a longer delay if circumstances warrant such a decision.
3. The only items players are allowed to take onto the courts are their paddle, a towel, and a drink container. Chairs, bags, soft drinks, food, etc. are not permitted on the courts.
4. You will have 5 minutes to warm up before your match begins.
5. It is the responsibility of all players to read and understood the following:
a) The serving player/team MUST call the score prior to each point.
b) Players are responsible for calling all the lines on their side of the court.
i. The player/team on whose side the ball landed is responsible for making the call.
ii. Once the call is made, the call stands, and the opposing team may NOT question or dispute the call.
iii. Exception: if the player/team on whose side the ball landed asks their opponent for their opinion, they are allowing them to make the call.
iv. If there is no agreement on the call, replay the point.
c) Each team has two 1-minute time-outs per match.
d) After the completion of each match, each singles player and a representative from each doubles team will record the final score, initial the scoresheet, and turn the scoresheet into the Tournament Ops desk.
e) Players will be allowed to hydrate after any point as long, as the flow of the game is not adversely impacted.
f) Unsportsmanlike behavior will not be tolerated. Any action deemed by the Event Staff to be unsportsmanlike will result in a technical warning (technical foul if a warning has already been issued) (Rule 13.G). Repeated behavior may result in a match forfeit or expulsion from the event.
g) Any action that results in the presence of blood is an automatic time out requiring medical attention.
