Association of Pickleball Athletes (APA)

Ontario Cup (OC)

Powered By SMASH PICKLEBALL

HAPPY NEW YEAR to our APA friends and family!

We are RINGING in the New Year with our FIRST event to start off 2025, The Ontario Cup - Powered By SMASH PICKLEBALL, located in London!

We are very excited to welcome you to SMASH, a PREMIER state-of-the-art Pickleball Facility with 9 spacious dedicated fenced indoor courts with professional nets and surface. This club will have a bar, restaurant, and THE SMASH STORE - Shop All Things Pickleball.

After a successfull FIRST year of the APA Ontario Circuit 2024, we heard and we listened. We are renewing our contract and coming back for a second campaign in 2025! Mark your calendars players, this is not just going to be another Pickleball tournament, but a New Years Pickleball Party!

We are hosting the APA PIckleballGala in London at Smash on Fri January 17 2025. Tickets are $50. Message for more info!

This will be a skill/age tournament with 19+, 35+, 50+, and 60+ age categories played at 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, OPEN/SENIOR/PRO skill levels. You can play up to 5 events. Tournament directors reserve the rights to combine brackets & change format based on registration numbers. The registration fee will be $70, $15 Per Event/$70 Per OPEN Event. Your spot is not guaranteed in your event until both partners are registered and paid in full. You and your partner both have 5 days to register before being put onto the wait-list. Maximum 8 teams per division except the OPEN/PRO TBD. Spots will fill up quickly, so sign up TODAY!

Thursday January 16th we will be offering SPLIT AGE events Men's/Women's/Mixed. The levels offered are 3.5-/4.0+/PRO. In these events if you are OVER/UNDER Age of 50, you will EITHER have to play with someone Age 50 & OVER, or Age 49 & UNDER. You will be allowed to play in 2 events on this day, one gender doubles and one mix doubles.

Singles is back! Wednesday January 15th. We have age/levels for all participants. PRO singles will be played on Friday January 17th.

All participants of the APA Ontario Circuit MUST have a DUPR account to participate. We will be submitting scores to DUPR. Please create an account on DUPR, if you don't already have one - https://dashboard.dupr.com/signup

Tournament director reserves the right to move teams playing up too far if he feels they won't be competitive. We will be using the DUPR/PickleballBrackets Self rating system. Please note that the PRO events are for OPEN level athletes. For ambitious players with a lower rating, please email the APA Tournament Director for approval to participate. Email @ apacircuit@outlook.com.

UPDATE ON DUPR:

We have some concerns regarding DUPR ratings. When signing up, you be using your own self rating from Pickleballbrackets. Pickleballbrackets RATING will no longer be available for future tournaments. It's now SELF rating or DUPR. Tournament directors have the rights to move players UP or DOWN regardless of the rating to see what's best for the event. We will be keeping an eye out for certain levels.

NEW - We heard and we listened! With the fastest growing sport that keeps on growing, so is the LEVEL of play! We have added our FIRST 5.0 categories for the 19+ age group. We feel the jump from 4.5 to PRO is quite high, so we wanted to meet in the middle with a NEW division!

NEW - You have what it takes to be a pro? We will also be hosting a PRO QUALIFIER for finals spots in the PRO division. Qualifier date TBD. For example if you're looking to qualify for the Mix Pro event, you will be playing a qualifier that same day to see if you advance. You will be charged the PRO rate of $70. Tournament director has the RIGHT to move players to the QUALIFIER or the MAIN DRAW.

Tournament will be run on 5 days:

Wednesday Jan 15 2025 - Men's/Women's Singles 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 - AGE 19+/35+/50+/60+

Thursday Jan 16 2025 - Men's/Mix/Women's Doubles Split Age - 3.5-/4.0+/PRO - AGE 50+/49-

Friday Jan 17 2025 - Men's/Women's Doubles 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 PRO/SR - AGE 50+/60+

Saturday Jan 18 2025 - Mixed Doubles 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 PRO/SR - AGE 19+/35+/50+/60+

Sunday Jan 19 2025 - Men's/Women's Doubles 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 PRO - AGE 19+/35+

This event will follow USAPA rules with all medal matches refereed. We will try to ref other games when possible.

Tournament Format:

The 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5 5.0 categories will be pool round robins and the top teams in each pool will advance to a playoff round to determine medal winners. Each team will be guaranteed a minimum of 3 games. (Games played to 15, Bronze medal match played to 15, Gold medal round best 2 out of 3 to 11) Games can be up to 11 with a guaranteed minimum of 5 games. All games will be win by 2. PRO/OPEN Division will be a double elimination format with a minimum of 6 teams.

IMPORTANT!

Starting time for each day will be 8AM. Your event can start as late as 6PM. Events can go as late as 11pm Depending on how many participants we have registered, the time can change for each day. Full schedule will be available Sunday Night January 12 2025.

Pickleball Tournament Director/Event Coordinator: Michael Chao

Tournament Ambassadors: Tiffany Au & Abhay Annaswamy

Tournament Lead: Ed Sater

IMPORTANT - On your player profile, make sure you have 'receive in game text messages' checked to 'YES' AND Cell Carrier should be selected. This is how you will receive your game notifications and court assignments. Please keep your phone close to you and be aware of getting a TEXT for your next matches and results. Failure to show up to the match will result in a default. Please arrive 30 mins prior to the start of your event.

IMPORTANT!

Starting time for each day will be 8AM. Your event can start as late as 6PM. Events can go as late as 11pm. Depending on how many participants we have registered, the time can change for each day. Full schedule will be available Sunday Night January 12 2025. No approximate start times.

https://smash-pb.com

RINGS for top 3 winners in each division

- Cash prizes for OPEN/PRO division

- Prizes and giveaways

- Other vendors

We are looking for Pickleball Referees!

- Non-Level Referee $7 Per Match to 15, $10 Per Match Best 2 of 3 to 11

- Level 1/2 Referee $10 Per Match to 15, $15 Per Match Best 2 of 3 to 11

If you're interested in being a sponsor or vendor, please email us to collaborate.

Refunds available up till December 27th 2024, subject to $15 admin fee. Absolutely no refunds after December 27th 2024 for any reason including injury and unforeseen circumstances. Refunds will be issued after the tournament.

IMPORTANT

Please note that the tournament software (Pickleball Brackets) charges a $5.00 USD fee each event you register for. Please note APA does not have any control over these fees and they are non-refundable.

Men's Doubles Pro - 1st $1200 2nd $600 3rd $300

Mixed Doubles Pro - 1st $800 2nd $400 3rd $200

Men's Singles Pro - 1st $400 2nd $200 3rd $100

Split Age Men's Pro - 1st $320 2nd $160 3rd $80

Split Age Mix Pro - 1st $320 2nd $160 3rd $80