First off, I want to thank each and every one of the players that came out this past weekend to play in the shootout, a BIG thank you to the sponsors – Gearbox, Pro Kennex, Head/Penn, E-Force, Complete H2O Minerals, and the Northside YMCA. Without everyone’s contributions and assistance, the event would not have been a success. Thank you all for your support.
The first event of each season is always really exciting. The participation at the YMCA Summer Shootout this past weekend was a certainly a breath of fresh air. While not one of our more typical sanctioned events and formats, we decided to put on an event with several new twists.
The primary goals for this first event were short and simple...FUN and inexpensive. There are a lot of people out there that get wrapped up about national/state rankings, points, ego trips, cost of events and various other details. We set up this event purposely to take out all of those distractions so we can hone in one what the sport is really about...FUN. The event itself was sustainable with a $5 entry fee per person. We factored in the bare minimum essentials we needed to run the event and believe it or not it can be done for $5.
We managed to throw in an unknown wildcard factor into the event as well. We used a brand new racquetball that no one has ever played with before. The ball we used was the new 2011 Gearbox racquetball. This ball was unveiled at Nationals at the end of last season. We all witnessed great performance on the ball, no breakage, and a true bounce. To date, we are still receiving compliments on the ball itself and the event format.
We put this non-sanctioned event together in a very short two weeks. The format we decided on created a unique buzz in the community which attracted a lot of great players past, present, and first timers to come out and play. Much like a Pro/Am, we placed Open/A level players in a cup and combined B/C/D level players in another. A blind draw was conducted – drawing one name from each cup to create a team. The goal was to draw balanced teams so everyone had a chance to take something away from the event.
As mentioned before, the participation was amazing. We had 36 players from all over the OKC metro and Tulsa commit – 18 teams. The first round was explosive as it was a very large round robin points race. We split up the teams between four courts – Odd Teams on two courts and Even Teams on the remaining. Each group got to play each team in their bracket one time in a single game brawl to 11 points. The teams with the most points at the end of the day advanced on to the Quarters to play best of three games. We did have a pair of teams square off in a very exciting tie breaker match before the Quarters to determine which of those teams would gain a seat in the next round.
Prior to playing the finals round, we conducted the drawing for prizes courtesy of our sponsors Pro Kennex, Gearbox, Head/Penn, and E-Force. Eight lucky players in our event walked away with some excellent free gear. Two players won a brand new racquet, two players won very roomy bags stuffed full of accessories, and four players won a handful of t-shirts and various accessories.
The finals match was a bit challenging as we were running out of time at the facility. We ended up having to vote to augment the format from a best of 3 games to a game to 21 to finish by 5pm. At the end of the day, I don’t think I’ve seen as many smiles in my life. The vibe was positive that everyone had a great time, loved the format, and was eager to come back to the next event (in 6 weeks!!). We did work out with the facility extended times if needed for the next event so hopefully we won’t have to cram for last minute changes.
Again, thanks to everyone for making this event possible. We look forward to seeing everyone again at the next event.