Saturday Results - Mixed Doubles 3.0

Medal Round

Round Robin

Friday Results - Men's Doubles 3.5

Medal Round

Round Robin

Friday Results - Women's Doubles 3.5

Medal Round

Round Robin

Friday Results - Women's Doubles 3.0

Medal Round

Round Robin

Tournament Schedule

The daily schedule for the tournament has been finalized (pending any more player changes).  The following represents start times and courts for the specific bracket:

Friday, May 17

9:00 AM (Courts 7, 9, 11, 13) - Women's Doubles 3.5
9:20 AM (Courts 1, 3, 5) - Men's Doubles 3.5 Pool A
10:00 AM (Courts 2, 4, 6) - Men's Doubles 3.5 Pool B
10:00 AM (Courts 8, 10) - Women's Doubles 3.0

Saturday, May 18

8:00 AM (Courts 9, 11, 13) - Mixed Doubles 4.5 Pool A
8:00 AM (Courts 15, 17, 19) - Mixed Doubles 4.5 Pool B
8:20 AM (Courts 14, 16, 18) - Mixed Doubles 3.5 Pool C
8:20 AM (Courts 20, 22) - Mixed Doubles 3.5 Pool D
8:40 AM (Courts 1, 3) - Mixed Doubles 3.5 Pool A
8:40 AM (Courts 5, 7) - Mixed Doubles 3.5 Pool B
9:00 AM (Courts 2, 4) - Mixed Doubles 4.0 Pool A
9:00 AM (Courts 6, 8) - Mixed Doubles 4.0 Pool B
9:00 AM (Courts 10, 12) - Mixed Doubles 4.0 Pool C
9:00 AM (Courts 14, 16) - Mixed Doubles 4.0 Pool D
9:20 AM (Courts 17, 19, 21) - Mixed Doubles 5.0

10:40 AM (Courts 5, 7) - Mixed Doubles 3.0

Sunday, May 19

8:40 AM (Courts 16, 18, 20, 22) - Women's Doubles 4.5/5.0
8:40 AM (Courts 17, 19, 21) - Men's Doubles 5.0

9:00 AM (Courts 3, 5) - Women's Doubles 4.0 Pool A

9:00 AM (Courts 1, 2) - Women's Doubles 4.0 Pool B

9:00 AM (Courts 7, 9) - Men's Doubles 4.0 Pool A

9:00 AM (Courts 11, 13) - Men's Doubles 4.0 Pool B

9:00 AM (Courts 4, 6) - Men's Doubles 4.0 Pool C

9:00 AM (Courts 8, 10) - Men's Doubles 4.0 Pool D

9:00 AM (Courts 12, 14) - Men's Doubles 4.5 Pool B

10:00 AM (Courts 15, 17) - Men's Doubles 4.5 Pool A

Players can find their assigned bracket in prior posts.

The schedule was a challenge given the format and goals for play.  As a reminder, the format is round robin play in the morning from which qualified teams will advance to play in the medal rounds in the afternoon.  Our goal was to have tournament play end between 3 PM and 4 PM so players would be free to see the sights around Asheville (remember or Sierra Nevada social on Friday at 5 PM) or play other tournament participants in a relaxed atmosphere.

That combination of format and goals means that big brackets have to start early in order to finish before noon.  But they do get lots of games.  Smaller brackets get later starts but still get lots of play.  We are lucky to 22 courts to use.  With 226 players, we need every one.  This format is nearly maxed out with that number.

Meeting a schedule goals is dependent on several factors - including number of games, average time played per game, and transition time between games.  We know the number of games.  We have pretty high confidence that game play will average about 20 minutes, including 5 minutes of warm-up.  The big unknown is the transition time.  We will be relying on players to stay on top of the schedule on their assigned courts.  Players will have the entire bracket schedule available so they will know when they will next play.  Be ready.

Player Brackets - Sunday (Men's and Women's Doubles - 4.0 to 5.0)

Player brackets and bracket schedules have been finalized and those for Sunday play (Men's and Women's Doubles - 4.0 to 5.0) are shown below.  Click on image to enlarge.

In the interest of complete transparency, I will explain the principles we used in forming these brackets:

• Teams were first sorted by total age.
• Skill levels exceeding 9 teams were broken into pools by dividing the sorted list into similar size brackets of at least 5 teams.
• Teams were moved to different brackets to avoid too much play with other teams from the same home area.
• Some teams were moved to account for wide age disparity between the youngest and oldest.
• Some brackets were combined for medal round qualifying because they were similar age groupings.  Others were not combined because there was a clear delineation in ages between the brackets. 

Brackets were formed with the same theme we have used since the beginning - competitive and fair.  Round robin play will have plenty of games with other teams of similar skills and ages.  We can't hope for more than that.

Sunday, May 19

Player Brackets - Saturday (Mixed Doubles)

Player brackets and bracket schedules have been finalized and those for Saturday play (all Mixed Doubles) are shown below.  Click on image to enlarge.

In the interest of complete transparency, I will explain the principles we used in forming these brackets:

• Teams were first sorted by total age.
• Skill levels exceeding 9 teams were broken into pools by dividing the sorted list into similar size brackets of at least 5 teams.
• Teams were moved to different brackets to avoid too much play with other teams from the same home area.
• Some teams were moved to account for wide age disparity between the youngest and oldest.
• Some brackets were combined for medal round qualifying because they were similar age groupings.  Others were not combined because there was a clear delineation in ages between the brackets. 

Brackets were formed with the same theme we have used since the beginning - competitive and fair.  Round robin play will have plenty of games with other teams of similar skills and ages.  We can't hope for more than that.

Saturday, May 18

Player Brackets - Friday (Men's and Women's Doubles - 3.0 to 3.5)

Player brackets and bracket schedules have been finalized and those for Friday play (Men's and Women's Doubles - 3.0 to 3.5) are shown below.  Click on image to enlarge.

In the interest of complete transparency, I will explain the principles we used in forming these brackets:

• Teams were first sorted by total age.
• Skill levels exceeding 9 teams were broken into pools by dividing the sorted list into similar size brackets of at least 5 teams.
• Teams were moved to different brackets to avoid too much play with other teams from the same home area.
• Some teams were moved to account for wide age disparity between the youngest and oldest.
• Some brackets were combined for medal round qualifying because they were similar age groupings.  Others were not combined because there was a clear delineation in ages between the brackets. 

Brackets were formed with the same theme we have used since the beginning - competitive and fair.  Round robin play will have plenty of games with other teams of similar skills and ages.  We can't hope for more than that.

Friday, May 17

Lunch and Other Goodies

In our post about Asheville Racquet Club, we briefly mentioned that discounted lunches would be available.  Each player (at check-in) on Saturday and Sunday will be given a Meal ticket for use at ARC's grill that day.  The ticket +$2 will get you the choice of a hamburger, veggie-burger, or hot dog and a bag of chips.  A fixings bar will be available to dress your sandwich as you like.  Free drinks include water and Gatorade.  ARC also has other drinks including beer and wine.  We recommend only imbibing in these only after you have won the gold medal.

We are scheduling the round-robin matches in the morning to end about 12 noon.  There will be a short break - to allow us to determine which teams advance - before starting the medal rounds.  Everyone will get time to grab lunch.

During the tournament, we will have a continuous supply of water, Gatorade, fruit, and healthy snacks.  No one should go hungry!

Swag

We read the Pickleball Forum.  Lots of stuff there.  But what catches our eye are the comments and polls about what players want at tournaments.  That's one reason we changed our format to include more play yet end with a competition for medals.

One issue that grabbed our attention is that of goodie bags.  It seems that players are tired of pens and coupons from local insurance companies irrelevant to their lives back home.  As players, so are we.  Instead of goodie bag full of stuff that will end up in the trash, we've chosen to give players a quality dri-fit hat with our logo.

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We hope to see this hat at tournaments all over the region.

Clinics

Just yesterday, Joey Farias won the bronze medal in Men's Pro Singles.  Why does this matter to you, the players in Land of the Sky?  Because Joey is coming to our tournament!  While we are delighted to have Joey here as a player, the opportunity for players to learn from him is even better.  

Joey will have 2 clinics accommodating a total of only 16 players.  The first clinic will be Friday, May 17 at 10 am and the second will be later the same day at 1 pm.  Both will last 90 minutes and will have 8 players on 2 courts.  The cost of the clinic is $50 per player.  Please contact David Kelly at kellyadavid8888@gmail.com for more information and to register for the clinic.

Joey is one of the best pickleball players in world, winning medals in the US Open and other big tournaments.  He came to pickleball when injuries ended his tennis career.  He is currently the Tucson Country Club's Director of Pickleball and travels the country to play in tournaments and give clinics.  Teaching has become one of his passions.  After a clinic, Joey was quoted as saying “My favorite part was the coaching side.  Seeing everybody's face light up whenever I answer something they've been struggling with was a great feeling.”  

We're happy to have Joey in Asheville.  Be sure to take advantage of his presence.

Friday Night Social

Pickleball will always be the focus of our tournaments.  But we know the appeal of pickleball goes beyond the game.  One of our loves as players is the social interaction with those who share our passion for the game.  We believe that every tournament should provide an opportunity for players to mingle with friends both old and new.  In 2018, we wanted to give everyone a taste of the mountains - so we had a party in a barn.  This year we're taking advantage of another famous Asheville tradition - breweries.  Specifically, Sierra Nevada's brewery.

Sierra Nevada built a brand new modern brewery near Asheville in 2015.  While a great brewery, its attraction to many lies in its architecture and food.  Most importantly for us are its great areas for meeting with friends - the Back Porch and the High Gravity Venue.

The Back Porch

High Gravity Venue

But the food is also fantastic.  The restaurant serves "Southern-inspired small plates".  Their menu is available on the website.

Taproom Dining

This social event is completely informal.  We have no reservations and plan to meet in the upstairs Gravity Room.  Dining in the Taproom is available as you choose.  You will need to get on the dining room waiting list when you have a group assembled.  Food and drinks are each individual's responsibility.

This is a great opportunity to get together after or before your first day of play.  Its an awesome facility that shouldn't be missed - even if you don't like beer.

10 Reasons to Play in the Land of the Sky

Sponsors

We are announcing - with gratitude - three sponsors of the Land of the Sky 2019 tournament.

First, Selkirk Sport has become a sponsor for the second consecutive year.  Selkirk is a leading paddle manufacturer and also sells accessories like clothing.  Their sponsorship will help some players garner nice stuff.

Second, Pickleball Central is a first-time sponsor.  They are the biggest outlet for pickleball equipment around.  We are glad to have them on board.

Third, Onix is also a sponsor for the second time.  We will be using their balls for matches excluding 4.5 and 5.0 skill levels.

We appreciate our sponsors and ask that players support them.

Asheville Racquet Club

Asheville Racquet Club is the site of the Land of the Sky Pickleball Tournament 2019.  This is a new location and we are excited to be there.  ARC is a full-service club with some of the highlights shown below.

ARC has 6 full-size indoor tennis courts.  The surface is asphalt with finish coatings enabling great play with outdoor balls.

There is informal dining (we will have food discounts for players) and gathering areas both inside and outside for eating and socializing.

There is also an upper-level viewing area.

ARC should be a great site for the tournament.

Our Third Hotel Discount

Hampton Inn has agreed to offer discounts for tournament players.  This discount can be found at this link or call the hotel at 828-575-9593.  Mention Land of the Sky Pickleball.  This is a new hotel, built in the last year.

The hotel provided the following:

Another Hotel Discount

Holiday Inn Express has agreed to offer discounts for tournament players.  This discount can be found at this link or call the hotel at 828-665-6519.  Hit the extension for the front desk and mention Land of the Sky Tournament (Pickleball).

The hotel provided the following:

Our hotel finished a ‘major renovation’ last year including all new carpeting, new Sealy deluxe mattresses, new 40” LED TVs, new furniture and fresh paint!  Also, our rooms feature mini refrigerators, microwaves, in room coffee makers, full size ironing boards/irons, workspaces, two phones, free wireless internet, local and 1-800 calls. 

For leisure activities, enjoy our large whirlpool spa, our fitness center with all new equipment, a walking track around the hotel and our seasonal outdoor pool with three water features and adjoining gazebo. 

We are conveniently located off of Interstate 26 and Interstate 40.  The Holiday Inn Express & Suites is just minutes from the Asheville airport, downtown Asheville and the Biltmore Estate.  

The breakfast area has been extended to accommodate over 40 people comfortably. We offer a complimentary hot breakfast buffet with over 30 items on our breakfast bar.  

Rate Offer for 

Friday & Saturday May 17th & 18th for $169 plus tax  per room per night

The Drop Date is Friday April 26th 2019

The 15 rooms will be non smoking queen/queen beds  with a refrigerator & microwave in every room.

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More to come...

Brackets

For me, the single hardest task of a tournament director is forming the brackets.  In an ideal scenario, a bracket in our format (discussed in a separate post) would consist of 7 teams of the same skill level and within 5-10 years of age from youngest to oldest.  But last year’s tournament showed how unrealistic this scenario is.  We had only four 5.0 teams, two of which were in their 20’s and two of which were 50+.  We also had only one 2.5 team and three 3.0 teams.  In that situation, we merged the younger 5.0 teams with younger 4.5 teams and did the same with the older teams. We also merged the 2.5 and 3.0 teams together.

But last year we had to abide strictly by USAPA bracketing rules as a sanctioned tournament.  We have a little more flexibility this year.  We intend to be guided again by our “competitive and fair” theme.  Our principles will include separating skill level and age groups wherever reasonable.  We are thinking that 50 years of age is an appropriate break point to start the age bracket separation.  In other words, players of 50+ years would be bracketed together and players under 50 would be bracketed together.  This would be subject to further separation if sufficient numbers of similarly-aged teams were to register.

But we also believe that medals should be earned through competitive play.  They should not be won by default because only 1, 2, or 3 teams registered in an individual skill/age bracket.  Therefore, brackets of 4 teams or fewer will be combined with other age or skill levels in order to form a bracket of competitive size.  If your age/skill bracket looks small, I encourage you to recruit other teams to register.

You will note that there are brackets shown on our page on pickleballtournaments.com.  I hesitated to show that information because players tend to lock that into their minds as the final bracket.  The reality is that the system default brackets will only serve as a starting point for our final brackets.  It is highly likely that brackets will be combined or broken up in different ways.  Please rest assured that we will always do so with “competitive and fair” as our guiding principle.  As tournament players ourselves, we understand the importance of that concept.

Format

We have thought long and hard about tournament formats and have chosen to adopt “competitive and fair” as the theme. But what does this mean when it comes to implementation? Let’s try to address that while explaining our tournament format.

One of the most frequent complaints from tournament players is that they traveled long distances and paid big bucks for tournament registration and hotels … only to be eliminated in 2 matches. What a bummer. Some tournaments have tried to fix this by moving from a double elimination to a round robin format. While that can result in more play – depending on bracket size – it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, either. The most competitive players seem to enjoy the opportunity to come back through the double elimination format.

Our format at Land of the Sky will attempt to mesh the best of both worlds. We will play a round robin in the morning from which the best-performing teams will move to a double elimination in the afternoon. In our ideal world, round robin pools will consist of 7 teams, meaning each team will get to play 6 games in the morning format. Then, the best-performing teams would advance to a 4-team double elimination medal round. The number of teams that advance will be dependent on the total number of teams in the bracket. If total teams in the bracket exceed 7, then they will be broken into pools.

Round Robin Rules

• Games will be played to 15 and win by 2 in order to meet USAPA guidelines.
• Total wins will determine the teams to advance.
• Tie-breakers will also use USAPA guidelines – head-to-head wins, total point differential of all games, head-to-head point differential, and point differential against the next highest team.
• If a team forfeits, the score of the game will be recorded as 15-0. If the forfeited game(s) impact the point differential tie-breaker(s), then all games played by the forfeiting team will be revised to 15-0.

Double Elimination Rules

• Standard USAPA rules will apply – 2/3 games to 11, win by 2 in the winners bracket and one game to 15, win by 2 in the losers bracket.

Balls

Discussions with other tournament players have given us a good idea of ball preferences. We have opted to use two balls at the Land of the Sky tournament. For the 4.5/5.0 brackets, the Dura Fast 40 will be used. The Onix Fuse will be used in all other brackets. Both are outdoor balls due to the tournament surface. Ball color will be yellow.