I’m curious who has started to play tournaments & how has your experience been since covid? How was it & what was different if anything? I’m getting ready to play in my first one next weekend. I haven’t played in since since November 2019.
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Nothing so far unfortunately, I’ve got one on the 18th then a couple more that got rescheduled until August. I know that @Landon has played in a couple smaller local ones he may have better input 
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@atuttletuttle I honestly don’t think anything feels too different from before, however, after giving it some thought I think good social distancing practices are definitely present. To me, at least, I don’t think it felt different because the social distancing things are part of what I do all day everyday so it doesn’t stick out as a “pickleball tournament” thing. For the most part everyone is very conscious of keeping their distance. No one is shaking hands, people are wiping down their paddles before and after games, using hand sanitizer, not sharing or handing things around. Mostly the general common sense items to keep everyone safe.
For my first tournament back they tried the “one ball for each team” thing but ultimately it was just awkward and destroyed the normal flow of the game to the point where most teams decided to just use one ball. I’d wipe down the ball and my paddle after every game.
It’s interesting because I probably should have kept hand sanitizer and wipes in my bag prior to covid but that didn’t happen until now. Hopefully this paints a bit of a picture or answers some of your question. At least from my perspective.
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Good to know thank you Landon hoping to see you and play soon 
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Thank you my first one will be next weekend I just wasn’t sure how things would be now 
any luck on a sponsorship?
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Good luck!!!
Not yet! I haven’t reached out to anyone so far just wanted to put out some feelers to see what I could start working on 
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Might as well hop in the conversation, since I’m planning on playing competitively sometime in the future.
I’ve personally never played in a pickleball tournament, but I have played in a lot of tournaments and competitive matches before (championship matches, multi-day travel tournaments, and even trying out for the US Olympic Team this last winter). My community does “competitive play” some weekends, where for about 2-hours or so, winners play winners and losers play losers, but that’s as “competitive” as I’ve played.
I live in South-Central Florida, so thankfully I am not too far from some big pickleball hubs such as Punta Gorda, The Villages, and of course Naples. However, I am not above 19-years-old yet. I am not sure what categories I would be able to play in along with how partner pairing would go for someone like me. Additionally, I have not been ranked by the USAPA yet. I know that I’m likely somewhere around a 3.5-4.0, but by the time of my first tournament, that could easily change.
Anyone know the process for how I would be ranked, what categories I’d be allowed to compete in, and what to expect in-terms of how the tournaments operate…? I’ve never had to deal with the USAPA in any way, and I know that some of you have, so… A little help?
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Hey @22FrenchG! To avoid me rambling on and most likely confusing you I’ve found a link that I think will be useful to you!
This is the webpage that explains how to Obtain an official rating
I’ll leave it to the others with more experience to talk about what to expect in tournaments
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Thanks again, Talyn…!
So, one of the things I’ve been thinking about is that if I went to a tournament, I’d want to play both Doubles and Singles. Obviously it’s hard to go to a pickleball tournament and not play Doubles, but since I’ve been having to play them so much, I feel like I’d have an even better chance in Singles matches.
Only dilemma is this: How overwhelming would that be…? I feel like I might have to play a Singles match, wear myself out, then have to play a Doubles game and be too exhausted to play well.
How much time do they generally give you between matches in a tournament? How many games do you play on-average per day? Would playing both Doubles and Singles be conflicting? I have a lot of questions, but the last thing I would want in that situation would be ending up pressed for time.
I know I have a lot of questions about this stuff, but I’ve never been to one and I didn’t feel like I was potentially even ready for one until now. Thanks again to those of you giving input, because I’m learning as things are being said.
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This June in PTSD Memorial Tournament in Brigham City, UT they added Men’s Singles in their event and they scheduled it in the same day as the Men’s Doubles Event. There was probably 3 hours between the end of my 4.5 Doubles event and the start of 4.5 Singles event. Both events were round robin and I think we had to play 8 games in Men’s Doubles and 8 games in Men’s Singles. With the heat and intensity of some games, it was pretty exhausting. I had to take my time between points (within the 10 seconds rule though) and hydrate like crazy especially when I was playing singles. Overall, it was manageable but most guys agreed and suggested to the TD to hold the singles on a different day next time.
Honestly for me it was not too bad. I knew Men’s singles was going to be a battle of fitness and it was, a couple of guys were cramping like crazy.
Yikes, I can see how that would lead to some heat exhaustion and cramping… You need time between hydration and activity, or else you’re going to cramp and your body won’t be able to respond appropriately. I mean, I live in Florida, so it’s never really “cool” out (the real-feel temp. the last few weeks has been over 100-degrees Fahrenheit), but the 100% humidity rating still doesn’t compensate for the heat that well. Personally I feel that I’d do best playing Singles first and then Doubles, but I’m used to running and being active for hours on-end.