Riding the pickleball wave

Pickleball is on a roll in the United States, with an estimated 50 million Americans having played the game at least once in the past year. The sport has proven to be a winner with Medford Rogue Rotary as well, providing the club with a successful fundraising source in support of its youth programs.
The Medford Rogue Pickleball Fest Tournament will take to the courts in Medford for the fourth year on Sept. 6-8. Players can register in skill levels of 3.0 to 4.5-plus, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles and age brackets of Open, 50-64 and 65-plus. The tournament is located in Medford’s Fichtner-Mainwaring Park.
Registration is now open at pickleballbrackets.com; click on the search button near the top of the page and type in Medford to find out more information and register. Cost is $65 for the round robin tournament. All players receive a swag bag and a logo’ed T-shirt.
Pickleball Fest began in 2021 with 150 players registered and generated more than $17,000 for the club’s programs. In 2023, the tournament saw more than 200 players register and $26,000 raised. Last year’s players ranged in age from 12 to 84 and came from eight different states.
Medford Rogue Rotarians Cheryl Dyer and Bruce Garetto have been a driving force behind the tournament, along with Larry Hildebrandt, who was club president when the tournament was first proposed. The event has had 40 to 50 volunteers each year, with Rotarians making up the bulk of the volunteers.
“The idea for our pickleball tournament started in 2020 when Larry Hildebrandt asked me what our signature event should be. I said ‘pickleball tournament’,” Cheryl recalls. “He didn’t play pickleball at the time and I had only ever been to one tournament. But we decided this would be our signature event and never looked back.”
Lithia4Kids has been the tournament’s title sponsor since its inception. Over the years, 30 local companies have joined in sponsorships.
Funds raised in the tournament through registrations and generous sponsorships have supported a number of youth programs, including a basketball program for elementary students, providing food and supplies to more than 1,000 at-risk students throughout the school year, giving books to thousands of children ages 0-5 through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and, beginning in 2024, creating “Winter in Candyland,” a free community event that attracted more than 3,000 attendees in its first year.
For more information. Contact Cheryl Dyer at cherylddyer@yahoo.com.

Photo caption: Bruce Garetto, right, of Medford Rogue Rotary returns service in Medford Rogue’s 2023 Pickleball Fest.