When the pickleball world converges on the Kansas City metro August 6-11, hobbyists will get the opportunity to learn from the pros—and play alongside them.
From August 7 to 11, Kansas City Elite Tennis and Wellness facility in Overland Park will host two massive pickleball events on neighboring courts: the amateur United Pickleball Kansas State Championship and the professional PPA Selkirk Kansas City Open. On August 6 and 7, PPA pros will teach amateurs their trade at a two-day camp.
The Average(ish) Joes
The Kansas State Championship event consists of 89 amateur tournaments across men’s, women’s, mixed, and junior singles and doubles. The first tournaments begin on August 7, and they all conclude before or on August 11.
The top three in each adult tournament will go on to the United Pickleball Association World Championships near Dallas this November.
Age groups range from 8-34 to 70-plus, and skill levels range from 3.0—where players can hit the ball, but not in any specific direction—to 5.0, which is just below professional caliber. At all levels, players can expect a step-up in competitiveness from their weekend pickup at SERV or Chicken N Pickle.
“You’re fighting to become the Kansas State Champion, so it’s competitive,” says Jeff Watson, VP of communications for Professional Pickleball Association (PPA). “I mean, it’s really fun, but it’s not like at the park. … You have a set partner, you’ll go out there and you’ll compete against other teams in a bracket to try to get the gold medal.”
The registration fee is $100, and with extra fees for each singles event ($50) and doubles event ($40) entered. Amateurs need to register by Saturday, August 3, at 8 p.m.
The Pros
The state title tournaments will take place alongside PPA Tour’s Selkirk Kansas City Open. PPA Tour, in its 5th year, is arguably the top professional circuit in pickleball.
Pro qualifiers will be held on August 7, and the main draws begin August 8. The championship games will be broadcast on ESPN 2 from 3 to 5 p.m. Central on Sunday, August 11.
You can find ticket and registration information on the event’s online hub.
The Camp
Those who want a tune-up, and maybe a pickleball breakthrough, can sign up for the PPA Tour 2-Day Camp, set for August 6 and 7. For $400, participants are promised six hours of instruction from PPA Tour pros, targeting skills ranging from dinks and drives to serves and strategy. Skill levels 3.0 and 4.0 are accepted.
“To be able to come to a PPA event … then also get world-class instruction from the best players in the world is something that you really can’t kind of pass up on,” says Watson. “It’s like if you went to the French Open and Rafael Nadal decided to teach you how to play.”
PPA is also giving participants discounts on apparel and equipment at Pickleball Central and a complimentary courtside seat on the day of their choosing.
Kansas City, a Pickleball Hotspot
Though Watson hasn’t spent a lot of time in Kansas City, he’s effusive about the area’s pickleball culture. Last year’s pro/amateur collab sold out, and Watson says over 1,000 amateurs competed.
“I don’t know what it is, but Kansas City is just this insane mecca for pickleball. We have a lot of pros who live there,” Watson says.Â
“I think that Overland Park, just anecdotally, is a wonderful community and a wonderful social community, and pickleball is an insanely social game, [and] I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
Even with so much of the pickleball community expected in Overland Park the second weekend in August, the massive pickleball-and-vendor event PickleCon will occupy the Kansas City Convention Center August 8-12.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated amateurs get complimentary tickets the weekend’s professional games, but this promotion is reserved for participants at the PPA Tour 2-Day Camp.