Preparation makes the operation run smooth
Dozens and dozens of locations around the country means dozens and dozens of long, hard conversations.
That’s what life is like on the PPA Tour when it comes to planning each and every one of its tournaments this season.
Before the Tournament
“Each venue, city, and state that we go to provide new and different challenges for our events,” said Matt Ortenzio, Logistics Manager for the PPA Tour. “ While the player side of our events can generally be the same, the event side of our tournaments is vastly different. Each venue poses a new challenge as to how we can build and design our tournament. Some venues restrict us, based on the venue’s court layout and physical space. Other venues are constructed in a way which allows us to be very creative in our designs. So I would say there are significant changes on the event side of our tournaments from venue to venue.”
And there are a lot of venues and chances to be creative. We still have 13 more events to go in 2023.
The set up is what most people don’t see and is where the most hard work happens,” said PPA Tour Logistics Director Sadie Osborne. “We have an amazing team that brings all the plans to life.”
Osborne’s duties include meeting with locals at each venue, planning the event flow, the layout of the courts, and also the look, feel, and function of the championship court. Osborne does everything from on-the-court duties to planning and ticketing, broadcasting, and more.
And all that is in place and ready to go by the time you tune in to watch that first serve. And no doubt, those plans take a lot of time to organize.
The standard setup for an event after making sure the tour’s equipment trucks arrive on site on a Sunday includes everything from getting courts resurfaced, building all the nets, and executing sponsorship items, which can take about three days. There are banners to be hung and a Championship Court to be constructed. In addition, the broadcast booth has to be assembled and sponsors have to be catered to.
And then the ball is in the air by Thursday morning. That’s a busy week.
Meanwhile, before anyone ever shows up on site, Osborne, Ortenzio, and others are getting their team in place.
“Our team handles everything from permitting, parking, restrooms, rentals, court layout, coordinating court resurfacing, to food and beverage, venue communication, city involvement and much more,” Osborne said.
More than that? Yes, plenty more.
The Player’s Experience
“The goal is to make it feel like the space was built for pickleball,” Osborne said. “We bring in equipment to ‘buildout’ a championship court. It looks slightly different at each location, based on seating, space, etc. We want seating to be close to the court to help players feel the spectators’ energy during matches.”
Coming up with the best experience in pickleball, for both fans and players, is the most important task and it means a lot of people have to be working in the same direction.
“We feel we are paving the way for both amateur and professional pickleball tournaments, and with that we’ll undoubtedly experience some growing pains,” Ortenzio said. “I would encourage all our players to participate in the post-tournament surveys after every event. We review every response to those surveys and use that feedback to drive changes in our events. There is a lot of momentum around the sport and we are extremely excited to continue our growth and continue improving our events to make them the best they can possibly be.”
So, when the page turns to the next tournament on the tour schedule and the PPA team is getting ready to set the venue, just know there are a lot of people in a lot of positions working for the same thing.
“We’re trying to figure out the best way to organize the court layout for the player experience,” said Matt Mayfied, a member of the operations team. “While we all work together as a team, we all fill a role in helping our events go great. We go through step-by-step for each department – ticketing, operations, VIP, sponsorship, site map, expected schedule etc. We plan ahead for any weather challenges. By having our pre-tournament meetings, everyone on staff feels prepared and understands all the moving parts of the event.”
It might look the same, week to week when you watch an event online or on TV, but that’s far from the truth. Each spot, each venue, in each city has its challenges.
“Everything ‘outside the lines,’ as we say – things outside the game – changes at each event,” Osborne said. “The logistics of the event are what makes it a success or not. There are bundles of details that have to be thought through and carried out. Each venue presents challenges. It’s our job to work around those challenges to present the best product possible.”
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