By Layla Abukhdeir, Staff Writer
River Hill High School hosted its Second Annual Pickleball Tournament last Saturday on the RHHS tennis courts, drawing more than 25 teams of students, staff, and community members. The tournament, run jointly by the Girls Lacrosse and Tennis teams, served as both a community-building event and a successful fundraiser for the two teams.
The idea for the tournament came from the Girls Lacrosse coach, Ms. Weinberg, and the Tennis Coach, Ms. Pfefferkorn’s shared love for the sport.
Ms. Pfefferkorn explained, “We both really like playing pickleball. And we know that it’s a growing sport, the fastest growing sport in America.” She added that the teams recognized they had the facilities and knew of other schools that had run similar events successfully, which motivated them to give it a try.
The planning and organization duties were evenly shared between the two programs.
“I would say we are definitely co-planners,” Ms. Pfefferkorn said.
Ms. Weinberg agreed, stating, “Yeah, we definitely split the load.”
Marketing and outreach were significant components of the preparation for the tournament. According to Ms. Weinberg, “We’ve done marketing by putting the QR code in our flyer on both of our Instagram pages as well as the morning announcements.”
The event was also promoted on Facebook, and emails were sent out to past participants.
Both teams relied on their athletes as well. Ms. Weinberg highlighted this support, explaining, “We’ve also been able to utilize both of our sports teams with helping out with it, whether that’s being ball girls or ball boys. Them getting out the word and helping with all that stuff has been super big.”
Saturday’s tournament followed a double-elimination format with rapid rounds and continuous play. Ms. Pfefferkorn described the structure: “We do 10 minute rounds. We send out eight courts of players. They play for 10 minutes. They come off. They report their score. And then we put the next players out. So it’s pretty fast paced.”
Staff participation in the event was strong, with Ms. Jawhar, Mr. and Mrs. Shagogue, Dr. DiFato, and all three Ms. Weinbergs joining the competition.
Ms. Weinberg commented, “We’ve got some really good pickleballers here.”
Spectators and participants also enjoyed additional features, including music and a raffle, which Ms. Shagogue won.
The tournament ultimately concluded with community members Brent Kennedy and Elaine Masker—the “Dill-icious Destroyers”—winning gold.
Looking back on another successful year, the coaches expressed enthusiasm for the event’s impact and thanked the community for its involvement.
According to Ms. Pfefferkorn, “It was a really great time and well attended. Everyone had fun and was a good sport despite a short bit of rain.”