Photo courtesy of Ryan Baedke Pickleball participants took part in a match at the Marshall YMCA Pickleball tournament on Saturday.

MARSHALL — The sport of pickleball is growing throughout the United States and has now captured the residents of southwest Minnesota.

The Marshall Area YMCA hosted pickleball championships involving 17 teams on Saturday. The tournament attracted players from throughout southwest Minnesota and as far away as Minneapolis. Games started early in the morning involving the senior-level and concluded with younger players in the mid- to late-afternoon. The championships consisted of 17 teams and the top three were awarded prizes in each division.

Pickleball is something that is growing within the community and all around the world, area organizers said. Marshall has started a Facebook group of pickleball players and started a league from that. The league started in the fall.

“There has been a big boom of pickleball here at the Y but not just at the YMCA,” said Ryan Baedke, director of sports and recreation at the Marshall YMCA. “We are getting 30-35 players in here a morning, which is more than we can support, but it is great to have them here. There was a need for next-level competition and not just open fun play. People wanted to try their hand at a tournament-level style of play. So we were happy to put something together and happy about the turnout/results of the tournament.”

In the senior tournament, Alison Ufkin from Minneota and Steven Rassier from Ghent shared their excitement of participating in the championships.

“I started playing pickleball because I use to be a tennis player,” Ufkin said.”Pickleball is a lot of fun and uses a lot of tennis skills. It is super fun, I would encourage anyone to play. Doesn’t matter your skill level, it is easy to learn. We joined the tournament because we love to play and want to have fun.”

“This is great exercise,” Rassier said. “Once you start coming here you meet all these people and make a lot of connections playing pickleball.”

Karen Dolan, who was a participant in the Marshall Area Pickleball championships, also started the Facebook group a while back to encourage, enlighten and expand the sport of pickleball in the community. Although Dolan and her partner Cedric Williams lost in the first round of the bracket, the experience is something she will appreciate and remember.

“Baedke did an amazing job advertising and lining up all the tournament details,” Dolan said. “He had great reach out to other communities and we had a few players from Willmar, Minneapolis, and Slayton come on in, which was great. He set up the ladder league at the YMCA, too, and it was always guaranteed fun and good playing with people of similar caliber of performance. (It’s a) great way to spend the winter not only growing our local pickleball community but staying active and healthy despite all the blizzards. We are all looking forward to pickleball growth in Marshall as the city searches for land for dedicated pickleball courts and summer playing options outside. League ended in April. We hope to have another one start this fall.”

There were two championship division winners on Saturday. For the senior division, Dennis Boerboom and Dave Langtook home first prize. For the open division, it was the team of Matt and Wolzan Holland. Derek Smith and Mohan Vedanayagam was the runner-up in the open division bracket.

If you’re interested in playing pickleball, join the Marshall Area Facebook group to interact with members and learn of opportunities to play. Also, the Marshall YMCA has open play for pickleball every day from 8 am-noon. There will be two sessions in May specifically for beginners’ intro to the pickleball sport. Both sessions will be at the YMCA on May 11 and May 25 from 6-9 p.m.