Cypress Cove Turkey Smash Pickleball Fun Tournament

Submitted by Mike Sullivan

Kissimmee, Florida (November 23, 2013) — Players enjoyed a glorious day of amazing Pickleball competition today at The First Annual Cypress Cove Turkey Smash Pickleball Fun Tournament, held today at the beautiful Cypress Cove Nudist Resort and Spa near Orlando.
It was a glorious late-fall day with temperatures in the low-80’s and crystal-clear blue skies, all the better for the twenty Pickleball players as well as more than two dozen spectators and friends who came together to enjoy this new annual event, each to be held on the Saturday prior to Thanksgiving each year.

The morning qualifying round started at 9am and matched players with a new partner randomly against random competitors in each of five games to 11. Player’s scores were recorded from each game and each player’s total score for the morning was used to seed them into the afternoon double-elimination bracket tournament.

Next, players were matched with others who had equal or similar scores and were paired as partners for the afternoon. All 20 players then played a standard double-elimination tournament for Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. Play concluded at 1:45pm after some very exciting finals-round matches and an hour-long lunch break from 11-Noon.

Play was conducted on the four brand-new, regulation, dedicated Pickleball courts at Cypress Cove, installed in October, 2013. The new courts were built in response to the huge growth in Pickleball play at Cypress Cove since the game was introduced in early 2008. Now Cove Pickleball players have first-class courts to play on at all times, and no need to coordinate schedules or share converted tennis courts with tennis players.

When the dust settled today, the following players wound up with shiny new hardware hanging around their necks:

Gold: Don Kelleher & Doug Vogel
Silver: Mike Sullivan & Dave Meiser
Bronze: Frank Stenlake & Richard Threlfall

Next up on the Cypress Cove tournament schedule is the all-new Spring tournament, now greatly expanded and re-branded in response to the growth of the tournament and the capacity the new courts provide.

The First Annual Cypress Cove International Nudist Pickleball Open will be held March 1-2, 2014, with prelims qualifying on Saturday and a double-elimination finals round on Sunday. There will be a cocktail reception and group dinner for all players and friends on Saturday night at Cypress Cove’s beautiful Lakeside restaurant, and post-play pool parties both afternoons at the West Pool and the poolside Cheeks Bar & Grill.

Pickleball is gaining steam every month at Cypress Cove, where we play at least five mornings a week year-round in a tropical garden setting beside a private 80-acre lake. Full information on Cypress Cove, America’s most beautiful clothes-free resort, is online at http://cypresscoveresort.com.

For more information on Pickleball at Cypress Cove, contact Mike Sullivan at pickleball@me.com