“We spent time following the TOC in Brigham City, Utah. Frankly, Brigham City is a small town I never thought I would spend so much time in. The Peach Days Carnival is the big draw in town; taking up all of Main Street. But of course, we were there for pickleball.
Tournament of Champions
I suspect most of the locals don’t have any idea that so many “pickleballers” invade their area once a year for the elite Tournament of Champions. In May they will also host a PPF event. These events are always extremely well run, and consistently draw the top players in the country.
What is amazing to me, is that this small town has 16 permanent courts plus a center court. And they are among the nicest courts in the country with lights and accessible, clean bathrooms.
6 pm in Brigham City
After the tournament, Linh and I stayed to host an academy. Like clockwork, around 6 pm every night car after car pulled up and the locals came to play. Some nights there was some organized play, but most often people just came out to play with everyone. There were groups of middle school aged kids taking up multiple courts all the way up to some of their locals 5.0s. Almost every night they actually had over 10 courts being well into the night.
USAPA Ambassadors
The secret to pickleball’s success in Brigham City are local USAPA ambassadors Kyle and Trudee Klein. They are definitely
the reason these courts were built and they are the reason pickleball continues to flourish. After the original 8 courts were built a person in the neighborhood contacted them about buying their property. They sold their property so the facility could be expanded. The new courts are little a few steps away from this dedicated pickleball family.
You can find Trudee and Kyle helping the locals and participating in play any day of the week. On many days you will find
their two boys and even grandparents on the courts. These courts are at Rees Park which also has football and baseball among other outdoor sports. I was amazed one night when
Rees Park
The courts are located in Rees Park which also has other outdoor sports such as football and baseball. I was amazed one night when I spotted Kyle coaching the boys’ football team before he came out to play pickleball. It is an amazing setting, surrounded by beautiful mountain views and crystal clear blue skies.
I want to urge you to play in one of the local tournaments if you have a chance. If you are passing through, check out these courts and introduce yourself to Kyle and Trudee. The more support we give their events, the more they will garner local support for the growth of pickleball. And we all know we need more and more cities behind building more courts!
