Surf City Pickleball Tournament returns
Diana Abruscato was the first one at Murdy Park in Huntington Beach on Thursday afternoon, which wouldn’t surprise anyone who knows her.
Abruscato, the president and founder of the Surf City Pickleball Society, was there setting up for this weekend’s Surf City Pickleball Tournament. Matches start Friday at 8 a.m. and continue through Sunday.
Abruscato unloaded banners from out of the back of her sport-utility vehicle. One box was marked, “court numbers,” and another read, “tape measures.”
She is the director of the popular annual tournament, which started in 2016, and an ambassador for the sport. Pickleball has been gaining popularity in recent years, and plenty of stories have been written about that, but Abruscato isn’t really buying the narrative that it’s a novel sport.
“We’re here,” she said. “We’re not new anymore.”
There are 172 registered players for this year’s Surf City Pickleball Tournament, in men’s, women’s and mixed doubles. It’s a double-elimination format, and the skill levels range from 3.0 to 4.0. A social is planned for Saturday night at Duke’s.
The registration number is down a bit from previous iterations, but Abruscato is happy the tournament is back. It was canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
By design, the pickleball tournament has traditionally taken place concurrently with the U.S. Open of Surfing, although this year the U.S. Open will be held in late September. Abruscato said the two events each draw their unique visitors to the benefit of the city.
“I’m a planner,” Abruscato said. “We have people who come in from all over the United States, and we want to make sure we’re giving a true Surf City experience when they come in. There’s no other Surf City, U.S.A. ... We’re a destination city, so we always have players who come from all over. It’s not a local tournament, by any means. You’re going to play someone from Northern California, Arizona, Utah, Florida.”
Abruscato said she didn’t know this year’s tournament would happen until the state opened up and dropped the tier system of pandemic restrictions on June 15. Still, there are safety measures in place this weekend. She said each player will have his or her temperature taken, be given a mask, be required to sign an additional COVID waiver and answer some questions about their previous activities. Signs encouraging social distancing will also be posted.
“We’re very fortunate here in Huntington Beach that they’ve allowed [the tournament] to go forward,” she said. “Our city has been quite enthusiastic. We’re trying to keep our businesses and activities moving forward, and I think this is a sign of it.”
Putting the event together is a team effort. On Thursday, workers from the Huntington Beach Public Works department were on site at Murdy Park, replacing trash receptacles near the tennis courts. Abruscato also had the help of a few Scouts from local Troop 319 setting up.
Susan Rodriguez dropped off her son Karl, 12, a Scout who attends Huntington Christian School. She said pickleball is included in her son’s curriculum.
“It’s just neat that we have a pickleball presence here [in Huntington Beach],” Rodriguez said.
Cat Navetta, the treasurer of the Surf City Pickleball Society, agrees with that.
“We really had a whole year extra to plan,” Navetta said. “We found out pretty late in the game last year that we couldn’t have it, and we were really bummed. We found out pretty late in the game this year that we could have it, and we were really excited.”
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