Through these twelve weeks, I have had a fun time completing this project, and I hope that other people have had fun participating in it as well.Now that I have completed the final tournament and am done with the project, here is the summary. I completed my goal of having a tournament with 15-20 participants, with sixteen people. Also, at the beginning I was able to increase the number of people I played with every week before I started planning for the tournament, and I reached a max of about 10-12 people. In the process, I think that I have given some people an interest in playing pickle-ball, which is very nice.
Although I did accomplish many goals in this project, there were also some failures and setbacks. When I was trying to increase the amount of people I played with every week, I did not get to 15-20 before the final tournament, instead about 10-12, which made gathering contestants more difficult. A major setback was the postponement of the final tournament. I had been checking the weather many times prior to the date, but when the day came, it started heavily raining. I rescheduled the tournament for next week, and I lost some contestants, but luckily I was able to find more the next week. If I had to do the project over again, there would be some things that I would change. First off, I would have gone ahead and planned the date for the tournament, so that other people could see far ahead of time if they have anything to do on that date, and reserve it. Also, I would have tried to start off with more people instead of starting off very small, since I knew many people that wanted to play that I didn't ask in the beginning. This would have made the final tournament more impressive, with possibly many more contestants. Overall, I have had a very fun time completing this project, and my skills in pickle-ball have gone up a lot. Also, it has given me something fun to do in my free time, and I think that it has done the same for others.
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After many weeks of planning, I was able to hold the tournament on Saturday, December 16th. Unlike last week, this week's weather was perfect for playing. I accomplished my goal of having between 15 and 20 contestants in the tournament, with 16 contestants. The bracket went well, and it took a total of about two hours. The winners of the tournament were Jeremy Walker and Trey Thomas. My team placed second in the tournament, which was a solid performance overall. The championship was very close, and we barely lost. Here is the completed tournament bracket: (There were a couple of changes in contestants, including Cole Whitaker replacing Jacob Walker, and Michael Postell replacing Darren Brooks). When I first arrived at the courts, I was slightly concerned because there was a group of people already playing on one of the courts. Fortunately, they did not stay much longer after we arrived. I had to improvise, since one of the contestants did not show up, and I was left with fifteen people. I managed to get a parent to play in that kids place, and get back to sixteen people. Everyone who participated in the tournament seemed to enjoy it, and wanted to do it sometime again.
Planning the tournament one week ahead of the end of the project actually worked out great because it got postponed and moved back to the last week of the tournament. Also, I was able to find more people the second week than I could at first. The time change from 2:00 to 12:00 was also very helpful, so that people could get the tournament out of the way early, and have the rest of the day to do their own stuff. I was able to get my mom to take pictures at the tournament since shes a photographer, so here are a few). With the tournament being this Saturday, here are the official details:Setup: The tournament will be a double elimination tournament, with a winner of the losers bracket and a winner of the winners bracket. There are eight teams of two, sixteen people in total, which completes my goal of 15-20 people.
Contestants: The eight teams of the tournament are Team 1: Josh Whitaker-Kirklin Bowls, Team 2: Jacob Walker-Cole Thomas, Team 3: Ty Green-Brady Carter, Team 4: Brice Wilson-Matt Wilson, Team 5: Seth Postell-Darren Brooks, Team 6: Trey Thomas-Jeremy Walker, Team 7: Caroline Walker-Lydia Postell, Team 8: Nathan Nuckols-David Whitaker. Some of these could change if someone has an emergency and can't come. These are not the official seeds. Prizes: There will be a grand prize of Sixty dollars for the winning team to split. There will also be a trophy for the winning team, but no prize for the second place team. Extra Details: Every person will get to choose their partner either before the tournament, or when they arrive. The teams will be randomly seeded the night before the tournament. If not enough or extra people show up then the top seed will get a by to the second round. I will take pictures throughout the tournament like I have been doing in the past weeks. I will also take a picture of the winning team, second place team, and the winners of the losers bracket. My mom will be responsible for taking the tournament pictures, since she is a photographer. My dad will be an extra in the tournament in case an odd number of people show up. Official Bracket: (If someone can't come last minute, then I will change it before the tournament). Almost official tournament Details: With the tournament being in two weeks, here are some of the almost official details. Date & Time: The guaranteed date of the final tournament is Saturday December 9th, which is supposed to be an amazing day. If something terrible happens and it has to be rescheduled, then it will either be that Sunday or Saturday December 16th. The location of the tournament is at the Farmington Community Center, which has three new Pickle-ball courts. The time of the tournament will be 2:00, but it could change if needed. Setup: I have made the bracket for the tournament, assuming that exactly sixteen people will show up. I'm still deciding whether to do single elimination or double elimination. I'll probably see how long it takes for the first round to finish, then decide whether to add a losers bracket. The single elimination bracket will look like the first picture, and the double elimination bracket will add the second picture: Extra Details: So far, I have seven out of the eight teams completed, and I have an idea about the last team. The final prize is twenty dollars (could go up) along with a trophy. I will try to get there about thirty minutes early to reserve some courts if there are people already playing. Next week I will show the official tournament details, the bracket with all of the contestants, and any other extra details.
Setup: The setup of this tournament will be based around sixteen people, with eight teams of two. Eight teams is probably the best number for this tournament, because we can have three rounds with no teams having to have a by. If more/less than sixteen people show up, then we will have to give teams bys. I have a bracket maker that can help me run the tournament if we have an odd number of teams. Date and Time: Although nothing is 100% official yet, the day of the tournament is most likely to be Saturday December 9th. The best time for the tournament would be anywhere from 1:30-2:30, since that's the warmest time. I looked at the weather for December 9th, the high is 59, the low is around 30, and there is little wind. My only concern is that others will be using the courts before the tournament starts, and a solution to that concern would be to arrive early and save the courts. Extra Details: The winners of the tournament will win a twenty dollar prize. The amount of money can possibly go up if I decide to put more in. Before we play, I will let everybody practice a little, and teach anyone who has never played before, or is unfamiliar with the rules, how to play. I will randomly generate the seeds for the teams in order to make it completely fair, and so I don't get accused of rigging my own tournament. Next week, I hope to play with some other people if it doesn't rain Saturday, while also planning the tournament. This week, my primary focus was to plan the Final Tournament. Since this is the main goal of my project, I decided that it would be necessary to spend a week planning for the tournament. The very unofficial date of the tournament is Saturday November 9th, and the backup date if the tournament gets postponed is either Sunday November 10th or Saturday November 16th. To keep things organized, I think that creating a sign up sheet would be the best option to record who's coming. I will let people sign up and list the partner that they want to play with (both people will have to agree to play with each other), and if they don't have a partner, they will either get to choose when they arrive, or pick another person who signed up alone. I am planning to make this a single elimination tournament, with the seeds being picked randomly. If there is an odd number of teams, then the 1st seed will get a first round by. To make the tournament more appealing, the winning team will win twenty dollars (they get to split it!!), and snacks/drinks will possibly be provided there.
Friday November 10th and Saturday November 11th, Me and 10 others played pickle ball in Farmington. Not everyone was able to attend Friday, so I also played on Saturday with those who couldn't make it one Friday. On Friday, after we practiced a little, we played a mini tournament. I ended up winning that tournament, and Cole Thomas placed second. Saturday, unfortunately we did not play any tournament, but we did play many competitive games.
As of now, I think that my goal should shift from increasing the amount of people I play with each week to playing with a good amount of new people every week, so that I can get more people interested in the final tournament. Many of the people that I have been playing with in the previous weeks are now interested in the final tournament, which was the goal. I am still deciding the date of the final tournament, which will most likely be on the weekend before the final week, just in case that it gets postponed due to weather. I am concerned about the cold weather that is coming, so I will try to schedule the tournament on a warm day. Also, wind is a very big concern, because it affects how the ball moves after you hit it. (I forgot to take pictures while I was playing so I just took a picture of the court when I left, but it's a terrible picture, so I'm not showing it.) Last Sunday, October 29th, me and nine others (Nathan Nuckols, Cole Thomas, Tre Thomas, Jeremy & Caroline Walker, Lydia & Seth Postell and, Joel & Lori Walker) played pickle-ball for two hours. Once again, I played with better competition with Jeremy being there, and I played much better against him this week compared to last. So far, me and the others playing with me have gotten much better, and hope to keep doing so.
Next week, I hope to have 11-12 people show up and play, while planning for the future tournaments. The final tournament will take place the final week, but the date is not confirmed yet. I also would like to play a couple of tournaments for fun before the final tournament to get people interested in playing. Pictures from this week: Last Sunday, October 22, me and eight others (Nathan Nuckols, Cody White, Darren Brooks, Jake Burchette, Lydia and Seth Postell, Jeremy and Caroline Walker) played pickle-ball at Farmington. Jeremy Walker, a professional baseball player that I know from church, showed up to play. He's very fast and tall, which makes him hard to beat, but it also makes me better when I play him. If I keep playing with good competition, then my skills will continue to improve greatly. Near the end, we played a small tournament, where my team won. Next week, I hope to have 10-12 people show up and play, while planning for the final tournament, which I hope to have 15-20 people involved in.
Pictures: This Saturday, October 14th, me and seven other people, including Cody & Lacy White, Nathan Nuckols, Kirklin Bowles, & Sydney Bowles, played pickle ball for four and a half hours. After the first three people arrived, we practiced a little bit, then played a singles tournament, in which I won. After everyone arrived, we played a doubles tournament, where me and Cody won. Next week, I hope to have 6-8 people playing with me. It might get more challenging moving forward as it gets colder outside, but I think I'll be fine for a couple of weeks. Right now, I am having no trouble finding people to play with, but as the number grows, it will probably become more difficult. Also, I don't want to play with the same people so much that they get tired of playing and don't want to participate in the tournament.
I have defiantly improved a little since before I started the project, and I hope to keep improving! Pictures from this week: |
AuthorI am Joshua Whitaker, and this is my fall 2023 Genius Hour project. The blog post on this page goes in opposite order, with 1 at the bottom and 12 at the top. |