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In what organizers hope becomes an annual event like the pro tennis tournament held in Washington since 1969, Major League Pickleball is coming to the nation’s capital next month. The D.C. Pickleball Team will host 14 other squads at the Washington Tennis &amp; Education Foundation’s campus in Southeast from June 13 to 16 for the second event on MLP’s regular season schedule.

“[Bringing an event to D.C.] has been on our radar since we launched the team in December 2022,” Adam Behnke, the chief operating officer of the D.C. Pickleball Team, said in a phone interview. “We worked closely with our friends at Destination DC and Events DC to source a venue, and it was not easy.”

The WTEF’s 50,000-square-foot facility — which <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/othersports/wtef-tennis-center-caters-to-youth-in-ward-7/2013/06/19/178d5e06-d52e-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_story.html" target=_blank>opened in 2013</a> in the heart of Ward 7 to provide free tennis lessons, equipment and court time, as well as one-on-one academic tutoring, to local youths — was not Behnke’s first choice to host the event. In fact, he didn’t know it was a potential option until late last year, after MLP struck out in its attempts to find a home for the tournament at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Entertainment and Sports Arena, East Potomac Tennis Center and D.C. Armory.

“We wanted to do everything we could to keep it in the District,” Behnke said. “One of our local pickleball ambassadors told me they were starting pickleball programming at the WTEF, so we got to talking around the new year, and I came to visit in February. It all came together quickly after that.”

Founded in 2021, <a href="https://www.majorleaguepickleball.net/" target=_blank>MLP </a>features 22 coed teams of four players across two levels, with 12 Premier Level teams composed of the top 48 pro pickleball players and 10 Challenger Level teams made up of 40 up-and-coming players. The league employs a promotion system; the top four Challenger Level teams at the end of the season will move to the Premier Level for 2025.

Each MLP team will compete in five of eight events during the regular season, earning points along the way that will determine seeding in the playoffs, which will be contested over two weeks in November. A midseason tournament will be held in Grand Rapids, Mich., followed by regular season events in Salt Lake City, Kansas City, New York, Virginia Beach, Las Vegas and Miami. The D.C. Pickleball Team, which is competing at the Premier Level this year, kicked off its second season this month by winning three of four matches and securing eight of a possible 12 points in Atlanta.

Kevin C. Cox

The D.C. event will feature 34 coed matches involving 15 teams over four days, music, food and an <a href="https://pickleballbrackets.com/ptplg.aspx?eid=4db867c9-77ed-4b4f-a692-d2712ce257d6" target=_blank>amateur tournament</a>. Tickets for a day pass <a href="https://www.tixr.com/groups/ppa/events/mlp-washington-dc-100975" target=_blank>start at $40</a>. The D.C. Pickleball Team is also working with the WTEF to host a clinic for roughly 100 kids on the Tuesday before the event begins, which would include the opportunity to meet and learn from the team’s coach and players.

“The tournament falls between the end of our academic year and the beginning of our summer camp, so it’s perfect timing,” said John Borden, CEO of the WTEF, which counts roughly 600 students in grades 1 to 12 in its in-school and after-school programs. Many of MLP’s top players are former tennis players.

“The idea is to give them an introduction to pickleball, so we can hopefully look for our future Major League Pickleball stars early in our D.C. market,” Behnke said.

No one on the <a href="https://dcpickleballteam.com/roster" target=_blank>D.C. Pickleball Team’s roster</a> — James Ignatowich, Dekel Bar, Allyce Jones and Rachel Rohrabacher — has local ties, but next month’s event will be a homecoming of sorts for at least one prominent pickleball pro. Gaithersburg native and Maryland graduate <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/he-picked-up-pickleball-a-few-years-ago-now-he-is-the-national-champion/2019/12/19/9c833572-16c2-11ea-8406-df3c54b3253e_story.html" target=_blank>Ben Johns</a>, the top-ranked player in the world, will compete in D.C. with the Seattle Pioneers, who selected the 25-year-old with the first pick in the<a href="https://www.majorleaguepickleball.net/news/live-blog-2024-mlp-premier-level-draft/" target=_blank> 2024 MLP Premier Level draft</a>. Seattle is scheduled to face the D.C. Pickleball Team on the final day of the event, which is expected to draw 7,000 to 10,000 fans over its duration.

MLP’s first event in the region will bring exposure to the nonprofit WTEF, which honored D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) for her commitment to D.C. youth at its annual fundraising gala this month, where it <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/washington-tennis-and-education-foundation-s-share-the-love-gala-honors-mayor-muriel-bowser-fd4b68b5" target=_blank>raised more than $700,000</a> to support its mission. Bowser’s 2024 budget <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/08/11/dc-pickleball-tension-courts/" target=_blank>includes $750,000</a> to convert four of the city’s “underutilized” tennis courts to be used for pickleball, which has been rated <a href="https://www.sportstravelmagazine.com/sports-fitness-industry-association-releases-2024-topline-participation-report/" target=_blank>the fastest-growing sport in America</a> by the Sports &amp; Fitness Industry Association for the past three years.

Bill O'Leary

Borden, who is on the board of the Professional Pickleball Registry, a certifying body for pickleball coaches, said the WTEF recently began offering pickleball to local residents on Sunday and Monday mornings.

“In addition to the programming that we provide for the youth of Wards 7 and 8, we also have a commitment to the community,” Borden said. “… MLP is paying to use our courts and our facilities, which goes to further support all of the work that we do. Although it’s not nearly the same level as the Citi Open, it’s cool to have multiple streams that go directly to supporting the youth that we serve.”

“We hope one day that we’ll be able to bring a facility to D.C. and have our own pickleball arena,” Behnke said. “Until that day happens, it’s important to establish at least one MLP mark here in the nation’s capital so we can have that flag planted as another step in the process to have a Major League Pickleball event in D.C. for years to come.”

Stanford University, BA in Psychology

Scott Allen has written about the Capitals, Nationals, Washington Football Team, Wizards and more for The Washington Post's D.C. Sports Bog since 2014.

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Major League Pickleball event to be hosted by D.C. youth tennis nonprofit

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