GA Golden Olympics Pickleball Tournament held in Spalding County

Press Release

Peter M. Phelps, President

Spalding County Pickleball Association (SCPA)

The Spalding County Pickleball Association (SCPA) hosted the 2018 Georgia Golden Olympics (GGO) – Pickleball Tournament from September 26-27, 2018 at the Spalding County Pickleball Complex in beautiful Wyomia Tyus Olympic Park. This tournament had 103 participants from 22 different states with Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina providing participants. About 73% of the participants were from various communities around the State of Georgia. Griffin-Spalding County provided 20%of the participants. Eleven (11) individuals from Griffin-Spalding County won medals in the GGO.

This was the first time that Spalding County hosted the GGO Pickleball Tournament and we had the largest number of participants ever in this event.

This was yet another great tournament and accomplishment for Spalding County Pickleball. We are grateful to Vicki Pilgrim, GGO Executive Director, and Martha Ann Lumpkin, GGO Tournament Director, for bringing the GGO Pickleball Event to Griffin-Spalding County. Spalding County Pickleball is truly a Game Changer in sports tourism (bringing in visitors) for our community and generating genuine and significant economic impact for our community.

Thanks also to the hard-working SCPA Board of Directors – Lindsay Lancaster, Steve Stevenson, Sheila Phelps, Dave Main, Gayle Hawbaker, Chuck Blackshear, Kathy Ethridge, and Rheba Conner. Steve was the Tournament Manager and Lindsay was the Tournament Operations Coordinator. I would also like to thank our very valued and appreciated Volunteers for their many hours of support for this and other tournaments. You simply cannot succeed without this kind of volunteer support. Thanks also to Spalding County Parks and Leisure Services for their on-going support.

Next Event …

Our next event is the 2018 USAPA Atlantic South Regional Pickleball Tournament from October 18-21, 2018. This will be the largest tournament offering at the Spalding County Pickleball Complex in 2018, and the second consecutive year for the SCPA hosting and partnering with the USAPA Regional (one of twelve Regionals offerings across the nation).

Peter M. Phelps

President

Spalding County Pickleball Association (SCPA)

October 3, 2018

Bruce Mason & Tom Grayson - Gold

Lindsay Lancaster & Bill Kinne - Gold; Peter Phelps & Clifford Grabowski - Silver; James Smith & Keith Salter - Bronze