The first Pickleball tournament in Friuli, called COPE FRIÛL, will be played on Sunday 8 December 2024 at the Tiepolo middle school gym in Udine.
The organization of the event is by APD RIZZI UDINE and for the sporting part by ASD ASF ASSOCIAZION SPORTIVE FURLANE.
The tournament will be a way to promote Pickleball, a sport which in the USA last year involved 50,000,000 Americans and which is arriving forcefully in Italy.
Pickleball is a racket sport, which combines elements of badminton, tennis/paddle and ping pong, on a court divided by a net and of small dimensions.
You can play singles, with very competitive and tennis-like characteristics, or doubles; and this is the formula that is very social and inclusive, as it manages to unite young and old, men and women and even people who have never had experience of racket sports who are able to play it almost immediately.
The tournament will see the men’s and women’s singles played in the morning, while the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles will be played in the afternoon.
The organization expects around fifty participants, including new players from Friuli and the participation of some practitioners from Trieste from the PICKLEBALL TRIESTE club, as well as members from nearby Veneto.
Some important Friulian companies such as ORO CAFFE’, PROSCIUTTIFICIO BAGATTO and AGRIBIRRIFICIO AQUILA D’ORO will be technical sponsors of the tournament, thus also giving an important territorial and identity imprint.
The ASF’s idea will however be to disseminate and make the discipline as widely known as possible, in order to set up a real competitive pickleball sports club for next spring.
We look forward to seeing many of you both as curious people and as practitioners. For information you can write to:
