FARMERS BRANCH, Texas — When firefighters get a call, they sometimes find themselves in a pickle. But lately, the firefighters at Station 3 in Farmers Branch have found themselves into pickleball.
Whenever they’re not fighting fires, they’re playing the fastest growing sport in America.
“Oh yeah, we enjoy it,” fire captain Billy Hartman said. “Some of us have gotten better, and they play in tournaments on weekends and stuff like that.”
That sort of excitement is part of the reason Farmers Branch was picked to host this year’s USA Pickleball National Championships.
“Basically, this will be the pickleball mecca of the world for seven days,” said Jonathan Fralick, vice president of racquet sports for Invited Clubs.
Invited Clubs owns Brookhaven Country Club where, starting Nov. 6, the best players in the world will compete.
The city and Brookhaven landed the tournament because they’ve previously hosted four smaller events, and it went so well, USA Pickleball decided to move its biggest event from California to North Texas.
“We’re really excited about this,” Farmers Branch Mayor Terry Lynne said. “Farmers Branch has never had a national anything.”
Lynne said this is the best time for it, too. Pickleball is so popular, the city expects about 40,000 spectators and millions in economic impact.
To get ready, Brookhaven transformed into a pickleball palace, completing $5 million worth of renovations in just five months.
This week, the club is putting on the finishing touches and turning the street into "Pickleball Boulevard", where there will be live music, food, shops and more.
Altogether, this will be the biggest pickleball tournament in history.
“To bring this kind of event to Texas kind of drives home the point: everything’s bigger in Texas,” said Fralick.
Anyone interested in attending is encouraged to park at the Dallas College-Brookhaven campus and take a shuttle to Brookhaven Country Club. For tickets or more information, please visit https://usapickleball.org/nationals/.