Last Saturday at the Twin Rivers Recreation Center, 22 people participated in Greenwood’s first tournament hosting one of America’s fastest growing sports — pickleball.
Created and organized by Twin Rivers’ tennis and pickleball pro, Marko Lovrinovic, the event, “Dinkin’ in the Delta,” was created to bring local awareness to the sport, and be a time and place for people interested in the sport to socialize. Lovrinovic said he really enjoyed seeing people play in the tournament.
“I thought it went well, everyone got to play plenty of matches. It was the first time a pickleball tournament was organized in Greenwood, and the people participating were enthusiastic about it,” Lovrinovic said.
“About half of the players were from Jackson,” Lovrinovic added.
Saturday’s festivities included T-shirts for all who attended, free snacks and drinks and trophies for the winners of each bracket.
The team of Dr. Charles and Selena Nause of Greenwood won the beginners mixed doubles division, and the tandem of James Renfroe from Madison and Libba Dudley from Clinton took home the intermediate mixed doubles trophy.
Stephanie Oliver of Oxford and Ruth Lewis of Clarksdale won the women’s doubles division, and Jerry Grantham teamed up with Mark Bush, both from Brandon, and won the men’s doubles division.
While setting up Greenwood’s first-ever pickleball tournament seemed like a great idea, Lovrinovic had never organized an event like Dinkin’ in the Delta before. It wasn’t easy, but Lovrinovic said he is glad he put it together.
“On Saturday, I was excited and nervous at the same time. I’ve never done anything like this before. Never done scheduling or anything,” Lovrinovic said. “It’s new to me, but I was excited because I wanted to show the community that everyone is playing, and they should try it too.”
Lovrinovic hopes to make Dinkin’ in the Delta an annual event. The plan is to use the money from entry fees to renovate old tennis courts at Twin Rivers into new pickleball courts. After Saturday, Lovrinovic is one step closer to achieving that goal.
“People were excited and looking forward to the next event. We are trying to get the new courts going, and if we get that going, it will really start growing,” Lovrinovic said. “Maybe set another tournament in the spring if the courts get done and have a grand opening event.”
-Contact Jared Conerly at 662-581-7237 or jconerly@gwcommonwealth.com.
