PPA CIBC Open Highlights: Which Amateur Events Drew the Most and The Least Players?

CIBC Texas Open

The PPA CIBC Texas Open took place May 29th to June 2nd, at the Oasis Pickleball Club. The tournament welcomed close to 1,200 players, competing across 80 amateur events, 4 qualifier events and 10 main draw events.

With so many amateur events to choose from, a key question facing players is which specific event(s) to actually compete in?

A number of factors are at play here:

• Age group (should I play my age-group or younger?)
• Skill level (should I play 4.0 or 4.5?)
• Participation (how deep is the event’s player pool?)

Of these, participation is the least transparent. While age group and skill level are known in advance, event participation, or the total number of players that will eventually be competing in that event, remains unknown for quite some time after the registration window opens.

To illustrate the point, let’s take a look at final player participation figures from four different 4.0 Men’s Doubles events:

• 4.0 Men’s Doubles, Age 50–59: 5 registered teams
• 4.0 Men’s Doubles, Age 60–69: 7 registered teams
• 4.0 Men’s Doubles, Age 35–49: 20 registered teams
• 4.0 Men’s Doubles, Age 08 — 34: 31 registered teams

Keeping these registration tallies in mind, let’s now assume that these figures were somehow known to registering players in advance, prior to them actually registering for their event. If that was the case, would the players still make the same registration decision, or would this information pull them towards a different event?

In this article, based on participation figures from the PPA CIBC Open, we’ll identify amateur events with the deepest (and shallowest) player pools. This information can be used by players when making their next tournament registration decision.

CIBC Texas Open

• May 29th — June 2nd
• 80 amateur events
• 4 qualifier events
• 10 main draw events
• 1,191 registered players (amateur & pro)

Most Popular Events, Top 15

Popularity of amateur events measured by the number of event registered teams. Of the top 15, 60% (i.e., 9 events), were of the doubles variety:

• 5.0 Men’s Singles, Age 8 — 49, 40 registered teams
• 5.0 Men’s Doubles, Age 8 — 34, 35 registered teams
• 4.0 Men’s Doubles, Age 8–34, 31 registered teams
• 4.5 Men’s Doubles, Age 8–34, 28 registered teams
• 4.0 Men’s Singles, Age 8–34, 25 registered teams
• 3.5 Men’s Doubles, Age 8–34, 25 registered teams
• Junior Boys Singles, Age 8 — 12, 25 registered teams
• 4.0 Mixed Doubles, Age 8 — 34, 25 registered teams
• 4.0 Men's Doubles, Age 35 — 49, 20 registered teams
• 5.0 Mixed Doubles, Age 8–34, 20 registered teams
• 4.5 Men's Singles, Age 8–49, 18 registered teams
• 3.5 Mixed Doubles, Age 8–34, 18 registered teams
• Junior Boys Singles, Age 13 — 14, 17 registered teams
• 3.5 Mixed Doubles, Age 50 — 59, 16 registered teams
• 3.5 Men's Singles, Age 8–34, 16 registered teams

It is informative to note that not a single Women’s or Junior Girls event cracked the top 15.

The most popular such event was 4.5 Women’s Singles, age 8–49, with 14 registered teams, followed by Women’s Singles, 3.0–3.5, age 8–49, with 10 registered teams. All other Women’s and Junior Girls events had less than 10 registered players.

Least Popular Events

Below are events that had the least amount of registered players. Overall, 42 out of 80 amateur events had less than 10 registered teams.

The picture here is opposite from our most popular list, with Women’s & Junior Girls events comprising 47% of the category total.

3 Registered Teams

• Junior Girls Doubles, Age 8–12

4 Registered Teams

• Women's Doubles Skill: (5.0) Age: (35 To 49)
• Mixed Doubles Skill: (5.0) Age: (35 To 49)
• Men’s Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (35 To 49)
• Men’s Singles Skill: (4.0 And Above) Age: (50 To 59)
• Men’s Singles Skill: (4.0) Age: (60 To 69)
• Mixed Doubles Skill: (3.0 To 3.5) Age: (70 And Above)
• Men's Singles Skill: (3.0 To 3.5) Age: (70 And Above)

5 Registered Teams

• Junior Girls Singles Age: (13 To 16)
• Junior Mixed Doubles Age: (13 To 16)
• Women’s Doubles Skill: (4.5) Age: (35 To 49)
• Women’s Singles Skill: (4.0) Age: (35 To 49)
• Women’s Singles Skill: (3.0 To 3.5) Age: (50 To 59)
• Women's Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (60 And Above)
• Women’s Singles Skill: (3.0 To 3.5) Age: (60 And Above)
• Mixed Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (50 To 59)
• Men's Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (50 To 59)
• Mixed Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (50 To 59)
• Men’s Doubles Skill: (4.0) Age: (50 To 59)
• Men's Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (60 And Above)
• Men's Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (60 And Above)

Player Registration

By Age

• Juniors: 102 registered teams
• Up to 49: 550 registered teams (65% of total)
• 50 to 60: 119 registered teams
• 60+: 69 registered teams

By Gender

• Men’s events: 445 registered teams (58% of total)
• Women’s events: 130 registered teams
• Mixed events: 188 registered teams

By Skill Level

• 3.0 events: 105 registered teams
• 3.5 events: 210 registered teams (28% of total)
• 4.0 events: 181 registered teams
• 4.5 events: 123 registered teams
• 5.0 events: 119 registered teams

By Playing Style

• Men’s doubles: 245 registered teams (28% of total)
• Men's singles: 200 registered teams
• Mixed: 188 registered teams
• Women’s doubles: 78 registered teams
• Women's singles: 52 registered teams
• Juniors singles: 64 registered teams
• Juniors doubles: 38 registered teams

Junior events

• Total events: 10
• Registered teams: 102
• Top 4 events captured 62.75% of registered teams

Most popular

• Junior Boys Singles Age: (08 To 12), 25 registered teams
• Junior Boys Singles Age: (13 To 14), 17 registered teams
• Junior Boys Doubles Age: (08 To 12), 11 registered teams
• Junior Boys Doubles Age: (13 To 16), 11 registered teams

Up to 49 events

• Total events: 40
• Registered teams: 550
• Top 4 events captured 24.36% of registered teams

Most popular

• Men’s Singles Skill: (5.0) Age: (08 To 49), 40 registered teams
• Men’s Doubles Skill: (5.0) Age: (08 To 34), 35 registered teams
• Men’s Doubles Skill: (4.0) Age: (08 To 34), 31 registered teams
• Men’s Doubles Skill: (4.5) Age: (08 To 34), 28 registered teams

50 to 60 events

• Total events: 15
• Registered teams: 119
• Top 4 events captured 43.70% of registered teams

Most popular

• Mixed Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (50 To 59), 16 registered teams
• Men’s Singles Skill: (3.5) Age: (50 To 59), 14 registered teams
• Men’s Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (50 To 59), 12 registered teams
• Men’s Doubles Skill: (4.5 And Above) Age: (50 And Above), 10 registered teams

60+ events

• Total events: 12
• Registered teams: 69
• Top 3 events captured 36.23% of registered teams

Most popular

• Mixed Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (60 To 69), 10 registered teams
• Men’s Singles Skill: (3.0 To 3.5) Age: (60 To 69), 8 registered teams
• Men’s Doubles Skill: (4.0) Age: (60 To 69), 7 registered teams

Men’s events

• Total events: 33
• Registered teams: 445
• Top 4 events captured 30.11% of registered teams

Most popular

• Men’s Singles Skill: (5.0) Age: (08 To 49), 40 registered teams
• Men’s Doubles Skill: (5.0) Age: (08 To 34), 35 registered teams
• Men’s Doubles Skill: (4.0) Age: (08 To 34), 31 registered teams
• Men’s Doubles Skill: (4.5) Age: (08 To 34), 28 registered teams

Women’s events

• Total events: 19
• Registered teams: 130
• Top 3 events captured 25.38% of registered teams

Most popular

• Women’s Singles Skill: (4.5 And Above) Age: (08 To 49), 14 registered teams
• Women’s Singles Skill: (3.0 To 3.5) Age: (08 To 49), 10 registered teams
• Women’s Doubles Skill: (3.0 To 3.5) Age: (50 To 59), 9 registered teams

Mixed events

• Total events: 17
• Registered teams: 188
• Top 4 events captured 42.02% of registered teams

Most popular

• Mixed Doubles Skill: (4.0) Age: (08 To 34), 25 registered teams
• Mixed Doubles Skill: (5.0) Age: (08 To 34), 20 registered teams
• Mixed Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (08 To 34), 18 registered teams
• Mixed Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (50 To 59), 16 registered teams

3.0 — 3.5 events

• Total events: 34
• Registered teams: 315
• Top 4 events captured 23.1% of registered teams

Most popular

• Men's Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (08 To 34), 25 registered teams
• Mixed Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (08 To 34), 18 registered teams
• Mixed Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (50 To 59), 16 registered teams
• Men's Singles Skill: (3.5) Age: (08 To 34), 16 registered teams

4 — 4.5 events

• Total events: 26
• Registered teams: 304
• Top 4 events captured 35.86% of registered teams

Most popular

• Men's Doubles Skill: (4.0) Age: (08 To 34), 31 registered teams
• Men's Doubles Skill: (4.5) Age: (08 To 34), 28 registered teams
• Men's Singles Skill: (4.0) Age: (08 To 34), 25 registered teams
• Mixed Doubles Skill: (4.0) Age: (08 To 34), 25 registered teams

5.0 events

• Total events: 7
• Registered teams: 119
• Top 3 events captured 79.83% of registered teams

Most popular

• Men's Singles Skill: (5.0) Age: (08 To 49), 40 registered teams
• Men's Doubles Skill: (5.0) Age: (08 To 34), 35 registered teams
• Mixed Doubles Skill: (5.0) Age: (08 To 34), 20 registered teams

CIBC Open Winners Circle