The Monster Smash Weekend and Spooky Spokes Wheelchair Tournament will be held Friday through Sunday at the West Chester Twp. venue. Spectators are welcome. Two Cities Pizza Company will have pizza available for purchase and there will be a cash bar.
“We are partnering with the team at the US Wheelchair Pickleball Association to not only make this happen, but to make the costs as manageable as possible for these great athletes,” Dunn said. “This is going to be one of their largest tournaments yet. Obviously, we hope to grow the numbers over the next few years, but I think it’s important to introduce this to Cincinnati, and we’re hoping The Pickle Lodge becomes a headquarters for that effort. We definitely want to be known as a place that welcomes wheelchair athletes.”
A GoFundMe campaign has also been established to help defray the athletes’ travel expenses, he said.
More than $4,000 has been raised, mostly from members of The Pickle Lodge, who are helping to bring athletes in from around the country.
Wheelchair participants will play singles on Oct. 25, starting at 1 p.m. and doubles on Oct. 26, starting at 11 a.m., and a hybrid tournament on Oct. 27, starting at 11 a.m. A hybrid tournament is for a wheelchair player and a person without disabilities, who play together on the court.
Dunn said the Monster Smash Tournament is The Pickle Lodge’s largest tourney of the year. This is the fifth year for the Monster Smash Tournament, which started in 2020 as part of the Cincinnati Pickleball Club. This is the second year the tournament has been held at The Pickle Lodge. More than 400 people are registered for the weekend, including the wheelchair athletes.
“We are incorporating Spooky Spokes, essentially as a division of Monster Smash. It’s all one big event, just with different branding to distinguish the wheelchair athletes, but they will be there playing along with everybody else,” Dunn said. “That’s another thing that I always wanted was for them to be fully integrated, which is what we’re going to be able to do.”
Wheelchair participants will travel from many different states, including Texas, Florida, California, Illinois and Indiana, among others. There will be 24 wheelchair players in the Spooky Spokes Tournament.
When The Pickle Lodge was built, a lot of work was done to make the facility wheelchair accessible, including putting in an elevator, to make the second floor accessible for everybody, Dunn said.
“We always hoped we would get here, but this will be our first go,” he said. “It’s a fun weekend. It’s extremely competitive, but people also dress up in costumes. So, it’s a unique combination of a fun social event, but it’s also an incredibly competitive tournament with high-level players,” Dunn said.
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