Borough President Vito Fossella Announces Inaugural Borough President's Pickleball Tournament Cup

As the sport grows in popularity, Borough President Vito Fossella announced that the inaugural Borough President’s Pickleball Cup Tournament will be played on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8 at the College of Staten Island.

“We all know how pickleball is exploding across the country, but especially here on Staten Island,” said Borough President Fossella during a press conference at CSI this morning. “We want this tournament to be as fun, as exciting and as enjoyable as possible.”

The tournament will feature two days of mixed doubles, as well as women’s doubles and men’s doubles. Participants of any age or level can play. You can sign up as an individual or as a team.

And, it offers the chance to compete on the national level.

The Borough President’s Cup is part of the DUPR Waterfall Tournament, which features a “a new and innovative format that offers players 4 scheduled matches within a 4-hour period.”

“It will be nonstop, one game after the other -- it’s going to be super exciting,” said Marni Chua, who is a USA Pickleball Ambassador for Staten Island, along with her husband, Ben. The two founded the Fairview Pickleballers at Fairview Park in Charleston.

The winning team of each bracket in the Borough President’s Cup will receive a Platinum Ticket to play in the Road to Oasis, Waterfall Nationals, from Oct. 12 to Oct. 15 in Rockwall, Texas.

Pickleball is a combination of tennis, badminton and ping-pong.

In June, Borough President Fossella played pickleball when he helped cut the ribbon on the borough’s newest courts at Sklyline Playground in New Brighton. This week, students from St. Clare’s School visited Borough Hall as part of a Summer Scavenger Hunt. When Vito asked how they have been spending their summer, they said they are playing pickleball.

“We are going to continue to look for and identify areas to build new pickleball courts across Staten Island to meet the demand,” said Borough President Fossella. “It’s nice to know that younger people are getting into the game -- and we need to prepare for that. This sport brings people together at all different levels and I think that’s one of the reasons why pickleball has grown so much.”

Register for the Borough President’s Pickleball Cup Tournament by scanning the QR code on the flyer below above or by visiting mydupr.com. To register, you must have a DUPR account.