Over 800 people from all over North America are coming to Macon to play in the 2024 USA Pickleball Atlantic South Regional Tournament.
Tournament Directors Bill Hess and Jim Young invite you to the tournament, which will be moving to the Macon Mall Pickleball Facility run by Rhythm & Rally. This beautiful new indoor facility features 32 dedicated, well-lit, individually fenced courts. Read all about it in the article we published to cover its inauguration.
“Amazing New Facility”
“This is a tournament that will expose players from all over the country to your amazing new facility, and I know they’ll be going home after several days here talking about how wonderful it and the community is,” says Bill Hess with USA Pickleball.
Running from January 9th through the 14th, the tournament will welcome players from 24 states and two countries, from as far as Alaska and Alberta, Canada. According to pickleballbrackets.com, 836 had registered for the tournament at the time of writing.
“This is going to be another fantastic showcase of not only our world-class venue but of Macon’s vibrant pickleball community,” says Rhythm and Rally General Manager John Roberts. “We’ve hosted dozens of tournaments in Macon the past five years, but this is the first time we’ve welcomed the national governing body for an event. We couldn’t be more excited.”
“A World-Class Facility”
This tournament will be the second one Rhythm and Rally has hosted at this venue. The first one, which was held last month, attracted over 600 pickleballers from all over the country.
“We were booking tournaments before construction was complete,” said Macon Mayor Lester Miller, “and that’s a testament to the team we put together to create a world-class facility and to market it, from the Urban Development Authority to Sports Facilities Companies to Visit Macon.”
Wheelchair-Friendly
The Atlantic South Regional Tournament has gone out of its way to make wheelchair players welcome for all events.
There will be three wheelchair competitions: the Wheelchair Coed Singles, which will be played mid to late afternoon on Friday, January 12; the Wheelchair Coed Doubles – which will be played mid-morning on Saturday, January 13; and the Wheelchair Hybrid Coed Doubles – played mid to late afternoon on Saturday, January 13 (one chair and one standing).
January 9, 10, and 11 will be for players aged 60+ and up, while January 12, 13, and 14 will be for players aged 55+ and below.
The tournament will employ the new USA pickleball age brackets, namely juniors, 8-29, 30+, 40+, 50+, 55+, 60+, 65+, 70+, 75+, and 80+.
Round-Robin Format For All Brackets
The first day of each age bracket will be men’s doubles and women’s singles, with mixed doubles on the second day and women’s doubles and men’s singles on the third day of each three-day set.
The tournament will use the round-robin format for all brackets. Pool play will be used in brackets consisting of 10 or more teams. Based on bracket counts, matches will be 1 to 15 or 1 to 11 win by 2. If pools are used, the top two teams will advance to a single elimination playoff for the championship.
The 2024 USA Pickleball Rulebook will be followed to decide the winners in the round-robin, single- and double-elimination brackets.
Macon Mall
The event will be held at Macon Mall, 3661 Eisenhower Drive, Macon, GA 31206.
Macon Mall has 32 indoor, air-conditioned hard courts with permanent nets. The tournament will use yellow Franklin X-40 Optic balls.
Parking is free, and pets are not allowed. No food, grills, or “dish to pass” are permitted.