A throng of pickleball enthusiasts may just make Bend a pickleball mecca.

This weekend Visit Bend is hosting Central Oregon’s first Oregon Senior Games, a series of events that includes a pickleball tournament that runs through Sunday at the Pine Nursery pickleball courts in Bend.

With 170 pickleballers in the tournament and brand new courts to play on, the Bend Pickleball Club sees an opportunity for the region to grow as a pickleball destination.

“This took no less than 50 volunteers,” says tournament director Christie Gestvang. “There’s an incredible team of people here. The Bend Pickleball Club has embraced these new courts. They’re thrilled about that and wanted (the Oregon Senior Games) to be the first major tournament on these courts.”

Pickleball has exploded in popularity in Central Oregon over the past four years.

The Bend Pickleball Club currently has around 300 members, and there are more than 600 players in the area, says Gestvang, who has been a member of the club for three years.

In this weekend’s tournament, about half of the competitors are from Central Oregon. In all, nine states are represented in the tourney, as is British Columbia.

“We knew we’d get a lot of people to play this weekend because pickleball is truly the fastest growing sport in America,” Gestvang says. “There are players from La Pine, Sisters, Redmond. So with that kind of a depth of participation locally — and we know that pickleball people like to travel to events — we knew we’d have a full venue.”

The Bend Park & Recreation District finished the construction of the eight courts at Pine Nursery three weeks ago, giving the event a new venue.

The courts are still a work in progress.

“That’s why it looks like we’re in a construction zone,” says Gestvang, adding that eight more courts are planned.

But the Bend Pickleball Club, which uses the courts every morning except on Sundays, hopes the Pine Nursery courts will help spur interest in the sport.

That includes hosting more tournaments such as the Oregon Senior Games that attract pickleballers from outside Central Oregon.

“I’m hoping that the Oregon Senior Games runs smoothly so that we can have more pickleball participants, and so that we can be recognized as one of the major pickleball places to come in the country,” said 67-year-old Lee Moore, a Bend resident who is competing in the men’s 65-69 doubles division of this weekend’s tournament.

Moore knows well how quickly pickleball can grow.

He began playing pickleball 10 years ago, only after his wife picked up the sport. But he became such an enthusiast that he helped start the Bend Pickleball Club four years ago.

“I watched her for a while,” Moore says. “Then I went out and tried it and it is the best sport there is — better than tennis, better than racquetball. There is so much strategy and you can play this until you’re 90.”

The tournament is played in a double-elimination format and the top four teams left standing in each division qualify for the United States Pickleball Association’s national tournament, which will be held in November in Buckeye, Ariz.

“Everything is running smoothly so far,” Gestvang says. “Everyone is really appreciative. A lot of that is because of the great group I work with. These people are just well organized. They know their jobs.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0375, eoller@bendbulletin.com.