Pickleball Fundraiser Details (tournament and lessons)!

Paddles for a Cause:

Pickleball Tournament

Tournament Wrap Up

Paddles for a Cause: MHS Interact Club Raises Over $5,400 for Healing Bridge Clinic

As many of you in Peachtree City know, I’m a huge pickleball enthusiast—so imagine my excitement when the students in the McIntosh High School Interact Club (which I’ve had the joy of sponsoring through Rotary the last 4 years) came up with the idea themselves to host a pickleball tournament!

The idea actually started last school year. We found out a little too late in the spring that we couldn’t hold our annual Lacrosse for Literacy Showdown (the Girls vs. Boys game) due to field availability. With limited time to pivot, the students quickly shifted gears and created care packages for homeless teens instead - which was another incredible project! But the pickleball idea stuck with them.

Fast forward to this fall—right back at it, they voted again to hold a tournament. This time, they also chose the Healing Bridge Clinic as the beneficiary, and we were off and running. I’ll be honest—I’ve played in a few tournaments, but never organized one. Still, I knew we had to make it happen for these awesome students and Healing Bridge Clinic... so I hit the phones, did a ton of research, and tapped into my pickleball community for advice.

We faced some challenges, made plenty of notes for next time, and learned a lot—but overall, the event was a huge success! I'm hopeful the club continues this amazing new tradition even though this was my fourth and final year serving as their Rotary Sponsor.

Here are just a few of the highlights:

First and foremost, thank you to our incredible Sponsors.
This event truly would not have been possible without your support. Please scroll down for the full list of corporate sponsors (and links)—and support these local businesses that support our students! A special thank-you also goes to our individual sponsors who personally donated to the cause: Amy Benton, Steve Ivory, Judy Baldwin, Dennis Brannon, Eddie Puskarich, and Sue Slade. Your generosity helped us go above and beyond!

Second, thank you to everyone who came out and played.
We had such a great turnout—and I was especially thrilled that 12 teens signed up to compete in the afternoon round! We all know how much adults love pickleball, but seeing the younger generation pick up the sport is super exciting.

Third, congrats to our medal winners AND our raffle prize winners!
Medal recipients are listed below. We loved seeing the friendly competition and the big smiles all around.

Fourth, photos are posted!
We can only put limited photos on this website but we have a few below and a few snapshots on our MHS Interact Club Instagram @mcintoshinteract. This is a link to the Google Drive with more. Big thanks to everyone who captured the fun!

Fifth, a special shoutout to the volunteers who went above and beyond:
Kel-Lee Rauch, Michelle Bahr, and Jason Aldrich—thank you for being the early birds, the stay-laters, and everything in between. You helped keep things moving and made sure players had an awesome experience.

Huge thanks also to our Interact Teacher Sponsor Ms. Frisch and her wonderful parents, as well as my daughter Elizabeth and her bestie Hannah-Rose, who were on-site nearly all day. And let’s not forget Mario Page, a player and professional photographer, who generously captured some fantastic shots.

Sixth, thank you to Fitness 54 for providing court time so we could offer beginner lessons before the tournament—and to Ben Loggins for helping me teach the newbies! It was such a great way to introduce more people to the sport we love.

And finally… we did it.
After expenses, we raised just over $5,400 for Healing Bridge Clinic—and the check was presented at our final Interact Club meeting of the school year. The students had set a $3,000 goal and crushed it. I couldn’t be more proud of their initiative, hard work, and heart.

Thank you to everyone who made this event so meaningful and especially to all of our teen Interactors who worked hard on this event. I can't wait to see what y'all do next!! Until next time—keep serving with purpose (and maybe even with a pickleball paddle in hand 😉).

Lei Lydle, MHS Interact Club Rotary Sponsor 2021-2025

Teen Medalists

Girls

1st Gold – Hannah Genet

2nd Silver (Tie) – Nora Rodriguez and Avery Miller

3rd Bronze – Becca Cowart

Boys

1st Gold – Will Nixon

2nd Silver – Nathan Bywaters

3rd Bronze – Graham Reichenbach

Adult Medalists

Women’s Advanced Beginner

1st Gold – Laurie Farmer

2nd Silver – Lisa Lewandowski

3rd Bronze – Lynn Ortman

Men’s Advanced Beginner

1st Gold – Andrew Lewandowski

2nd Silver – Scott Haynes

3rd Bronze – Steve Redlinger

Women’s Intermediate/Advanced Intermediate

1st Gold – Tracy Malinchak

2nd Silver – Michelle Bahr

3rd Bronze – Allyson Griffies

Men’s Intermediate/Advanced Intermediate

1st Gold – Dan Young

2nd Silver – Dwayne Vanatta

3rd Bronze – Mario Page

Thanks to all of our Amazing Business Sponsors!

(listed in alphabetical order)

· ACE Pickleball Club - https://www.acepickleballclub.com/

· Amplified Cybersecurity - https://www.ampcyber.com

· AtlantaBridal.com - https://www.atlantabridal.com

· C'MON! Pickleball - https://www.cmonpickleball.com

· Cooper Lighting Solutions - https://www.cooperlighting.com/global

· Davis Chiropractic Center - https://www.davischiropracticcenter.com/

· Fitness 54 - https://www.fitness54.com

· GameDay Men's Health - https://www.gamedaymenhealth.com

· Gatekeeper Self Storage - https://www.gatekeeperstoragega.com

· Golf Cart Masters - https://www.golfcartmasters.com

· Lab Fit Physical Therapy - https://www.labfitpt.com

· Nudge Wellness - https://www.nudge-wellness.com

· Peachtree City Living - https://www.peachtreecityliving.com

· Peachtree City Magazine - https://www.peachtreecitymagazine.com

· REALTOR Stephanie Moore - https://www.realtorstephaniemoore.com

· Remarkable Events – Website in progress - contact Cyndi Plunkett

· Sir Speedy - https://www.sirspeedy.com/atlantaga420

· Steven Newton Law - https://mynewtonlaw.com/

· Trusted Path Property Management, LLC - tammy@soulakos.org

· Work It Out Wellness - https://www.wiowellness.com/

Tournament Details

When:

Saturday, April 19, 2025

10:00AM - 3:00PM

Where:

Flat Creek Country Club

100 Flat Creek Drive, Peachtree City, GA 30329

Who:

Adults: Non-students 20+
Teens: Teens/High School Students 14-19 years old

Skill Levels:

Beginner/Advanced Beginner
Intermediate/Advanced Intermediate

All players must sign a waiver or parent/guardian must sign a waiver for teens.

Equipment:

Balls will be provided.
Teens will be offered basic safety glasses if they do not have their own eye protection.
Players should bring their own paddles although we will have some used donated paddles on hand for beginners who do not own paddles.

Type of Play:

Final format will be determined by the number of registrants but the basic plan is:

Doubles round robins arranged by skill level in the two age groups (teens will not play adults out of high school).
Players accumulate points based on scores.
Players are guaranteed five 12 minute games.
If time allows, a 6th game in each group may be played to determine any tie-breakers.
Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be awarded to the inidividuals in each group with the highest points.
This tournament is for fun and to raise funds for a local non-profit. This is a non-sanctioned, non-DUPR tournament.

The McIntosh High School Interact Club—the high school branch of Rotary—organizes at least two service projects each school year. This year, the students chose to host a pickleball tournament to support The Healing Bridge Clinic in Peachtree City.

The Healing Bridge Clinic is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to providing free medical care to residents of Fayette and surrounding counties. The clinic serves as a vital resource, offering medical intervention, health education, and preventive care at no cost to those in need.

This tournament is a fundraising event exclusively benefiting The Healing Bridge Clinic. Aside from necessary expenses to host the tournament, 100% of the proceeds will go directly to the clinic. Neither the MHS Interact Club, Rotary, nor McIntosh High School will receive any portion of the funds raised.

Rain or Shine – Your Support Still Makes an Impact! ☔🌞

This tournament is an outdoor event and cannot be rescheduled in the event of rain. If weather prevents play, a portion of the proceeds will cover necessary tournament expenses, and the remaining funds will be donated to The Healing Bridge Clinic, helping provide free medical care to those in need.

We appreciate your support in making a difference—rain or shine! 💙