Meet the Team
Susannah Barr is a top 15 pickleball player who competes at tournaments across the USA. She is a highly competitive player who knows the value of competition and enjoys the opportunity to play with players from near and far. She has been tournament director at multiple tournaments and knows how to successfully put on large events.
David Dutrieuille is the head pickleball pro at Lucky Shots Pickleball Club in Minneapolis. He is a 5.0 player on the road to pro who competes across the USA. He is a sponsored athlete and founder of Pickleball Pioneers. He has four beautiful children and wife who call Minnesnowta their home.
Kathy Getto attended the Third Shot’s a Charm Pickleball Festival in Kansas City and saw the benefits of a non-tournament pickleball event. She has helped promote growth in the Boise, Idaho, area by offering round robins and drill events to local pickleball clubs.
Our Story
We have all been to multiple tournaments to compete. Tournaments can be fun, challenging, and a way to see how our skills are progressing as we compete against others.
But most tournaments, unless they are in the round robin format, are double elimination. Sometimes players travel a long way at a large cost to play only a few games.
We hatched an idea to hold an event where pickleball players could play pickleball with others for hours and hours. Not only could players have a lot of fun, they get the opportunity to see styles and skills from other players who they normally don’t get to play with.
History of Pickle Jam
We first offered Pickle Jam in 2019 at Eagle Tennis Club provided the opportunity to utilize a fantastic indoor venue with 12 pickleball courts placed on 6 tennis courts.
The event was such a success, that we decided to hold it again in 2020. We initially planned to hold it on 12 courts, but the event sold out in three weeks. So we expanded it to 24 courts which also sold out soon after. Alas, the Coronavirus pandemic caused us to cancel the event in 2020.
We were able to hold Pickle Jam successfully again in Boise in October of 2021 on 24 courts.
After that, we decided to offer the fun event to other locations, starting the the fantastic Lucky Shots Pickleball Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota.