The Bainbridge Cup History

Bainbridge Island - Pickleball's Birthplace

It was on Bainbridge Island (known as Bainbridge by the locals) where Joel Pritchard, Barney McCallum and Bill Bell created the sport we know today as pickleball. While residing at Bainbridge in the summer of 1965, the three founders collaborated to create and design a new racquet sport that everyone could play and enjoy. Thus the name “Bainbridge Cup” was chosen to pay tribute to both the founding fathers and the birthplace of pickleball – the origins of a sport that is now played by millions of people around the world.

The Bainbridge Cup: the World Cup of Pickleball

The idea for an intercontinental competition evolved from pickleball’s rapid global growth experienced over the past few years. From 2010 onwards pickleball has extended into countries around the world and official tournaments are now being organized by a wide range of countries in different continents. To organize and drive the sport’s global expansion, the International Federation of Pickleball (IFP) was formed. Soon after forming, the Federation’s member countries demonstrated a growing interest in organized international competition. To meet the growing demand the IFP created the Bainbridge Cup – a world stage to host pickleball’s first intercontinental team event. The inaugural Bainbridge Cup took place in Madrid, Spain in 2017. In 2018, the Bainbridge Cup was held in Montesilvano, Italy. In 2019, the Bainbridge Cup was held in Essen, Germany.

In 2020, the Bainbridge Cup was scheduled to be held in Nottingham, England. This would have been the largest World competition of pickleball players with over 800 registered

players but had to be canceled due to the world pandemic. The IFP will soon be announcing the country location for the 2022 Bainbridge Cup Tournament Event. Stay tuned!