By Misty Cryer
The third annual Dink Victorius Pickleball Tournament is scheduled for October 12 to 13 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the pickleball courts by the beach in Carlsbad. This event is a fundraiser for Brittany’s Hope, providing financial relief to Eddy County cancer warriors.
Brittany’s Hope Memorial Cancer Fund was started by Brittany Martin’s family, including the Martin family and Brittany’s parents, Jerry and Shawn Grizzle, said Lisa Simmons, representative of Brittany’s Hope and organizer of the pickleball tournament.
“Brittany died in May of 2017 with a very rare and aggressive cancer. She was 38 at the time. She was married to Lane Martin, who is an attorney here in town, and she had three young children, all under the age of 10,” said Simmons.
“When she passed, it was her wish that this fund be started to help other people, especially people in the community—this is for Eddy County only—for people of our Eddy County community who are struggling with a cancer diagnosis,” said Simmons.
“Most of these people are already struggling financially, and then they are hit with a cancer diagnosis with outrageous treatment costs and bills that they are just unable to pay,” said Simmons.
“All of the money that we get through this fund stays right here in Eddy County. We are a non-profit, and we are donation-only. We receive no grant funding—state funding or federal funding—this is all of the community pouring back into this fund to help cancer patients in this community,” said Simmons.
She said the slogan for Brittany’s Hope is “Live Victorious.”
“We have named the pickleball tournament ‘Dink Victorious’ because the dink is one of the main shots in pickleball,” she said.
“This is our third annual tournament as a fundraiser for Brittany’s Hope. It gets a little bigger every year. We have almost doubled the number of participants this year from last. Basically, we get sponsorships from community partnerships, from businesses all over the community who help sponsor to put this tournament on. It is held down at the beach pickleball courts here in Carlsbad. I think as of right now, I have a little over 70 doubles teams signed up for the tournament,” said Simmons.
“On the Thursday and Friday night, the week prior to the tournament, my sister—her name is Dena Quigley, she lives in Washington state, she is a certified pickleball coach—she comes down, and she does a beginner’s clinic for anyone wanting to learn to play pickleball and just get some of the basics down. We also do a beginner round-robin tournament for beginners who are just starting out and aren’t confident enough in their skills to jump into a major tournament,” said Simmons.
“Pickleball as a sport is just on fire right now,” said Simmons. “This is a great fundraiser for us because so many people are involved and so many people are excited about it. We get teams from all over the area—Midland, Hobbs, of course, Artesia; we’ve had some from Cruces come. Word is getting out about coming to Carlsbad to play, so we are very excited about that,” she said.
Fees include $45 per person for the beginner’s clinic, $15 per person for the beginner’s round-robin tournament, and for the actual tournament, the fee is $50 per team, according to Simmons. Teams consist of two people. “We play gender doubles, which is men’s doubles or women’s doubles. Sunday is our mixed doubles—a pair of a male and a female,” said Simmons.
“Every year, we have food trucks that come down and park at the beach,” said Simmons. House of Grub, Mini Pancakes and Bubble Tea, Carrot Top, and Grind Time Coffee are expected to be there this year.
“We have several sponsors this year; we have had a great response. Our highest level of sponsorships are companies who actually sponsored a court; we call them our Supreme Court Sponsors,” said Simmons. These include BOC Wealth; Martin, Dugan and Martin Law Firm; R12 Construction; B&R Trucking; Hughes Commercial Properties; Triple T Linings; Dr. Robert Ali; Teko Outdoors; and God’s Light in the Darkness Foundation.
“I would like to say how grateful we are to the Carlsbad community for always supporting Brittany’s Hope. They are so very generous, and so many people in the community remember Brittany and knew her really well,” said Simmons. She said that she wishes that supporters could see the real impact that she sees in working with the clients everyday that receive this funding. “I wish they could see the difference they are truly making in these people’s lives because they would have no hope if not for some of this funding; they truly could not even receive treatment. We’re just so very grateful for the community always rallying behind us and stepping in to just bless other people,” said Simmons.
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