Pickleball Lehigh Valley (PLV) to host United Pickleball Association PA State Championships

The United Pickleball Association (UPA) has announced it will host the Pennsylvania United Pickleball State Championship Series at Pickleball Lehigh Valley from Sept. 13-15. The event will take place at Pickleball Lehigh Valley in the new St. Luke’s SportsPlex.

The Pennsylvania UPA State Championships will identify the top amateur pickleball players in the country, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the St. Luke’s Rising Stars Fund, which benefits children and families from underserved communities.

Pickleball Lehigh Valley (PLV) is a community that focuses on fun, competition and connecting with others while playing the game we love. Housed within six 8,000-square-foot bays, there are 12 hardcourt pickleball courts, 12 hardwood courts and an Event Center which is also lined for pickleball, bringing the total indoor courts to 25. PLV is also home to a 22-court, 3-acre outdoor pickleball venue that offers ample parking on and off site for large local, regional and national tournaments. St. Luke’s SportsPlex is one of the largest pickleball and indoor/outdoor sports facilities on the East Coast.

“Pickleball Lehigh Valley is proud to host such a high-profile tournament of this caliber at our brand new facility,” says John Hauth, Senior Network Administrator, Sports Medicine Relationships. “Never before has a championship pickleball series of this magnitude been held in the Lehigh Valley or anywhere else in the region for that matter, and we are thrilled to welcome players from across the state here to Pickleball Lehigh Valley and the St. Luke’s SportsPlex.”

Skill Levels include: 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0. Age groups are 18U, 19+, 35+, 50+, 60+, 70+ and playing divisions include MS, WS, MD, WD, MXD. Each state championship medalist will qualify for the elite Champions Division brackets, earning the potential to move on to the UPA World Championships at the Brookhaven Country Club in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 4-10, 2024. State champions receive free registration into the UPA World Championships and will compete in the exclusive Champions Division brackets to determine the best amateurs in the country. Second place finishers will receive a 50% off their registration fee, and third place finishers will receive 33% off.

“This is a tournament we are thrilled to have at our facility,” says Deb Schlosser, Tournament Director, Pickleball Lehigh Valley. “For a few days, PLV and St. Luke’s SportsPlex will be pickleball central because the UPA World Championships is the ultimate pickleball party. It’s the fastest growing sport in the country and we are at the forefront of that popularity here in the Lehigh Valley.”

 

To register for the Pennsylvania UPA State Championship Series, visit PickleballBrackets.com. PLV and St. Luke’s SportsPlex are located at 3646 Crackersport Road. Space is limited. For more information, or interest in sponsorship opportunities, contact PLVinquiry@gmail.com.

 

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital.

Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke’s, a member of the Children’s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley’s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.

SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital.  The Network’s flagship University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from Fortune/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.  In 2021, St. Luke’s was identified as one of the 15 Top Health Systems nationally.  Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  The Network is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest-cost providers.