El Paso Pickleball Tournament Draws Record Crowd Despite Scorching Heat

The second annual Nusenda Credit Union Sun Bowl Pickleball Tournament drew a bigger crowd this year, with organizers crediting the timing of the event for its success. Held March 20-22, 2026, at Eastwood High School in El Paso, the tournament tested both players and organizers as unseasonably warm temperatures settled over the Sun City courts.

Organizers reported more than 200 people participated, double the attendance from last year. Some teams also had a chance to win up to $4,000 in prize money. That kind of purse, combined with a field that grew by 100 percent in just one year, signals that El Paso's pickleball scene is no longer a quiet weekend hobby.

Nusenda Credit Union teamed up with the Sun Bowl Association to host the event. Bernie Olivas, the executive director of the Sun Bowl Association, framed the growth in straightforward terms: "I think we found a pretty good time of the year, after the cold and before the winds." Olivas added: "We've been lucky both years that the winds didn't hit us, because it's very hard to play pickleball with wind and a wiffle ball." The heat, it turns out, was the easier obstacle.

The El Paso surge fits into a pattern playing out across the country. The 2025 Jenius Bank Pickleball World Championships returned to Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch, Texas, and smashed records, drawing a crowd of more than 60,000 and pulling in over $1.1 million in combined ticket and hospitality revenue. Nearly all 50 states were represented in the amateur competition, which featured a record 4,400 participants, including players from 38 countries competing in more than 6,000 matches during what was billed as the world's biggest pickleball event.

The amateur-to-pro pipeline that defines pickleball's growth was fully on display at that event as well. Eighteen-year-old Anna Leigh Waters became the winningest player in Carvana PPA Tour history, achieving a triple crown victory to win her record-breaking 168th career title. Fan engagement off the courts was equally staggering: Pickleballtv logged a record 70 million minutes viewed, official social media handles accumulated 54 million impressions, and earned media coverage generated 1.2 billion potential international and domestic impressions.

Back in El Paso, the scoreboard tells a simpler but equally compelling story: 100 players one year, more than 200 the next. If the Sun Bowl Association keeps finding that sweet spot between the cold and the winds, the third annual edition could push those numbers further still.