Gordon Chamber young professionals host third annual pickleball tournament

The Gordon Chamber Young Professionals Committee brought a dozen teams to Pickleball 706 in Calhoun on Saturday, May 9, for its third annual pickleball tournament, using the sport again as a networking and fundraising engine.

For the committee, the event fits neatly with its 2026 Program of Work, which calls for expanding networking opportunities, fostering professional development and engaging members through fresh, energetic events. Pickleball has become the easy sell inside that plan: it is approachable for newcomers, gives participants natural breaks for conversation between matches and can be staged without the scale of a full tournament weekend. The chamber has also used this format to replace its long-running Amazing Race event, turning pickleball into a repeatable annual fixture rather than a novelty.

That makes the tournament more than a recreational outing. The Gordon County Chamber of Commerce says its mission is to connect members and the community to promote economic growth, and the Young Professionals Committee has become one of the ways it puts that mission into action. Steven Proper of Shaw Industries Group is listed as the 2026 Young Professionals chair, giving the event another direct tie to one of the county’s major employers and to the local business network the chamber is trying to build.

Pickleball 706 was a fitting host. The facility bills itself as North Georgia’s first indoor pickleball venue and lists eight courts, a skinny singles court, a full-service pro shop and a lounge area among its amenities, along with ping pong, foosball and other offerings. For a chamber tournament with 12 teams in the draw, that setup gives participants room to play and enough space to linger, talk and make the kind of connections the committee is chasing.

The larger backdrop helps explain why the formula keeps working. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association said about 24.3 million Americans played pickleball in 2025, up from 19.8 million in 2024, and the sport had already logged a third straight year of growth in late 2024, with court and facility demand still running strong. In that context, the Gordon Chamber’s tournament was more than a local date on the calendar. It was another sign that pickleball has settled in as a durable civic and business-networking tool, one that chambers and young-professional groups can return to year after year.