Huntsville Pickleball on the Moon draws 300, raises funds for cancer aid

Huntsville’s Pickleball on the Moon brought 300 players through The Picklr over May 2-3, turning the fifth annual event into one of the area’s biggest amateur pickleball weekends and a fundraiser with a direct local payoff. The tournament, staged on 11 indoor courts including seven championship-sized courts, linked competition to a cause that reaches beyond the brackets: every dollar from the event supported the Breast Cancer Patient Assistance Fund through the Huntsville Hospital Foundation.

That fund helps Breast Center patients cover everyday costs that can become barriers during treatment, including rent, utilities, gas and transportation. The scale of that need is not small. Huntsville Hospital Foundation said its patient assistance program provided $419,229 in patient assistance in 2023, a figure that underscores why a tournament like this matters far beyond medal rounds and prize money.

The event was built to feel like more than a standard Saturday tournament. It opened with a Friday celebration at Back Forty Brewing Company that included live music and prizes, then shifted into women’s and men’s doubles on Saturday and mixed doubles on Sunday. Registration ran from March 10 through April 24, with an early-bird fee of $50 and a regular fee of $60, while players entering more than one division could pay additional-event pricing. Open divisions offered $500 in prize money, and medal rounds were officiated under USA Pickleball rules.

The player count marked real growth from a year ago. A 2025 listing for Pickleball on the Moon showed 249 players, so the 2026 field increased by 51 entrants. That jump fits the broader arc of the Huntsville Pickleball Club, which says it was founded in 2013 and has grown from 25 members that year to 415 in 2022, according to a local profile. The club’s nonprofit filing says its purpose is to promote and develop pickleball in Huntsville and Madison County, and this weekend’s turnout showed how that mission now extends into fundraising as well as play.

At The Picklr, the combination of social event, sanctioned structure and charitable purpose gave the tournament its edge. Players got a full-service amateur experience, and local patients got support for the expenses that can decide whether treatment stays on track.