Jake is a software engineer from Minnesota who loves pickleball and how it brings people together of all ages and sports backgrounds. He first played in a DUPR Waterfall Tournament at Lucky Shots Pickleball Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

DUPR first introduced the waterfall concept back in July 2022 when they announced the first ever Newport Beach DUPR Waterfall Presented by Takeya, which at the time had the largest prize purse in pickleball history at $100,000.

A DUPR Waterfall is a newer tournament format and came to life in 2023 with thousands of players entering into hundreds of tournaments across the country. It offers players four competitive matches all within a four-hour period. Players sign up with or without a partner and DUPR will create brackets of 16 teams based on the rating of the highest DUPR-rated player of the team.

What do you like about DUPR Waterfalls?

"I’d recommend Waterfalls to other pickleball players because they’re a cool twist on traditional pickleball tournaments. It’s exciting how everyone in your bracket plays at the same time, and it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, you still get to play 4 matches," said Jake.

What makes people want to play in a DUPR Waterfall?

Jake said, “I was excited about how everyone in your bracket plays at the same time and that no matter if you win or lose you get to play four matches.”  

Most pickleball players will agree that the downside to the standard pickleball tournament is that there is too much downtime, or too much time in between matches, whereas in a waterfall format, players can expect to play for a specific four-hour timeframe on a given day.

Jake Bendickson played in a DUPR Waterfall in 2023, won a platinum ticket, and will have free entry into the DUPR Waterfall Nationals next month. The DUPR Waterfall Nationals takes place in Rockwall, TX on October 12-15, 2023, and there will be over $20,000 in prize money given away.

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About Lucky Shots Pickleball Club:

Lucky Shots Pickleball Club has over twenty five hundred players on the DUPR platform and they are based in a historical office/warehouse originally built in 1947 for the Foley Manufacturing Company. Over the last several years, First & First has been actively transforming the property, which led to converting 40,000 square feet of the building into the Lucky Shots Pickleball facility. More info on their website.