QC, THAT'S WHERE!
QC, THAT'S WHERE!
Game, Set, Match: The PPA Challenger Series Comes to the Quad Cities
Dylan Wiemers, Club Director at the QC Tennis Club, brings a unique perspective to the local sports scene. Growing up in Coal Valley and training at the very facility he now manages, his journey from competitive college player to club director reflects the deep community bonds formed through sports in the Quad Cities.
The 50-year legacy of the QC Tennis Club has entered an exciting new chapter with the rise of pickleball. When the club converted three tennis courts into nine indoor pickleball courts in 2021, they witnessed what Wiemers calls "a game changer for the community." This strategic pivot helped introduce a whole new demographic to racquet sports while maintaining their tennis traditions. The club continues evolving with recent additions including outdoor tennis courts and three new grass courts, positioning it as a premier regional facility.
Now the QC Tennis Club prepares to host the Professional Pickleball Association Challenger Series tournament August 15-17, 2023. This event uniquely combines professional competition with opportunities for local players across skill levels (from 3.0 beginners to 5.5+ pros) to participate, creating what Wiemers describes as a valuable development opportunity to "learn how to play against people that they don't play against on a daily basis." The tournament exemplifies how the Quad Cities leverages its sporting infrastructure to build community connections and attract visitors.
Beyond racquet sports, Wiemers highlights the region's comprehensive sports offerings, from exceptional golf courses to professional baseball and hockey teams. Combined with unique local dining experiences like Whitey's, Hungry Hobo, and Happy Joe's, these attractions make the Quad Cities a distinctive destination. As Wiemers aptly summarizes the destination as "QC, that's where community is built" – through these shared sporting experiences and local treasures.
Join us for the PPA Challenger Series this August and experience firsthand how the Quad Cities continues building community through sports. Register now at PPATourQC.com and book your accommodations early, as hotels fill quickly during this peak summer season!
Find more information about the QC Tennis Club at qctennisclub.com
QC, That's Where is a podcast powered by Visit Quad Cities. Through the people, partnerships, and personalities woven throughout the Quad Cities region, you'll meet real Quad Citizens and hear the untold stories of the region.
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We're really excited for players that play here all the time get to play in the event, even if they're not looking to play on the Pro Series, and it really helps develop them and learn how to play against people that they don't play against on a daily basis. They play against people that are traveling from New York, chicago, all over the place, just to play in this event.
Speaker 2:Where do you find a family of communities connected by the storied Mississippi River, where young explorers and dreamers, investors and entrepreneurs thrive? Where can you connect with real people living and creating in a place that's as genuine as it is quirky QC? That's where.
Speaker 3:Welcome to QC. That's where I'm your host, katrina, and I'm so pumped today to be talking to Dylan Wiemers, the club director at the QC Tennis Club. Dylan, what's going on? How are you doing?
Speaker 1:Good, how are you? Thank you for having me on. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh, my gosh, absolutely. I'm doing great and we've been buzzing a lot over here at Visit Quad Cities about the Professional Pickleball Association Challenger Series that's coming up in August with you guys. So Professional Pickleball Association Challenger Series that's coming up in August with you guys. So right now it's early July of 2025. So if you're listening in the future, hello. But I wanted to sit down with Dylan today and just kind of chat about you know, dylan, everything that kind of makes you you as like a tennis guy, but also you know a quad citizen, and we need to dig into all the exciting things happening at the tennis club too. So I want to start with just a little bit about you and your role. If you could just kind of give us the backdrop of what is your day-to-day with the QC Tennis Club.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so to start kind of you know a little bit about myself is I grew up in this area, grew up in Coal Valley and played tennis my whole life. You know started playing when I was in middle school and you know I fell in love with ever since. I actually came here as a kid to train and develop as a player and once I, you know, got to a certain level I started to reach out to some colleges and ended up at Luther College in Decorah, iowa, where I played four years of tennis out there. So you know that was a great fundamental part of my life of learning how to play tennis but also, you know, being around this area and learning how special tennis is to this community.
Speaker 3:What was that? Like playing competitively, but also like preparing yourself for a career in this industry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean competitive tennis has a lot of fundamental aspects that can help you as a not only a tennis player, but also as just a human being. Um, learning, to, you know, develop lifelong skills, lifelong friendships that, you know, last your whole life. And um, I'm really, you know, happy that I was able to play college tennis, because it taught me a lot more than you know what it wouldn't have taught me. Um, you know, I learned how to be resilient, I learned how to be motivated and really time management skills is, you know, a huge thing in, obviously, the work industry. So, you know, it was a really good feeling to be able to shift from being a, you know, a college athlete to, you know, still being in the tennis industry, but learning how to run a tennis club rather than just playing tennis.
Speaker 3:So, when did you start at the tennis club?
Speaker 1:So I started here right after COVID in 2021. I've been here for four, five years now. First four years I was more doing some on court stuff with you know, helping out some classes and doing some park board programs and stuff like that. And that's when I kind of fell in love with you know being in teaching tennis, just learning how to develop kids and making them better tennis players. But also I fell in love with the management side of it of learning how to control what happens on the court, learning what programs to run, what tournaments to run and all that you know fun stuff that goes along with my job.
Speaker 3:What have been like the biggest lessons along the way as far as what works, what doesn't. What do people gravitate to?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think the biggest lesson that I've learned so far is, you know, being able to listen to the community and listen to the members and what they want, because at the end of the day, it's not me that's going out there to play, it's the members in the community. So just, you know, getting the feedback from them and really listening to them is a huge part of my job, and building connections with tennis and pickleball members to see what I can do to better enhance the club experience, and that's a big part of what I do.
Speaker 3:So let's talk in the pickleball realm for a little bit. So I think I personally became aware that pickleball was even a thing, maybe in like 2014,. Maybe I personally became aware that pickleball was even a thing, maybe in like 2014, maybe and so when did you start seeing it really come on the scene?
Speaker 1:yeah, so I was around the same time. 2014-2015 is when I saw people start playing it with the setup nets that you kind of set up. I didn't really start to see designated pickleball courts until, you know, five, five or six years later. But that's really when after COVID is really when that big push of pickleball really started to, you know, come out and that's when I started to play as well, especially, you know, playing tennis all the time.
Speaker 1:It translates very well to the pickleball sport. You know, it's the same motions and stuff like that. So I really fell in love with the sport right after college. It was, you know, it's the same motions and stuff like that. So I really fell in love with the sport right after college. It was, you know, it was easy for me to translate and you know, compete with players. I've been playing for five to ten years so I mean, you know that really helped me out and playing in some fundraiser tournaments, crimestoppers and some stuff like that. It really helps out with, you know, building the community and trying to do what you can to. You know, get to know everyone that plays pickleball in the Quad Cities.
Speaker 3:Okay, so to kind of help develop the pickleball need the itch that everybody's kind of got to at least try it or form a league or you know, just get out there and play with buddies or whatever Like what have you guys had to do to the QC Tennis Club to start accommodating?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great question. So about five years ago four years ago, 2021, we noticed the urge of people to start playing a lot of pickleball and when that happened, we knew it was a great idea to turn in three of our tennis courts to nine indoor pickleball courts. Once we did that, it was a game changer for the community, for us and you know everyone that wasn't part of it. You, you know we get so many people that come in here for pickleball on a daily basis and you know they really have a good time, and the one aspect of pickleball that we try to, you know, make people feel is just to have fun with it.
Speaker 1:You know that's how you get people to come back. Is they bring their friends. They bring, you know, people that they know really well and they just have fun out there. It really doesn't matter who wins and loses when you just start picking up a paddle for the first time, but are you able to have fun and, you know, have a social aspect as well, as you know being competitive as well. So there's, the best thing about the sport is there's different ways to play. It's kind of like golf, where you can play just for fun, but you can also play it very seriously and competitively, as we've seen. You know, the PPA Tour has really taken over the past three years.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so okay. So the Professional Pickleball Association Challenger Series. You guys are our host venue. It's something that Visit Quad Cities recruited and pursued and went after, and we got it, and here it's coming. Got it and here it's coming. And so what? What is it going to mean for the tennis club to be the host venue, and you know the, the place where all of these pros and novices are meeting for this event? Tell me just what does this mean for you guys and what's it going to look like.
Speaker 1:Well, one it's. It's really cool just to see some of the top players play in front of your eyes. You know, when you go to a pro event you're kind of starstruck by how good the level is compared to what you're usually seeing on a daily basis. So that's the number one thing is just being able to see some of those top guys compete against each other is something that you know it is really exciting to look forward to. You know, the summertime in the Quad Cities is a great time for, you know, the John Deere Classic is happening right now and that gets a lot of tourist attraction in the Quad Cities. But you know, I'm really excited to bring another event in August that can do the same thing as well as the John Deere Classic, of providing, you know, a watch party and people that haven't played pickleball before or that are avid pickleball players in the quad cities to just come out and see what the pro circuit is like for a different sport that they haven't seen in this area before.
Speaker 3:So so kind of school me on how a tournament like this works, because it's it's not just professionals but like people locally can come and play too yep, yep, that's, uh, exactly right.
Speaker 1:So there's two different events.
Speaker 1:There's a, you know, open division and then there's a pro division.
Speaker 1:The open division ranges from all skill levels, uh, three oh to five oh, and then the pro division is five, five and above, um, and you know, we're really excited for players that play here all the time get to play in the event even if they're not looking to play on the pro series, and it really helps develop them and learn how to play against people that they don't play against on a daily basis. They play against people that are traveling from New York, chicago, all over the place, just to play in this event. So it really helps out and we've never hosted a tournament with this many players that are expected to come. So, you know, as far as the tournament desk side and the management side of the tournament, we're really, you know, it's very new for us and we're really excited to see, you know how they run a tournament with, you know, 400 players in it. It's going to be really cool to see how they do it and we'll learn a lot of things from it and we're really excited for it.
Speaker 3:On, like the registration side, you know, how does someone who's kind of you know maybe they're, maybe they're newer, maybe they're just trying to like get their skill up? Like, how do they know whether or not this would be right for them to register for?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so mainly everyone that plays pickleball goes through this app called duper. Um. It's basically how you rate yourself, um, and you. You're rated from a one oh to you know, a 7-0. And once you play in a tournament or two, you get your own rating. And once you get your own rating, you know what level you're at and you know what division to sign up for. And you know the PPA has a lot of resources out there that help you figure out what division will be best for you at the end of the day. So you know the PPA does a lot for it. And also, just you know, looking online, seeing what skills you have, it will help you out a lot and determine what division you should play in.
Speaker 3:I feel like pickleball right now is I mean, maybe this isn't the right term, but it's almost like a sleeping giant, like it's been creeping up on us for the last decade. I still have yet to play it, but I think I have a conversation about pickleball, like at least twice a week right now, and it's not just because of the Challenger Series, but like, like people in the office, they play and everybody knows someone who plays and like all of our in the Quad Cities, all of our parks and rec departments are expanding their tennis courts to accommodate pickleball. Like, if you pick up a destination guide or if you look at, like you know, visit Quad Cities pickleball information online, like you see, you know the what used to be a traditional tennis court is now also a pickleball court, you know, nine times out of 10. So they're, they're just, they're everywhere and it's super fun. It's super fun that it's one of those things, like you said earlier, you have fun with it, kind of anybody can play and it's just, it's something that everyone can pick up and give a give a shot to. So, um, we're excited to see it.
Speaker 3:The, the PPA challenger series is coming to you guys um August 15th through 17th. So again, if you're, if you're listening, and that date has not yet come upon us, please register. We've got ppatourqccom set up so that you can learn a little bit more about how to register, what this is going to look like. There's also volunteers needed, so I also want to give a little congratulations to you guys at the QC Tennis Club, because you've made a huge investment in new courts, and so can you walk through. You know, maybe, if someone hasn't been to your facility in a year or more, what's different now if they come today or in a month.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, to start, you know probably 20 to 30 percent of people that come down here for the first time they don't even know that it existed. You know it's kind of hidden behind south park mall. So you know a lot of people are like, oh, I've never seen this facility, you know, because it's not right off the main street. But no, we've made a lot of improvements within the Quad C Tennis Club within the past five years. You know a bunch of renovations inside, along with two outdoor courts, two outdoor hard tennis courts outside, and then we're our newest project is building three grass courts to the left of our building. That we're really excited for and that will be a great time. We're just, you know, taking it step by step and just learning as we go. So you know a lot of renovations and you know it couldn't be happier with what we've done here and I know the community is really happy about you know, some of the things that we have done.
Speaker 3:And we're really excited to bring some you know, more events like this to this area, just because of the facility that we have. Yeah, just being able to house more opportunities and kind of fit in those different niches. You know age groups, what have you? And you know you said you guys do like lessons, you work with youth, so you've got the whole gamut of of age, skill level, the whole thing. I'm super excited for you guys. So how long has the tennis?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the tennis club has been around for 50 years and was built in 1974, 1975. And it's really taken over, you know, with just starting with tennis and now it's tennis and pickleball. So we've seen a lot of growth in both aspects, not just the pickleball side. We've also seen a growth in the tennis ability of playing. And you know we see, just like you said, you know, age range from you know five years old to you know 80 years old. So you know we see all ranges of play and it couldn't make us happier of, you know, getting everyone involved and at the end of the day it's just playing and you know, taking a healthy step in the right direction.
Speaker 3:So 50 years is nothing to shake a finger at. That is so exciting, that's such a big milestone. So congratulations again to all of you on, you know, sticking around and being such a staple for that long to this community. The Quad Cities is such a boomerang place, like. A lot of times we see people you know leave after high school or, you know, shortly after college and go do something somewhere else. But then a lot of times we see people come back and you know, I'd imagine with you know, such a legacy place and something that everybody has some kind of ingrained, you know, ingrainment into, whether you were a kid taking lessons or you went to a tournament at one point or something I imagine people probably come back from having been a kid at the QC Tennis Club and then they come back today and go oh my gosh, wow, this place has really, you know, really changed, really grown.
Speaker 1:Yeah, even seeing pictures of when I first started coming, you know, probably 15 years ago to now, it's a night and day difference. But just between you know the outside part of it and also the inside. It's crazy to see and you know I'm really thankful to be a part of the whole process.
Speaker 3:So so you've been with them four or five years now. So you know kind of, in that time do you have a highlight moment or something that sticks out to you, just in those four or five years?
Speaker 1:You know, I think my highlight moment is just the people that I've met throughout the journey of being here. You know the community is great and being able to be a part of it and you know, just learning and building connections that I never thought I would build is just something that I'm so thankful for. Just because you know, the more people you know and the more people that you are connected to you know, the better it will make you as a person, and you know, the more you will know, you know, the better it will make you as a person, and you know the more you will know.
Speaker 3:So I'm really excited about you know who I, who I still have to meet, and I'm really excited for the process of you know this whole tournament as well, so let's back it up college years before, all the way back to when you started as a kid, from from all of your years playing tennis and studying it and learning it and just immersing. Do you have a highlight moment through all those years?
Speaker 1:I think my one highlight moment throughout my tennis career would be in college. It was my sophomore year and it was. We were playing in a meet and it was 4-4. I was a deciding match and I ended up, you know, pulling through for the team and it was just a great experience for me, but also just learning how to, you know, be on a high for so long and my teammates were awesome and it was just a great moment in time and I'll remember it forever. So I think that was my one moment.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, it's always. It's always those ones where it's like it's up to you, Dylan.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of pressure. I'll tell you that.
Speaker 3:Did you get nervous or were you just amped on like adrenaline?
Speaker 1:I was. It was adrenaline, but I was shaking and it was just something that you know, you, you don't get in that position many times. So when you do, you can't prepare yourself for it, just because it's just in the moment. But you know, you just gotta get those nerves away and just play.
Speaker 3:So and those are the things that stick out. You know, the things that, like, do drum up the most like pressure and anxiety at the moment. That's what you're going to remember later. You know, and kind of like you were saying, the connectivity that you have made just people that you've met through the sport and through what you're doing in your career, I mean that means everything and so many people can relate, even if the people you encounter, like didn't compete in college, you know. But they have some kind of you know they have some kind of connection to a sport or they have some, you know, some kind of history with, whether they were, you know, track and field or baseball or what have you. You know those. That athlete kind of connection is. So it's so special and it's so like widespread. You can kind of relate regardless of which aspect you've been into. So it is really cool to think back and just look at how much people, how much people like you know, spend time and energy and cheer each other on, and so it's cool to see it all kind of happen here.
Speaker 3:The Quad Cities tennis obviously, pickleball obviously are huge, but you know we've got so many, so many like tentacles out in the sports world. So, like our sports commission, sports Q Bank Sports Complex have offered even more places for people to compete and youth to come and families to get introduced to the Quad Cities. It's a great segue for people to just kind of learn about. You know the people in the community or what the community has to offer in the sports world, but also like outside the sports world. So you know when you bring people into the QC, whether it's friends or family or whatever, if you're talking to someone from out of town, do you have any like highlight things that you recommend they do while they're in town, or do you have a favorite like Quad City thing that you like to spend time doing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know I come from a sports family and you know everything that I do most of the time is related to something that has to do with the sport either watching or playing a sport. Actually, this weekend my cousins are coming in town for the Classic. There's so many nice golf courses around here. That's really what I like to do is go golf. That's one of the highlights of the Quad Cities is the golf courses are very pristine, in great shape, and there's so many of them that you can choose from along with, you know, the casinos in town and some other stuff. That really the food.
Speaker 1:There's so much that I can say about the Quad Cities and I'm really glad that, as a sports fanatic, it's really growing as a sports community as well. So that's one thing that I really like to bring here and show them one. You know this facility. You know going to a river banners game, going to a storm game, you know it's just something that you can't really take for granted, because you know when you go to a town that like Decorah who doesn't have a sports team, you know you come back here and you're like, all right, you know I'm really happy here and I'm really happy that we have the sports community that we have.
Speaker 3:That was a really good list. Like that was a packed weekend of activity. That was a great list. I think it's so easy when you live here for five or more years, honestly, like it's easy to take for granted all of all the sports teams, the opportunities, the you know, even the natural assets we have. Mississippi River we drive by it every single day. I mean, it's one of the largest rivers in the world and and it's so vast and it does so much and it's just, oh hey, mississippi River.
Speaker 1:We take it for granted, for sure, yeah.
Speaker 3:My thing when I have like family or friends or whatever come into town, I always tout the oh, you can like get between Iowa and Illinois in, you know, 10 minutes or less, like literally anywhere in the Quad Cities is under a 20 minute drive, and the fact that we don't have to deal with traffic and commute times is everything to me and I love that so much. And that, oh, here I'm going to. If you're listening to the audio version, I'm going to explain to you my shirt that I'm wearing. It's one of our newer pieces of merch. It's Quad Cities Creative Capital of the Midwest, and so that's another huge asset that we can argue very strongly.
Speaker 3:With the Figge's new lighting structure, evanescent Field, the QC Art Trail, we have over 100 public art sculptures and murals and entities that people can consume and look at and enjoy while they're here. So we just have so much and thanks for that amazing list to just cherry on top everything the Quad Cities has to offer. Round it back to PPA tour coming here. So one or two things that we want to get people to be thinking about as August approaches. You know, if you want to talk, maybe registration or just watching, what couple things would you like to let people know about it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, one, I know in August, early August, mid-august, hotels fill up very quickly in this area. So you know, if you are looking to come down for the PPA challenger, book your hotel as soon as possible, just because you know the rooms do book very easily. So that's my one piece of advice. And and two is just explore the things that the Quad Cities has that no one else has has. You know, like Whitey's, hunger, hobo, happy Joe's you know that's just three of you know things that I like but that are just in this area that you don't get to experience, you know, when you go to Chicago or Des Moines or anything like that. So just experience what the Quad Cities is like while you're here.
Speaker 3:And if you do go to Hungry Hobo, you've got to get the 11. Personal opinion With the cheddar fry. With the cheddar fry, absolutely fry, absolutely okay. I'm glad we're in agreement here, okay, so, per tradition, at the end, of this podcast, I always have the guests fill in qc.
Speaker 1:That's where. So, dylan, what is your qc? That's where. Qc that's where community is built. I love it.
Speaker 3:I stand behind it. I think that's perfect. Um, okay, so PPATourQCcom, get some information about this awesome challenger series coming up. Check out the QC Tennis Club. There's just there's so much happening here. You guys have social media that I can throw on our Facebook page Yep Quatsitennisclubcom. Amazing.
Speaker 1:Same for Facebook and all that so easy to find. Yep Very easy to find.
Speaker 3:All right, thanks, dylan.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening to QC. That's when a podcast powered by Visit Quad Cities Text VISITQC to 38314 for insider events, activities and updates sent straight to your phone. That's V-I-S-I-T-Q-C, one word to 38314. Message and data rates may apply.
