BATON ROUGE — The country’s fastest-growing sport, pickleball, aims to crush cancer with a new benefit tournament in Baton Rouge.
Pickleball has increased in popularity by nearly 225 percent, according to USA Pickball’s growth report, since 2020 when the sport began to pick up steam.
Cancer survivor Courtney Fournet now wants to use the sport’s surging popularity to raise funds for an important cause — the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Fournet was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at just 27-years-old and said she and her husband utilized resources from the society during her cancer battle.
“I really knew nothing about leukemia and different types of leukemias, type of treatment, and so my husband and my family relied on the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society a lot during that time to learn about the different treatments and just what the disease was, and we also used it to kind of learn about different clinical trials and leukemia lymphoma.”
Fournet has been in remission since 2022 and said she wants to give back to the organization that provided light for her and her family during some of their darkest days.
“I met a lot of other young cancer patients that weren’t as blessed, that didn’t have as much access to the resources and didn’t know that the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society offered, the kinds of resources that they do and while fundraising supports the society monetarily, it also gets the word out there about this organization,” Fournet said.
Fournet’s journey with pickleball began shortly after her cancer treatments started. She said playing the sport recreationally with her husband helped her take control over her body again after the grueling treatments.
“It’s one of those fun things that almost anyone can pick up .You might not be the best at it at first but you can play,” Fournet explained.
The Crush Cancer Pickleball Tournament will run from 12:30 through 4:30 p.m., on Sunday, Sept. 29 at Stacks Pickleball in Baton Rouge, located at 1000 Celtic Drive Stage #4.
The tournament includes a men’s, women’s, and co-ed division.
Attendees are asked to include their team level skill as either beginner, intermediate or advanced.
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