Thanks to the Founding Fathers, many of us enjoy a well-earned day off in July to indulge in traditional backyard barbeques, fireworks and naturally, pickleball. Not that Tom Jefferson, John Adams and their gang of revolutionaries had much leisure time themselves; they were too busy writing the Declaration of Independence and ushering the Limeys out the door. Apropos of nothing, my ancestor Tench Tilghman, was George Washington’s Aide de Camp. It was Tilghman who rode from Yorktown to Philadelphia in October 1781 to report to the Continental Congress that Cornwallis had surrendered. Legend has it, in the much-honored family tradition, he had to sober up before delivering his message.
Fast forward 247 years to The Landings in 2024. While the Founding Fathers could not have envisioned pickleball, they surely endorsed the right of all citizens to celebrate our independence. And The Landings pulls out all the stops. Alex Fox and Bradley Morse hosted a pickleball round robin that drew one hundred twelve contestants. By comparison, the tennis round robin drew fifty. I’m not sure what that indicates, except that the pickleball explosion is far from over. In any event, the contestants were separated into two large groups: one for players rated up to 3.0 and the other, a somewhat smaller group of those with higher ratings. All contestants were divided into twenty-eight teams of four equally matched players. For instance, my wife Ellen and I played as a pair and were teamed with Ella Randall Lee and Morgan Allison, two recent UGA grads whose parents live at The Landings.
Matches were timed. Each pair played for ten-minutes before being replaced by the pair they were teamed with. At the end of each match, the winning team moved up a court while the losing side moved down. To signal the start and finish of play, the always frenetic Mike Stephenson ran from court to court ringing a bell.
There was no pressure - no ribbons or medals were awarded – each team could rate themselves by how many courts they advanced. In many ways, it is the perfect format with which to fully appreciate at which level one should be playing. According to Ansley Baker, another UGA grad and pickleball enthusiast who was there to watch our partners play, “Pickleball is by far the most democratic of sports. It is a sport for all types. Players can be old or young, male or female. It really doesn’t make a difference.” Ansley is correct.
The round robin lasted two hours; every team played five matches. At the end, some stayed to enjoy liquid refreshment – perhaps in the time-honored tradition of Tench Tilghman – others headed home to prepare for barbeques and fireworks. All agreed, Alex and Bradley threw a pickle party that would have made the Founding Fathers proud. Indeed, instead of spending our time tossing tea into Boston Harbor or taking potshots at Redcoats, we were basking in the freedoms our forebearers bestowed.