Women picklers took to the courts Sunday evening for a casual pickleball non-tournament. What was billed as an opportunity for women to shine was orchestrated by Betsey Andersen and Lisa Tocci. While Franklin Creek Court Sports sponsors many excellent tournaments during the year, most are organized as ratings specific events. This means there is little opportunity for a player with a lower rating to play a higher rated player in a tournament. According to Betsey, “We wanted to play against some great women pickle ballers. We didn’t want to play under strict tournament conditions, but we did want competitive play.”
The field included eight teams. Each team was made up of two women, one with a rating of 4.0 or higher and another no less than 3.5. Teams were drawn randomly and were to play seven games apiece. As Lisa puts it, “We wanted to have a fun and competitive field of players, while building camaraderie and community. Although playing with the guys is a lot of fun, this gave us the opportunity to shine as women.”
While the relatively new DUPR rating system has been good for pickleball overall, it does seem to have created a situation where there is little incentive for higher rated players to compete against those with lower ratings. This makes it difficult for individuals to move up in tournament play. However, it should be noted, DUPR is improving their algorithm, allowing for a lesser differential between player ratings. This should promote more opportunities between players with different ratings.
While Sunday’s event was competitive, it blended levels of play. The net result was that women with 3.5 ratings were able to see how well they’d play against higher rated players, and the 4.0 women discovered new competition.
Betsey and Lisa devised a poker theme to determine ultimate winners of the event. Each team was to play every other team in one game to eleven. The winning team drew three playing cards after each round, while the losing team drew one. At the end of the event, the team with the best poker hand was deemed the winner. Because of the poker theme, many of the women dressed accordingly, making the event a festive Landings Club affair.
Apparently not happy about being upstaged by a group of upstart women, Mother Nature decided to intervene. After playing four of the scheduled seven matches the skies opened and play was suspended. But that did not mean awards were not meted out. Janet Eastwood and Claire O’Donnell won the most games and Courtney Neely and Krista Poppell drew the best poker hand. Dinah Zapatka got the coveted award for best dressed.
According to Lisa, even though the event was rain shortened it was a huge success. “We had ambitious play among strong women, with a little extra sass!” Betsey is emphatic. “We got great play and we had a blast. We do plan on organizing more women’s pickleball events in the future.”
