If you want to get the PickleballChicks Hen House worked up, ask about age brackets in a tournament.
Oh hell ya, these sisters have something to say.
I’ve heard many many points of view about dividing tournaments and events into age brackets vs dividing by skill level.
My research on the topic up until now has been fairly, let’s say, unsophisticated.
Unlike most normal people who ask fellow players about their favorite pickleball vacation spot, or their new shoes or their paddle, I’m the Chick who will ask you, “What do you think about age brackets in tournaments?”
I’ve gotten plenty of great informal feedback face to face over icy coffees, at the pool (I’m talking to you Josette!) and on the pickleball courts (hello Audrey!).
Last week I decided to take my research a step further by asking a few hundred Chicks for official feedback on the age bracket vs skill bracket question via an online poll.
Here’s what the Chicks chirped:
In response to the question, “How strongly do you feel about playing in pickleball tournaments only with your own age group?”, 46% rated it as a 1 out of 5 in importance with 15% citing age brackets as the most important.
Asked about age brackets in another way, almost twice the Chicks said tournaments with skill brackets (not age brackets) was their preference with a full 33% clucking on the proverbial Hen House fence.
The research points me to skill brackets and not necessarily age brackets.
This fits with my vibe.
My gravestone will one day say, “She built a longer table and not a higher fence”.
Which means that i want to create the biggest most wide open tent there is. I want the doors to swing wide to all Chicks. Of all ages. I want rainbows and puppies and unicorns to fly around in this huge tent we’re building and for pickleball and joy and fun and inspiration and sisterhood to ooze out of every inch of the place.
And let’s not forget to put this into perspective. PickleballChicks is NOT the US Open (whaaaat??? It’s not??? WFT are we doing here??).
Kidding aside, PickleballChicks is for us Chicks who love the game, hone our skills, take competition seriously but let’s just say, Selkirk isn’t knocking on the door with a sponsorship deal.
We’re 3.0-ish players.
And yes, some Chicks will go beyond the 3.0-ish level and fly up and away into bigger more fierce tournaments (with the rest of us cheering them on every step of the way)
… and some Chicks (like me) will stay in our 3.0-ish Hen House, happy to have a chance to flex our muscles or for those of us over 60, have a chance to flex our arm flaps against Chicks of all ages.
HAVING SAID THAT, everything in life is fluid. What we know today, we sometimes know better tomorrow.
Here’s my challenge: To gatekeep our PickleballChicks tournaments and events closely – that means trying very hard to ensure Chicks register for the right skill level. Making play fair and well matched….which is where DUPR comes in lol…to read my POV on that can of worms, click here.
If you’re a PickleballChick or align with our Peace, Love, Pickleball ideals, leave us a comment on what you think about age brackets vs skill brackets at our level of play. Or better yet, complete our online poll … I’m all ears!
Sharon Ricci
Founder and Head Chick
PickleballChicks.org
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