How to get started playing competitive pickleball (Midwest 2022)
A friend who was looking to get into pickleball asked me this the other day, and I wanted to share more publicly.
To play competitively, which I would say is at the 4.5+ level, this is the approach I would take:
Play in recreational open plays in your local area. Most of the parks and places to play have assigned times where 20+ people will show up. Find a place and time that works for your schedule and start playing. Most open play players I see are in the 2.5 - 3.5 level and are some of the nicest and most welcoming people. Here you will learn the rules and some initial strategies. You should be able to win most of your games you play.
Sign up for local ladder league play. Pickleball clubs are popping up in all the cities and areas with courts. Sign up for some of their competitive leagues (most have a 3.5 - 4.5+ group). Play in the ladder leagues where you can get a feel for organized competitive games.
Matched Rec Play. Now that you have met some of the better players in your area, start to organize groups of 4 - 8 to play at times that work for everyone. This is similar to open plays but just with higher skilled players. This is a great opportunity to find a partner for tournaments.
Tournament Play. Local tournaments, APP Tournaments, PPA Tournaments, and DUPR events are an increased level of competitiveness from the players you are playing. Everyone still has fun, but everyone is trying to win. See how you stack up against some of the best.
Drilling / Practice. Once you have been playing in tournaments, you should learn what you need to work on, and how to get better. Find people to drill on particular skills (more on a good rhythm later) and find the highest competition to get some regularly scheduled rec play with them.
For me, it took about a year of hard work to go to all the different parks to play, a lot of moving my schedule around, feeling kind of awkward at each new place and asking people if they want to play — and even more awkward in slowly stopping playing with groups after your level has consistently surpassed them (and do this honorably — since they brought you in and made you better).
You might also find, that the top players and groups are especially hard to break into for a few reasons:
They already have an even number and backups and everyone only has limited time per week they can play
They want to bring in better players, but most likely you won’t be the best to start — but what matters is how good you can get with them.
They don’t want to have to “uninvite” players if they don’t make the group better or challenge them. Everyone has a different tolerance for “onboarding” to a new group, but sometimes its better to find a different group.