Why Should You Play In A Pickleball Tournament?

Often, when people first start playing pickleball, the last thing on their mind is a tournament. They are just learning the game and the rules. Tournaments are not even considered.

However, as players get better and play progressively more competitive opponents, eventually the subject of tournaments will come up.

Other players often ask if you are planning to play in some upcoming tournament.

So, people then ask themselves, “Should I try to play in a tournament?”

The answer to that question should be a resounding, YES!

The great thing about pickleball is that there are lots of tournaments available. Many of them are broken down into groups based on skill level, gender, age, or all the above.

There are several good reasons to play in tournaments.

Here are a few of the reasons:

1. Community – If you thought the pickleball community at your local courts was great, just wait till you play in tournaments. You usually play tournaments with others from your local courts. But, you then become closer friends, because you now share in a common experience. In addition, you will meet people from other places and will likely become friends with some of them. Sometimes, you may even meet people of other skill levels and strike up great conversations. You already share two things in common with them. An interest in or love of pickleball, and the experience of playing in a tournament. Yet, it’s amazing how many times you find several things in common with other players, beyond just pickleball. If you play in several tournaments, you will likely see some of the same people there each time. As stated previously, you may very well make some new friends. And once you play in a tournament, you are part of the club, the club of pickleball players who went beyond the rec games and played for medals. Trust me, it changes you. In a great way!

2. Better assessment of your skill level – Do you mostly play with the same people over and over? If you do, then you learn their tendencies as well as their strengths and weaknesses. When you play in tournaments, you don’t know those things about your opponents on the front end. But, you learn them as you play. You then can upgrade your strategy to attack their weaknesses. Yet, they are doing the same to you. In tournaments, you are usually separated into skill level brackets. So, you get to see how well you match up against similar skill level opponents. If they are defeating you easily, you may need to go down in skill level. If you are winning easily, you may need to go up in skill level. Either way tournaments give you that type of feedback. And it is good to know.

3. Competition – Some people are content to just play pickleball for fun with no care about whether they win or lose. If that is you, then you definitely should not play in tournaments. Others, however, love the competition. They want to improve. They hate to lose! If that is you, then you definitely should play in tournaments. Tournaments can be very competitive. Do you like competing? Then tournaments are the way to go.

4. Provides you goals to reach – If you play in tournaments, your weaknesses will be exposed. So, they help you see what your weaknesses are. Then, you can set your own goals for improvement. You can then set objectives of drills you want to do to improve your game. You can preferentially work on improving those skills during practice. Then, at the next tournament, you will be able to tell how your efforts paid off.

So, should you play in tournaments?

That decision is up to you.

But, if you desire any of the four points above, I highly recommend it!

Good luck!!