Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce3055
Michael, Usually your comments are well liked and you have a loyal following, me included.
However this time, I think you were wrong on many fronts.
First pickleball is a great game where you can play anywhere by just showing up. You don’t need to bring a group with you and you meet a lot of nice folks playing with different players. And with the Villages – it’s the world’s most friendly place.
If you want to have an exclusive 4some from 7am to 8:30am at open court time you are in the wrong place. What if there were 6 exclusive 4somes? It would tend to destroy what makes the game great for other players that just show up to play.
It sounds like you don’t even break your group up when one other person shows up to play. Do you continue as a group or let others join you?
But if you insist upon only playing with your 4some, it would be a great idea to be able to divide the line by 4, so nobody realizes what you are doing to the integrity of the game where folks can just show up and meet great people (except your exclusive 4 some).
And then you said, you are an un-rated advanced beginner. I think the beginner pickleball classes recommend you play at beginner or advanced beginner times.
But even if you play at open court time, and hopefully not where 4.0 and above tend to play, you are still wrong if you are unwilling to play with others that may challenge your game or you challenge their game.
Folks all the time, create situations where they can play one game together. Ladies do it. Men do it. Couples do it. And that is perfectly fine. But I don’t believe they are as exclusive as your described group that wants to play all morning as an exclusive group.
And folks preparing for a tournament play continuously as a 2some to prepare for the tournament. And everyone appreciates that exclusivity. (But not an exclusive 4some).
Many players are friendly enough that they will play at least one game with anyone before they start counting to 4 to not play every game with somebody out of their league – either the other person is too good a player or not.
Now as far as the infuriated man. He was wrong – he should not yell at you. And you were right not to escalate the encounter. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had somebody watching over us like at recess when we were kids. None of this would have ever happened.
And finally, you asked if what you are doing to the game by having an exclusive 4som all morning is permissible. Technically yes, but I hope it doesn’t catch on and ruin the game for most of us who just like to play and meet new friends.
I hope, in the future, you allow others to play with you at open court times.
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Bruce, thank you for your well-thought out reply - I sure appreciate your insight, as I’m still getting the hang of how pickleball works, and trust me, I don’t want to intentionally offend anyone, and very willing to change anything I’ve done wrong, thus the reason for my initial post.
From this last summer through Christmas, the 4 of us would show up at the courts the first thing once a week, and were always the only one’s there for the first 30-45 minutes. Then other 4-somes would show up and take their places on the other courts. I honestly don’t ever remember seeing a “single” player show up, and a line never, ever formed. Everyone came as a “group of 4”. The line is some thing that just started a few weeks ago. Our group was taking a cue from other groups of 4, who also stayed together in line and played, so it appears this is wide-spread (but again if it is wrong, I don’t want to do something just because everyone else does).
Honestly, I am getting mixed feedback from so many people, and it appears there are no “set rules” on this. I was thinking of talking to the person at the rec center next week to get their input.
I really just want to have fun, and not take this too seriously, and “get along’ with as many people as I can. I’m usually willing to yield to someone else, for the sake of avoiding unnecessary conflict and drama.
Luckily, in a few months, this probably won’t be an issue again for awhile, as the courts will return to being mostly empty that early in the morning.
Thanks again for your input. Retirement if great!