By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Lifestyle Editor
I went to drink a few margaritas and a pickleball tournament broke out in front of me.
It was a warm and sunny Saturday and Dulce Vida Tequila which uses an organic process and makes all its products in small batches, had invited me to be VIP at the Major League Pickleball (MLP) tournament in San Clemente, CA. Seizing the opportunity to not only try the tequila and see a pickleball tournament in person for the first time, as well as the chance to pop into one of Southern California’s legendary bars the Swallow’s Inn in neighboring San Juan Capistrano afterward, I grabbed pickball-playing friend Alan to go with me.
Like most people, I suppose, I had seen only flashes of pickleball on ESPN here and there but other than that didn’t know much about the sport. Tennis, I know quite well, having not only played it a lot but I also covered local tournaments as well as the WTA’s Family Circle Cup in Hilton Head Island, S.C., when I worked as a reporter for the Savannah News-Press. I am also familiar with raquetball, which I often played with tenacity when I belonged to a health club that had courts.
Pickleball is somewhat a combination of the two. My first thought at seeing the small court and paddles was that it looked like racquetball without the walls involving people playing ping pong while standing on the table.
All games were made up of doubles teams and the first match we saw had two women’s teams slugging it out from mid court. Whack, whack, whack. This is going to be fun, I thought. Then the men took the court and instead of really laying into it and swatting the ball so hard it would have left a logo on one of the players if it hit him– as I had hoped – they all stood within a couple feet of each other taking turns dinking the ball over the net. Alan explained that they were trying to avoid such a scenario but it looked more like two fighters in the early rounds sizing each other up than an all-out slugging match.
When the women took the court in doubles with the men, there was bit more quick volleying action but I quickly decided I preferred the rapid action of the women’s teams more than when the men were on the court. The matches consisted of different combinations of team players.
MLP, not to be confused with Professional Pickleball Association (PPA), consists of teams representing cities so it’s Brooklyn vs LA (LA won!), Columbus vs. Phoenix, that kind of thing. It reminded me of the now-defunct World Team Tennis.
All the action was in front of the spectators no matter where you sat. It was open, tiered seating and I took full advantage of this to get different angles, up close and far away. There was only one court at this tournament and it was ringed by sponsor tents, including one for Dulce Vita tequila.
But enough of the sport. I envisioned a pickleball tournament to be comprised of serious fans and those just out to have a good time. It was both, especially in the VIP tent where socializing took a backseat to what was happening on the court. The VIP area was shaded – thank goodness – had food (fajitas tho I heard the day before it was salmon!) and a bar with beer, wine and, of course, margartias. It was a country club atmosphere, much more like a tennis tournament than, say, beach volleyball. There was no pumping music between points and no loud, obnoxious and ego-seeking announcer screaming things you can’t understand that are all too common at sporting events these days (thank goodness).
The name of the sport, pickleball, brings to mind something to do with bar bets and kegs of beer but it’s more refined than that and the name comes from a dog called Pickles, the pet of one of the men who created the game in Washington state.
Alan and I were somewhat disappointed to have only received two drink tickets – we did not expected VIP to have a limit – but were relieved to have margaritas containing quality tequila and a heavy-handed bartender who deftly made excellent cocktails.
The MLP tour is comprised of 14 events with tournaments in, among other cities, Austin, Orlando, Phoenix, St. Louis and Daytona Beach. It returns to San Diego Aug. 15-17 at the Barnes Tennis Center.
Kevin Wilkeson is an award-winning journalist. This article was written by an human with no assistance from AI or Chat-GTP.
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