Bend,  Oregon

I’ve been  playing pickleball for three years.

When  I  first started playing, I thought I was amazing… 🙂 

Then the  more I played,  the more I realized the less I knew.  And the more I played,  the more I realized that my skills were far less than I thought they were. 🙁

Pickleball players  are ranked by the United States of America Pickleball Association (USAPA) according to ability level.  The ranking goes from one to five. Everyone starts out as a one. Then as you get better,  your number goes up.

Carol and I  entered our first tournament as 3.0’s.  We won every match, and we’re moved by the USAPA up to 3.5’s. And we’ve been stuck there for almost two years.

My goal was  to become good enough to be  ranked 4.0. I didn’t care if I won at  4.0. I just wanted to be ranked a 4.0.

I surpassed that goal yesterday by actually WINNING a tournament as a 4.0. Here’s a photo of my  good medal!

I had to play at the 4.0 level because my wonderful partner,  Joanne,  has a 4 .0 ranking. (Players can play up but not down rankings.) 

I’m on cloud nine!

The accomplishment feels similar  to training for and competing in my first (and only)  marathon.

The journey from  deciding to run one,  training for six months to run one,  and actually running all 26.2 miles in one was life changing.

And the nine month journey to become a better pickleball player has been as well, although in a different way because this journey was less solo. I had lots of coaching and help from fantastic people.

I was so happy I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry…

So I did both!