Building Together and Prioritizing Player Experience

Meg Marion has played in a bunch of PPA Tournaments.

She’s not a pro. Nope. She’s not that different from the many people who seek to spend their money traveling a bit and want the challenge and exhilarating pressure that comes from tournament competition.

Marion is 62 years old, started playing pickleball in 2021, and says that there are a few things organized pickleball competition can do that make the player experience next-level.

Healthy food options on-site, for one.

Marion is also a proponent of teams/players being able to get to the finals through the back draw.

“I don’t like that the best you can do is win bronze, and I think most people feel that way,” she said.

She’d like to see more Round Robin formats, a free t-shirt, and, “Please, please, please, have skinny singles. There, I’ve said it!”

Everyone has an opinion on how player experience should look and feel, but there’s one thing we can all agree on – something that makes the PPA unlike any other tournament option out there.

“There’s nothing like being in a tournament where you literally play alongside the pros,” declares Marion. “If that doesn’t help you bring your ‘A-game’ nothing will.”

The PPA’s relationship with players is unlike that found in any other professional sports and the phrase, “Play Where The Pros Play,” has always been the Tour’s motto. There aren’t any other professional sports organizations that provide amateur players with the opportunity to compete at the same venue where the best players in the world are playing at the same time.

“Since taking over as Tournament Director for the PPA Tour, it’s been a concrete goal of mine to improve the experience for the 1,000+ players we welcome at each event on average,” said Jake Weinbach. ”I believe our team has made significant strides toward that goal with data to support it.”

The PPA Tour’s two most recent tournaments recorded the highest-ratings from players since it started tracking data more than a year ago. The Cincinnati Open was rated 8.49 overall on a 0-10 event experience scale.

“We’ve invested time and resources to focus on enhancing the hospitality, communication, and organizational process for players,” Weinbach said. “We are now providing amateurs with a shaded player lounge that holds complimentary refreshments, a special tournament-specific memento, increased health products and services through a variety of sponsors in the PPA Vendor Village, quality equipment on every court such as semi-permanent Selkirk nets, an advanced podium presentation for our skill/age divisional medalists, and other assets that contribute to a smoother and more positive experience.”

Good timing, too. The PPA Tour’s first-ever all-amateur tournament will be this weekend in Hilton Head, S.C., an event the PPA is calling “a celebration of players.” This will be another place for the PPA Tour to demonstrate its commitment to improving tournament experience for players across the board.

All of that is coming up, and the PPA Tour has no plans of slowing down. More changes and improvements are in the works, but even so, the tour will maintain what makes it most unique – proximity and access to the very best players in the world.

“I watch as much [of the pro play] as I can all day long,” Marion said. “I’ve had some very meaningful conversations with pro players that have been both interesting and informative. That would never happen in tennis. I had several chats with Callie Smith, and I asked her for some advice which she gave. Yeah, I love to watch the pros play.”

“There are a number of pros whose games help inform mine because we share certain instincts. In some cases, those instincts don’t yield the results I’d like to see, so I might keep the one who’s just like me in mind as I aspire to play a bit more like another. I’ve started buying courtside seats for tournaments in order to get the most out of it.”

Of course, there will always be a litany of improvements suggested for any event, and that’s a good thing. The PPA Tour is committed to making improvements and listening to player feedback. 

“It’s an incredible feeling when you’re creating unforgettable experiences. The PPA Tour is 100 percent committed to building upon its one-of-a-kind opportunity for all players to ‘play where the pros play,’” Weinbach said.