Thursday was a big night for the Landings Pickleball Association (LPA) as the winners of the fall league were feted at a sumptuous poolside feast at The Deck. Also celebrated was the realization of Charlie Bradford’s vision. As noted in a previous article, Charlie perceived the need for a separate league in order to promote competitive advancement in Landings pickleball through the use of the DUPR rating system. Both the first LPA league and the LPA itself ended the first year as overwhelming successes.
According to Charlie, getting LPA up and operational was not an easy task. While the initial thought was that the LPA would be a fairly small group of up to eighty members, the interest turned out to be much larger than anticipated and the membership quickly swelled. Membership in the LPA ranges from those who are just starting and don’t yet have DUPR ratings, to players with ratings in the 4.0 to 5.0 range.
Many people were involved in organizing the LPA, starting with Chris Kader who immediately saw it as a way to enhance court organization and build interest in pickleball. Johnny Moran voluntarily relinquished several courts he reserved on Thursdays to make more available for LPA play. TLC board member Nancy Early lent her time and expertise creating the association by-laws and completing non-profit paperwork, as well as tackling start-up financial matters.
Chris Phillips and Adam Hecht took responsibility for developing a workable league format as well as creating a ladder. At the same time, Chris Kader remembered there was a website that had not been in use for several years. Stephen Ford used his technology background to resurrect the website. With no record of how to even get into the site, Stephen got it up and working. To keep current with everything pickleball at the Landings and find information about the LPA go to www.tlcpickleball.com.
The LPA officially launched in March, and as expected with any new venture, the rollout was not entirely smooth. But with the help of Peter Dorward, Steve Holst, Scott McKessy and others who donated much time to ironing out the bugs, the LPA and new league came together. The LPA, which works closely with Chris Kader to coordinate play with regular Franklin Creek activities, now boasts two league seasons during the year. When league matches are not being played, members compete in ladder play. Ladder play gives everyone the opportunity to improve their quality of play and move up in the DUPR rating system.
The LPA league boasts three divisions – Premier, Challenger and Major - with four, six player teams per division. The team captained by Steve Holst, with Andrew Jones, AJ Goldman, Kristen Berger, Stephen Greene and Jim Dwyer, won the Premier Division. Captain Greg Killeen, along with Eric Verman, David Eichholz, Mack Newell, Jason Pearce and Nancy Early won in the Challenger Division. The Major Division included, captain Nathan Alexander, with Alex Inglese, Chris Constas, Ken Dobular, Paul McCormack and John Berger. Congratulations to all, it was a terrific ending to some very exciting league play.
Premier Divison Winners
Challenger Divison Winners
Major Divison Winners
