To Stack or Not to Stack, That’s No Longer the Question

Seems EPRD has revised their Guidelines for Play with the latest schedule change. Used to be that stacking paddles was not allowed during the Mixed play transition time. That is no longer the case. So if you want to stack with a group of 3 or 4 go for it. They also dropped the guideline that a group could stack only for 3 consecutive games - again, no longer the case. So no limit on stacking or how long a stack can stay together.

What hasn’t changed, however, is the courtesy of playing only one skill-level session per day. Say you want to play the first, early morning session and stay through the Mixed play transition time. You can do that. What you can’t do is play both skill-level sessions on the same day. Until we get another set of indoor courts, we ask that you (and you know who you are) share court time with everyone and not hog the courts all day.

“Friendships and camaraderie are treasured and people are more important than the game.”

Which brings us to another point: playing up and playing down. With the last schedule change there are only two skill groups of players - Upper Intermediate/Advanced and Novice/Lower Intermediate. You should expect to see a range of players in either of those skill groups. You may not think a beginner should be playing with you if you’re an intermediate player, and you may not think an intermediate player should be playing with you if you’re an advanced player. You’re never required to play with someone you don’t want to play with for whatever reason. If you find your paddle is down with players you don’t wish to play with, just politely invite the next paddle in line to go in in your stead.

Also, if you want to play down, say with your spouse or a friend just starting out, you can play in the Novice/Lower Intermediate session with them. Of course, you’d want to play to the level of play that makes for a good game for everyone. In this case, your goal should be not to win the game, but to return the ball so that your opponent has a reasonable chance of returning it to you. No fun slamming on players who can’t handle a slam yet. If you do play down in any part of the Novice/Lower Intermediate session you should not then hang around for the Upper Intermediate/Advance session. Give others a chance. There’s always tomorrow.