Calvert City Pickleball held the first MLP Pickleball (Major League Pickleball) event in the area on Saturday August 5. Marvin Travis organized the event, assisted by Dustin Brown. MLP is a version of pickleball played in a team format. Teams consist of two males and two females. The winner of a match is determined by the team with the most games won. The matches consist of four doubles games and if the score is tied the tie breaker is a team singles game. The doubles consist of two mixed, one women’s and one men’s game. In the singles tiebreaker, players play until four total points are scored then their teammate comes in for the next four points. All games are played to 21, win by two, with rally scoring. While the game is the same, scoring and some rules are slightly different. This lends the MLP style to be a more strategic version of pickleball.
Saturday’s event was planned to be at Calvert City Pickleball Courts but pushed to Benton First Baptist gymnasium due to rain. Five teams of four competed for six hours to determine the winner. Teams were determined by a draft held one week prior to the event. The team’s Captains were the five women with highest pickleball rating. Calvert City Pickleball plans to host more of these events in the future. Medals were handed out for first, second and third place.
Gold Medal Winners:
Black Team: Cameron Brown, Captain Kayla Travis, Cheyanne Ludovissie, Jacob Hill
Silver Medal Winners:
White Team: Jennifer Wilson, Carl Marquess, Captain Suzanne Shidal, Steve Shidal
Bronze Medal Winners:
Green Team: Cody Dalton, Brigette Thompson, Brent Thompson, Captain Jenny Travis
Other teams included:
Blue Team: Captain Allie Gold, Sam Gold, Rachel Steward, Landon Wilson
Red Team: Jason Jones, Kenzie Wilson, Mike Rogers, Captain Chris Operle
