The Spokane Badgers: City's new semi-pro league ready for weekend tournament
Apr. 15—Spokane's semipro pickleball team is readying for its first official tournament this Saturday, competing against the Bellevue Ballers at the Press Pickleball Club. The 10 players for the Spokane Badgers, as they are called, have been hitting the courts in preparation.
"We're feeling really excited," said player James Story. "People were playing really well last Saturday, so I think it's going to be a good showing for us in Spokane. " The Badgers are one of nearly 100 teams in the Ultimate Pickleball League — the country's first year-round, team-based semipro league, which kicked off last May.
The league is mostly centered in the United States, but there are a handful of teams in Costa Rica and the Philippines. Founder Charles Farr said he intends to next expand into Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Brazil, England and Ireland. The league was intended to address the gap in play opportunities at a level of a "4.
0" and a "5. 49" on the Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating System, Farr said, which ranks amateurs at a level of 2. 0 and sees the top players score in at around 7.
0. "You find a lot of players that are kind of ... stuck in a rut, if you will.
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