edit for everyone who assumes this is complaining about losing: it’s not! I never said I won or lost in any of these examples. imagine I won all the games. Everything I’m saying below still stands.
I love pickleball but man, I am tired of the men (no not all of them, just the jerks. y’all have heard of rhetoric right?).
Mixed doubles? I’m relentlessly targeted. Yes, I know how to respond strategically, but when I’m playing with a random partner most likely they don’t know and here I am handling 90% of shots. gets old, even when I win.
Me and a male partner against two men? again, I’m relentlessly targeted and my random male partner is helpless because he normally plays with, you guessed it, all men. win or lose, it’s less fun than if we both got to play a more even amount.
Me and a female partner against two men? time for banger mode. prepare to be pelted with the ball as they show us how strong and manly they are. and if one of us ladies is obviously weaker… relentlessly targeted. and yes, even when we win, this is annoying.
and don’t even get me started with unsolicited advice. recently a guy saw me warming up and took the time to remind me not to overdo it. dear lord thank you for stopping me from ripping my own hamstring while stretching.
sigh... I see why so many women choose to play only with their ladies groups!
EDIT: glad to see I sparked some discussion! look I know I pissed some people off by mentioning gender but it’s my experience and seems others have had it too. I will acknowledge of course there are tons of awesome men I love to play with, and some (not as many!) very icky women I walk the other way fast when I see. Being a jerk is NEVER limited by gender lol. there are just more male jerks in pickleball because there are more men overall!
EDIT 2: For all the people asking if I am complaining because I got targeted as the weaker player or because I lose a lot: that’s not the point. Let’s say that’s true and I was targeted because I’m the worst player on the court and I got mad cuz I lost - my complaint is still that many people (and more men in my experience), use an excessive targeting strategy that I believe makes the game less fun for both the targeted player and their partner who is iced out. whether they’re targeting based on gender or skill doesn’t matter to my point. whether the team facing the targeting strategy won or lost doesn’t matter to my point.
to recap my points : 1) excessive targeting is an annoying and rude strategy to use in recreational open play with strangers where courts are not separated by level, that makes the game less fun for both people on the team receiving the targeting strategy. what is excessive? rough guess, more than 75% of shots going to one player.
2) the spicy part of my post is that I’ve seen more men than women (yes even accounting for the preponderance of men in the sport) approach the game this way (overly competitive, only winning matters, targeting is the best and only strategy) and it pisses me off.