Written by Jill Martin / Photos by John Riedy

The Coachella Valley Scorpions’ opening weekend in Chicago, Illinois proved once again that it doesn’t matter where you start, it’s where you finish that counts. While the Scorpions narrowly lost their first team battle against the Houston Hammers, they quickly found their sea legs, winning the next three against Seattle United Pickleball, Naples JBB United, and Austin Ignite. Competing for the first time together, the Scorpions’ performance as a team and as individuals steadily improved with every match. With the guidance of head coach Dayne Gingrich and team manager Ryan Willis, in record time, the team figured out how to support one another—who needed loud cheers, who needed quiet affirmation, who needed to play instinctually, and who needed strategic adjustments. By Sunday afternoon, every player up and down the line showed up in the clutch moments, clicking into fifth gear when needed. 

What became increasingly clear as the weekend progressed is that the team is as diverse in personalities and play styles as the pickleball community. A truly international team with players originating from five countries and currently representing all corners of the United States and Canada, the Scorpions’ strength lies in its way of creating synergies through its differences. While stylistically diverse, this weekend proved that they are uniform in their unparallelled work ethic and mutual support of one another in the high and low moments, embodying the principle that the whole can be stronger than the sum of its parts. Based on the team’s steady upward trajectory over the course of the weekend, it’s clear the Scorpions have only begun to show what they can do on the court.