It was two wins out of two for JDS Foods in the opening weekend of the Premier Pickleball League Masters.
With wins over Hurlands and UK Pickleball Shop, they sit second in the table, just behind MCMX, and captain Nathan Hill couldn’t be happier.
For a start, he loves the competition.
“As a player, personally, I think it’s one of the best events outside of the Open.
“You’re playing as part of a team, so it’s friendly as well, and everybody really, really enjoys it.”
When Nathan devised his draft strategy, he picked a team of all-rounders, who are particularly strong in the doubles formats – knowing that if they got off to a slow start in the singles, as they did in their second tie against UK Pickleball Shop, they would be able to claw it back.
“I was very purposeful in terms of the way that I went selecting my team. You know, in the draft I picked, I picked Claire Bourgoin, because she’s my normal doubles partner, and I know how good she is and how determined she is. But then crucially, I threw the rest of the teams in the draft because my next pick should have been a man, really, because that would be the normal thing to do. But instead of that, I picked Julie Mac, because I wanted my next strongest player to be a woman!”
The trio are joined by Ian Marshall, Wendy Randall and Bhanu Baweja – and Nathan happily admits that as captain he gets plenty of support from his long-time doubles partner Claire and the vastly experienced Julie.
He adds: “After last season, it was a really intentional way that I went about the draft, quite different to everybody else, and we’re a team of people that are used to playing and practising together.
“It’s about partnerships and team, really.”
