How competitive is parity really?

Hi Mel. Glad to hear you're interested! I'm the current league coordinator and have been playing in the league for 5+ years.

Parity is one of the more competitive recreational leagues, but there is a wide skill range. There are always at least a handful of players from high-level club teams. On the other hand, there are also a lot of truly recreational players who might not consider themselves to be particularly competitive or in very good shape! Most of the league falls somewhere in the middle.

Part of the beauty of the Parity system is that all the teams end up pretty balanced. So even if you're one of the weaker players, you'll generally be matched up against a player of similar skill on the other team.

It's hard for me to say whether it'll be a good fit for you specifically, but if you're on the fence (and prepared to play with and against some very good players who will push you) I'd encourage you to give it a shot.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Hi Mel, I have played Parity for a few years and I would say its quite competitive. Its a nice place to develop your skills. The women who play are primarily women who play competitive.  Parity is striving to achieve gender equity, which also helps the amount of fun I have had in the league in the past. In my opinion, the point of Parity is to have fun,  play good frisbee, do some heckling, make some friends, volunteer to push buttons on  fun tablet while someone talks really fast to you (to figure out everyone's salary) and not necessarily in that order. I did find it a little intimidating when I started but I learned a lot. I hope you give it a try!  

Thanks for asking the question as I have the same Question. It is something I will weigh in the coming hours! 

Obviously everyone's experience can vary but my observation is people in the league make an effort to welcome new players and get everyone involved, a point of emphasis of the excellent coordinator leadership.  

From a competitive/level of play perspective there will certainly be someone on every team you want no part in attempting to defend but you'll have teammates at that level who will help you. 

The sideline atmosphere can vary as well but you're more likely to hear loud cheering from competitive players (a certain past board member is an effusively positive sideline cheerleader) with the heckling  commonly reserved for experienced veterans (i.e. what I hear when I accidentally get matched up with someone born after I graduated high school.)

I think it's absolutely worth trying (including for Mark, where my personal self interest in getting in should theroetically make me more discouraging!).  

Hi Mel!

I can share some of my experience playing parity league as a woman player who has never played competitive ( I proudly rank myself as a 3).

In a nutshell: I also think you should give it a shot! :)

I signed up for parity back in fall 2018 as I was becoming an East-ender and wanted to play somewhere close to home (especially during winter!). I was very intimitaded when I started because of the expectation of this league being considered as advanced/competitive level of play and of my fear of not being able to keep up. I won't lie - I almost quit and asked for a refund after my first game because I was overwhelmed with the pace of the game. However, I was convinced by a friend/fellow player to give it another chance and played a second game (after being traded to a new team following my first game). Turns out, I decided to stay the full session because of the encouragement of my new captain as well as my teammates and went on to sign up for the next sessions until March 2020. 

This league is great if you want to develop your skills, challenge yourself and make you fit! I definitely learned a lot and will continue to learn. Also, it is super fun to see your stats/salary dollars on the app and reading the post-game conversations on Slack!

Hopefully this was helpful to you (and to others who might be on the fence in signing up). :)