Pickleball Rocks !!!

Inaugural Louisville Tournament A Huge Success

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:31:08 +0000

Southern hospitality was at its finest the weekend of January 27-28 at EP Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky. The following post and results were provided by the fabulous Oakle “Pete” Petrey.

The E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Pickleball Club

E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park

Louisville, Kentucky

Pickleball News Vol. CCIII

January 30, 2012

contact: pete2226p@aol.com

The gym was rocking last weekend as Rodney (Rocket) Grubbs led a strong group of out-of-town players to the Inaugural E. P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park Pickleball Tournament. And, they took a big chunk of the medals home with them!

Rocket, a nationally prominent player, teamed with Mike Schwartz, of Northern Kentucky, to win the MENS DOUBLES. His wife, Karen, playing with Cheryl Wyatt, of Middletown, Ohio, picked up the second place medal in LADIES DOUBLES. Cheryl, playing with Pete George, also from Middletown,

placed second in the MIXED DOUBLES event, won by Niles Cline and Diana Phillips, of Northern Kentucky.

Local players managed to hold there own, however, winning medals in each of the four events. Brenda Ferrell and Francie Kammer won the LADIES DOUBLES, and the team of John Tackett and Susan Kenney* edged out Ron Knorpp and Paul Cline for second place in MENS DOUBLES. Susan*and Chrissy Haywood finished third in MIXED DOUBLES.

*Although definitely not male, Susan Kenney was coaxed into playing in the MENS and MIXED DOUBLES because the men were short one player. One pundit named her the “Boy named Sue, Sounds like a good name for a song?

All of us are indebted to John Tackett for his herculean efforts in launching what, hopefully, will become an annual event at Sawyer Park. We gratefully acknowledge all the work done by many of the Sawyer Park staff, led by Zack Potts and Nick Price.

Bill and Nancy deserve special thanks. They arrived at 7:15 a.m. to welcome everyone.

The Hospitality Room was a huge success and all of the many who made contributions earned our gratitude of a job very well done.

Last, but not least was the appreciative crowd that supported the players. The WAVE that went around the gym several times was really great.

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WOW, Pickleball Rocks at the 2011 Nationals!

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 23:52:38 +0000

Wow, wow and yes, WOW!

Can’t think of a more appropriate way to describe the experience at my first National Pickleball Tournament.

What a great week of fun, friendship and pickleball competition.

From the moment we pulled into the parking lot, I knew this was going to be fun. Big white tents full of vendors selling anything you can put the word pickleball on. Pickleball paddles everywhere and the main corporate sponsor, My Retirement Direct, giving out goody bags stuffed with tshirts, water bottles and yes, retirement info.

First stop, the registration tent, where they were actually expecting me. Apparently my entry form did get to the right people. Next, I filled out my free USAPA raffle tickets and dropped them off with one of the great ambassadors of our sport, Nancy Jordan, who was excitedly manning he USAPA membership tent. Hope we added some members this week. I’m sure we did.
Next I got the lay of the land with a quick walk around the beautiful Pickleball complex at Sun City Festival. 18 courts had been carefully cleaned and lined for this great event.

It was fun to see the arrival of old midwest friends like Don and Haroline Walker, Lynn Carlson, Al Hager and Jim and Yvonne Hackenburg. It was a great showing for the midwest as all of them took home national hardware. Congratulations guys!

It was equally fun to meet up again with some of my newer friends whom I’d recently met at the San Diego tournament at Oceanside. Ken Follis, Kevin Martzolf, Sue and Dominic Ambrosino, Randy and Jennifer Zbinden, and Bev and Bob Youngren. What great ambassadors they are for California pickleball.

As for the competition??? There was plenty.

My partner and I got our eyes opened immediately by dropping our first match. Apparently starting slow, and continuing slow, doesn’t get you far in a tournament like this.

We did manage to come back and win our second match before bowing out much earlier than planned.

In singles, I managed a bit better. I won a couple close contests and lost a very tough battle with the eventual Gold Medalist. Congratulations Dan Wheeler on your Singles Gold Medal. Well deserved.

It was all fun, but I believe the highlight of the week was just the incredible bunch of new friends that we made along the way.

Once again, and I know I’m preaching to the choir here, pickleball wins because of the people who play it and support it.

Thank you everyone for a tremendous first National tournament.

I promise I will be back.

Because PICKLEBALL ROCKS !!!

Upper St. Clair End of Year Pickleball Tournament Results

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:59:12 +0000

Congratulations to the winners of the recent Upper St. Clair High School End of Year Pickleball Tournament: Boys – Mike Mondelewski and Joel Klein; Girls – Claudia Escribens and Megan Adamo; Co-ed – Shane McMurtry and Hanna Wilhelm.

Read the full story here:

Gold With A Twist

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:33:59 +0000

Gold With A Twist

by Sarah White

Let’s start on the night of May 7, 2011. Remembering the date is easy because I was the Maid of Honor in my friend’s wedding. All was going well. There was dancing, toasts, and good company. The time came, though, for the party to end. So, Jenn left first to go get the car. I said my good-byes, gave out hugs, and left with a smile on my face.

And, then, it happened.

I was almost down the stone steps of the historic villa when I rolled my ankle and slammed knee first to the sidewalk below.

Yes, I may have cursed.

I remember sitting there, staring up into the lights of the reception, hearing people’s laughter and thinking, “Ouch. I just really sprained my ankle.”

I’ve sprained both ankles enough times to know what it feels like, and I knew this one was a doozy.

I limped to the car and explained what happened to Jenn, who said, “Well, I guess you won’t be playing in the Pickleball tournament in Terra Haute.”

My heart sank. I had planned to play singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. Instead, that weekend, I ended up at the score table with a wrap around my ankle.

Still, I had hopes to play in Huntley the next weekend.

That Friday, Jenn and I met up in Huntley, and for the first time since the spraining, I ran on the ankle. It hurt more than I thought it would, and that night, it swelled up. The next day in the car, Jenn and I decided that we would have to tell the tournament director that I wouldn’t be able to play.

I cried.

The next day, the tournament director came around a few times, and I kept thinking, “I need to tell her that I can’t play, so that she can adjust the brackets or maybe find Jenn someone else to play with.”

But the words always stopped at the back of my throat. I wasn’t ready to quit just yet. My ankle felt strangely better, and I practiced on it with some fellow Picklers. Jenn and I played some warm-up doubles matches. We hadn’t played together in weeks. I hadn’t played Pickleball in over a month.

But, nobody ever accused Jenn and me of not being dogged.

D-day. Sunday. We grabbed our paddles, tightened the laces on our shoes, and we stepped onto the courts ready for whatever the day would bring.

To our surprise, we played well our first match. In our second match, Connie and Rita, a formidable Rockford pair, gave us a good workout. All the while, we kept a close eye on Margaret and Tammy and their host of opponents.

Then, we squared off with the team that had the courts buzzing. They were two lean, mean Picklers with knee-braces and plenty of power. Somehow with our combination of spin shots and net play, we defeated them easily.

We made it to the final! Win or lose, we would medal–something we thought would be impossible the day before.

Everyone else had finished play and gathered on the bleachers around the court. Electric fans hummed but did little to cut the stuffy heat of that gymnasium. The sweat dripped off our foreheads.

We had to play the ladies with the knee-braces and deep tans that reflected their hours of Pickleball play already this summer. This time, though, they were ready for us.

They easily took two games from us. No matter what we tried, they seem prepared.

We had one more chance. Because we had entered the final undefeated, we would play one last game to fifteen points for the title.

Jenn and I drank our water and discussed strategy.

Still, the ladies jumped to a 4-0 lead. The gym felt even stuffier and suffocating.

We managed to stay fairly close to them and reached a score of 8-6 (their lead). But, suddenly, our strategies and shots shifted; we were making a dent. I was ready for the lobs. I flattened out the spin. Jenn made strong shots from the net.

At the end of one amazing rally, Jenn turned to me and said, “Can you feel it?”

The momentum had changed.

We clawed our way to 8-8, and the game held at that score for seemingly hours.

And, then, it happened.

The score turned in our favor.

We would eventually win 15-9. We had ground out a win. Our doggedness was now becoming the stuff of legend. We never gave up and played every point like it was the first.

In tennis, they call it “winning ugly.” In Pickleball, we just call it “winning.”

Our adventure, though, was not over. We had to travel back to Rockford from Huntley. Normally, such a drive can be taken through scenic back country roads. On this particular day, the sky towards Rockford was a deep purple–not unlike the color of my sprain.

We had heard that Rockford was experiencing a tornado warning, and we would later learn that there were three F1 tornadoes in the area through which we drove.

Such news did not surprise us, though, because as we drove, we could see the laden shelf cloud in the sky. Something was not right in the air. It brought to mind the famed quote from Macbeth, “Something wicked this way comes…”

Debris started blowing across the road, and as we looked to our left and right, we could see large swirls of dirt rising up from the fields. We drove through a wall of loose dirt; our visibility to reduced to mere feet.

We stayed calm, and Jenn powered us through the storm.

As we arrived in Rockford to find no electricity and plenty of downed tree limbs, we definitely knew that these were two experiences that we would remember for the rest of our lives.

Chartiers Valley High School Rocks Again

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 01:46:44 +0000

With pickleball paddles ablazing, Chartiers Valley High School players brought home another pickleball championship. Congratulations CV Pickleballers!

read the full report here

Pickleball Rocks in India

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:19:53 +0000

Pickleball is circling the globe. Tournaments recently popped up in India for school children and adults. We just have to share these great pictures from the Thane District Inter School Tournament. Thanks Swapnil Karekar for sharing. CLICK HERE FOR PICS

Pickleball Featured on CBS Early Morning Show

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:55:54 +0000

All of a certain I heard the unmistakable pop, pop, pop. To my surprise it was coming from my TV. In case you were sleeping, or worse, working, the CBS Early Show recently featured a great television spot on Pickleball on the morning of December 17th, 2010. The spot was filmed in The Villages, Florida and by the sound of the reporter, she is definitely hooked. Thanks to all The Villages pickleball players for doing such a great job of showcasing our great sport. ENJOY THE VIDEO –> Pickleball Rocks at The Villages

What is Pickleball? THE VIDEO ANSWER

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:31:07 +0000

If you ever got the question, what is pickleball, you know that it is not alway an easy sport to describe because it takes pieces and parts from so many sports. Well, a PBS TV station in Atlanta, Georgia produced this short video and it is great for answering the question. Thank you producer, Trevor Keller, for sharing it.

Watch the Video Now: What is Pickleball

Hartland Halloween Pickleball Rocks!!!

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 01:35:23 +0000

From our small piece of heaven down in Southeastern Indiana, we generally have to drive the miles to play in good pickleball tournaments. This weekend we certainly found a good one in Harland, Michigan.

This is a personal message to the pickleball players and tournament volunteers in Michigan.

I just want to put in my two cents from an “outsider”. I told this to Hartland tournament director Deborah, in person yesterday and I will tell you all here publicly.

Michigan has something very special going on and you all are a big part of it.

We traveled five hours each time to four different Michigan tournaments this spring/summer/fall (Kalamazoo, Royal Oaks, Kalamazoo again and Hartland).

We chose to drive the miles because each and every time we are delighted at the quality of the tournaments and the friendliness of the people running them.

We are always welcomed with open arms (sometimes open wings) and we always leave wanting to come back.

The number of sponsors that you always have and the growing numbers of players you are drawing is just further proof that you guys and gals are doing things right.

You are a perfect model for other states to follow. Keep up the great work!

We hope that the things we are doing down here in our little town of Brookville will eventually rub off on, and ignite the Cincinnati area. There is so much potential there.

Anyhow, thanks again for all you are doing in the great state of Michigan to set the example.

Continued success and blessings to you all,

Rodney “Rocket” Grubbs

The Pickleball Zoo Rocks Once Again

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:44:00 +0000

Bob, Melissa and the whole ZOO team, once again bolstered their claim to being the center of the pickleball universe. Thursday September 16th was highlighted by honoring super recruiter, Dick Mannaserri.

Then they unleashed all the 65+ doubles plus Crazy Mixed Up doubles which is always a hit. On Friday they opened things up for us youngsters.

Talk about a smooth running tournament. As it was for their spring tournament, the competition was great, the people were ultra-friendly (as all pickleball players seem to be) and the food was plentiful.

Worth every minute of the five hour drive. Everyone should experience the “Zoo” at least once. You will want to come back, I promise. I’m already looking forward to their 2011 tournaments. Thanks again Bob and Melissa!