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 !!!

As I looked at the tournament results from this year’s event in Buckeye, Arizona, I couldn’t help but think how great this sport is.

Of course, pickleball is great on many levels, but it is very hard to beat the friends you can make through this wonderful sport.

Even though I’ve only been immersed in Pickleball for a relatively short time, this year’s list of medal winners was already scattered with many friends that I have made either through playing or promoting the sport.

Congratulations on a personal level to my new found medal winning friends, Al Hager, Lynn Carlson, Deb Arnold, Mark Friedenberg, Rob Gartlan and Don Walker.

Pickleball is as great as it is because of wonderful ambassadors like these guys.

Congratulations to all the medal winners and special kudos to all those volunteers who planned, promoted and ran this tremendous event.

If you want to see all the USAPA National Tournament Results.

In the meantime, I’m sure I’ll be meeting many more new friends at tournaments and events throughout the next 12 months.  Can’t wait to get started!

SEE EVERYONE AT THE BIG TOURNAMENT NEXT YEAR!

Hope your days are filled with much happiness, great health and plenty of pickleball.

- Rocket