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Archive for "Events"

Susie’s Pickleball Birthday Party

Posted on August 16, 2023 by under Events, Pickleball.    

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Susie Ternes, Karen Fox, and I were all matchy match at Susie’s pickleball birthday party at Rolling Hills this past weekend. DJ Jeff Kenworthy was there playing some tunes and lots of people came out to celebrate Susie, as you can tell from the group photo that we took at the party below.

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The party was so much fun but the most memorable part for me was getting to play against senior pro Rich Lively. I didn’t even know it was him at first because I didn’t recognize him. I just saw this guy in a blue “Diamond Amateur Championship” shirt who I had never seen before playing with Jason McCutchen. And then we started playing and he was hitting these killer serves. Finally, I was just like, “I don’t think we’ve met before. What is your name?” That’s when I found out it was Boca Raton Picklers’ Rich Lively. No wonder he had killer serves and amazing shots! He’s a pro! Naturally, I tried to engage him in dink battles almost every point. It was so much fun! Pickleball birthday parties are THE BEST!

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Tournament Recap – OKC Picklemania

Posted on August 14, 2023 by under Events, Pickleball.    

I had a blast playing in Picklemania at the Life Time in Oklahoma City last weekend, a tournament I wasn’t even set to play in. My friend Mandy O’Neil and I just happened to be texting each other and so it got me looking at the tournament. I found one of the guys from Wichita, Nathan Peters, signed up for men’s doubles but not mixed so I asked him if he would be interested in playing mixed doubles together. With a women’s doubles and mixed doubles partner lined up, I decided to make the trip down since I didn’t have any plans that weekend anyway.

Originally, Brian and Saki were going with me but then Brian’s office move got pushed back to August 4 weekend so then he couldn’t go. It worked out that he had to stay in town because the two iPickle Nation team members we had Amanda Ades and Fernando Martinez were both unavailable to run the Nation Builder that weekend. Amanda had a wedding and Fernando was out of town fishing with his son and, since I was playing in the tournament in Oklahoma, Brian had to fill in for all of us. I’m pretty sure that everyone being out that weekend was main the reason I didn’t sign up for the tournament to begin with — because I had to be around to run the round robin at Riverside — but, with two amazing players as partners, I had to figure out a way to make it work.

I met Mandy at some tournaments and got to spend time with her at one of my friend Tanner Rice’s DUPR events last year and she seemed to me like such a fun person to play with so I’d been looking for an opportunity partner with her so I was glad when the opportunity finally came knocking. And then Nate single-handedly smoked Dustin Herman and me at the ICT Classic tournament so I was excited to actually be on the same side of the net as him this time.

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Here are a couple of pictures from Saturday that Mandy’s husband Justin took of us with some of the teams in our division.

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I’d never played 4.5 women’s doubles before but that’s the level Mandy wanted to play. For our first time playing together, I thought we did really well. I enjoyed playing with her a ton. She prefers playing on the left and I prefer playing on the right so I felt like we were a perfect match.

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Here are a couple of action shots of me and Nate on Sunday. Nate and I did really well for not having played together either. We were second in our pool and made it to quarters in a 4.5 mixed doubles division stacked with 18 tough teams.

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We defeated the Luelfs (Caroline and Ryan) in the first round of the single elimination bracket and then had to face a couple of tennis players (Alex Bowers and James Seagrass) in the quarters. It was like having to play against two Nates across the net from me which, as Nate put it perfectly, is my Kryptonite. We ended up losing to them and they ended up going on to win gold.

These are some highlights from mixed doubles play on Sunday:

Besides all the fun, competitive play, I enjoy Picklemania for an opportunity to reconnect with some of favorite pickleball players and fellow Chicken N Pickle ambassadors outside the state. Below is Karen McAllister, matriarch of pickleball’s “first family” in OKC.

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This next one is of Antonio Lares, Jared Smart, and Ramon Lozano.

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If you are a pickleball player looking to play in a fun tournament, I highly recommend checking out one of the Picklemania events in OKC. It is one of my favorite tournaments to do. I already can’t wait until the next one.

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Rum Tasting (Belated Birthday Present)

Posted on July 28, 2023 by under Events, Food and Drink.    

What do you get a guy who already has everything for his birthday? Well, this year, I decided it would be a rum tasting. Brian and I have never really been much into material things and usually gravitate toward experiences instead and so, this year, his surprise gift from me was a rum tasting experience at home.

We didn’t really make any plans last month other than celebrating with family. Unlike me, who enjoys never ending celebrations until the end of time, Brian is more low key. I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday and he said, “Absolutely nothing.” Therefore, as part of this year’s gift to him, I honored his request and I planned absolutely nothing on his birthday. I did want to surprise him with a rum tasting and it worked out that the first date that would work was in July so we managed to avoid his birthday month altogether.

My friend Dustin Herman who manages R & J Discount Liquor was our rum tasting tour guide. He told me we could have up to ten people so we invited Jay and Becca Dill, Justin and Tina Huntington, Ramon Lozano (who was staying with us that weekend), Kyle Stakel, Dustin’s GF Katie, Ed and Cindy Egan, and Molly and Cory Sager (they were in town too). Molly and Cory ended up heading back to Great Bend a day early and then Cindy and Ed didn’t end up making it on account of Ed not feeling the best. We actually thought we were going to end up with too many people at first because of out of town friends who I found out last minute were going to be in town to play in Scott’s charity pickleball tournament but, after the last minute cancellations, we ended up with just the right number.

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There were 16 teams in the pickleball tournament so we had to start an hour earlier than planned. The early start resulted in everyone needing an afternoon nap. Ramon was no exception.

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We decided to provide pizza and wings and a fruit and cheese tray to make sure no one drank on an empty stomach before Dustin took us around the world tasting rums from various regions.

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We also had some sliced pineapples, mangoes, and charcuterie to chase down the rums we sampled. That was a good call because the rums were very strong.

We tried some rums from various places..

  • Barbados – Mt Gray Eclipse, the Real McCoy
  • Jamaica – Wray Nephew, OFTD
  • United States – Cutwater Tiki (San Diego, CA), Coppel Muse (Fort Collins, CO)
  • Puerto Rico – Don Q Cristal

It wasn’t actually part of the tasting, but Dustin also brought a bottle of Ron Zacapa (Brian’s favorite rum) which is from Guatemala. He poured some for Brian to try alongside the Real McCoy for comparison. Surprisingly, Brian decided he liked the Real McCoy better so the experience resulted in Brian finding a new favorite rum.

After the tasting, Dustin and Katie made Mai Tais for everyone. They were strong!

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It was our first time hosting a curated rum tasting at our house and we didn’t know what to expect. The whole experience was fabulous but my favorite part was when Brian tasted the Zacapa and the Real McCoy one after the other. I didn’t think he would find something that he would like better than his favorite rum so that was a pleasant surprise.

Brian and I enjoyed it so much that we are already thinking of hosting another. Not sure what spirit we will do next. Maybe bourbon. Until then, GNG.

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Y’s Men Pickleball Tournament at Chicken N Pickle

Posted on July 28, 2023 by under Events, Pickleball.    

Here are a few pics from the Y’s Men pickleball tournament at Chicken N Pickle a couple of weeks ago. As charity tournaments go, this is a pretty good one because Scott Wolford organizes it and he makes it as close as possible to a real tournament format — double elimination with best 2 out of 3 games to 11 in the main bracket and then one game to 15 in the consolation bracket.

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Besides the format, the competitive group (social is in the afternoon) in the morning draws some of the best players in town. So, unlike other charity tournaments where you don’t even break a sweat, you really get a good challenge when you play in this one. For instance, our first round match was against the Sagers (above). After losing that match in three games, we went into the back draw (aka opportunity bracket) and played Susie Ternes and Matt Von Feldt (below).

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Chris Wilson and I hadn’t played together in some time because we’ve been playing with other partners. It was fun reuniting for this event.

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We were 2-2 for the day but I felt that we played pretty well and I had a great time. I live-streamed the matched on court 3 that morning, which you can rewatch here.

Here are some timestamps:

  • 0:35 Daniel Nguyen and Fong Witte defeated Scott Wolford and Jen Tiano (main draw)
  • 1:05 Zach Nguyen and Ling Wei Kong defeated Daniel and Fong (main draw)
  • 2:00 Ching and Chris Wilson defeated Daniel and Fong (backdraw)
  • 2:35 Katie Merrill and Ramon Lozano defeated Ching and Chris (backdraw)
  • 3:08 Dave and Lori Belew defeated Nathan Peters and Jenny Cole (winner bracket final)
  • 3:45 Scott Wolford (filling in for Zach because he had to leave) and Ling Wei defeated Nathan and Jenny (backdraw)
  • 4:05 Championship Match between Scott and Ling Wei vs the Belews

Scott and Ling Wei had to beat the as yet undefeated Belews twice because they were coming from the back draw. Incidentally, Scott was paired with Jen (Tiano) and they were eliminated prior but then Zach who was paired with Ling Wei had to leave early so then Scott end up filling in for their final matches. He could since his team was already knocked out.

Scott and Ling Wei won the championship match by first winning the best 2/3 match and then also the game to 15.

Congrats to the champs and thank you to everyone who played (not sure how many played in the social tournament in the afternoon but competitive had 16 teams that morning).

Thank you to Scott and the Y’s Men for putting this tournament on and giving Chris and I a reason to throw it back. Until next year!

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Ryan’s Birthday Weekend

Posted on April 26, 2023 by under Community, Events, Pickleball.    

I just love when friends come to visit. A few weeks ago we had a surprise visit from the Sagers. They were in town the same weekend as the It’s a Big Dill pickleball tournament at the Wichita Country Club. They were supposed to stay at the Egans but the Egans were in Tulsa for a concert so they weren’t in town. They made a game time decision to stay with us instead. It was quite spontaneous but everyone’s always welcome at our house.

They ended up meeting us at WCC and hanging out for a bit. We had early supper at Wichita Brewing Company, one of my most favorite pizza places. They also happen to have great craft beer so it’s a winning combination.

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I love when the Sagers visit because they are so fun. After supper, we hung out at home and played cards. They taught us how to play Pitch. I love learning new things and I love card games so I can’t wait to play it again.

It was a pretty quick visit for the Sagers. They stayed over on Saturday night and left on Sunday. But then later that same week, Ramon Lozano came into town. He didn’t have any specific plans, other than I think he wanted to get some practice time with Kyle Starkel. They both played in a “Bring Your Own Partner” DUPR session I had at the Pickle Club that I organized at Zach Nguyen’s request.

While he was in town, he got invited to a bunch of pickleball games and also Ryan Kellenbarger’s birthday celebrations. Yes, celebrations with an S because they were celebrating all weekend long. Anyway, Ramon is probably one of the most spontaneous people I know. He doesn’t really plan too far ahead. So he arrived on Wednesday and stayed through Sunday — without any pre-planning. I think this was the longest length of time he had ever stayed with us. I was actually surprised he had enough clothes with him.

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I love cake so I volunteered to bring the cake for the pickleball celebration.

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Solo pic of Ryan with the cake above and a picture of our group below.

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Later that night, we met up with the gang for more birthday festivities.

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Here’s a pic of Ryan and Ramon with our friend Ty Richardson.

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Ryan with Ian Carr and Austin Jones.

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Group picture of those who stayed for dancing. Jared Smart and Kendra Wicks came for dinner but didn’t stick around. They left shortly after Brian and I arrived.

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Dawn Hazlewood with Ramon and Ryan.

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Last pic is an obligatory selfie of Brian and me. Cos, you know, we just have to do it. Until next time, GNG.

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