Archive for "Events"
First Minor League Pickleball Team Tournament in Wichita
Posted on October 23, 2023 by Ching under Events, Pickleball.
I was fortunate to be part of bringing the first ever Minor League Pickleball team tournament to Wichita earlier this month. The iPickle Nation team has been hosting these in the Kansas City area but this was our first one in Wichita.
We had quite a few hurdles to overcome but, overall, I think we had a pretty successful first event. The first hurdle was finding a suitable venue. Riverside Tennis Center had various events going on and was limited on dates that they would be willing to allow us to have. Besides that, we had to dodge a bunch of other tournaments in the region that were happening at the same time and we were running out of warm weather days. In the end, we ended up going with Crestview Country Club because Riverside was going to be too expensive (there was no way we were going to be able to have the event at Riverside and not lose money) and the rate we were able to negotiate with Crestview was much more reasonable.
We ended up with 8 teams each in DUPR 16 and 18 and 4 teams each in DUPR 14 and 20, which was perfect for the number of courts we had. Crestview has six painted pickleball courts and we taped up six additional courts for a total of 12 on event day. We taped up courts and set up nets on Saturday night and were all set to go first thing on Sunday morning.
Visit Wichita, our local visitors’ bureau, was a huge help as well. They set up group rates at a couple of nearby hotels for our out of town players. It worked out great.
I did host three players from a DUPR 18 team that I helped put together (Genevieve Eskridge from Tulsa, Craig Morford from Kansas City, and Gloria Knoles from Nebraska teamed up with Chris Wilson and formed “Strangers with Candy” team) and helped find housing for some others but for those players who we couldn’t find free housing for, Spring Hill Suites and Tru next to Chicken N Pickle offered really good rates for our group. It was perfect too because those who stayed there could easily walk over to Chicken N Pickle.
I always get super cranky and stressed out but thankfully I have Brian who is always such a huge help. He helped us set up on Saturday and Sunday and, although he left for part of the event to take care of some chores and honey-dos, he came back to help tear down after. He is the best!
Anyway, I dream of having many of these types of events here in the future. I feel like Wichita is the perfect location to bring players from all over — Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and so forth — to compete with one another. I can’t wait to see what the future holds!
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Susie’s Pickleball Birthday Party
Posted on August 16, 2023 by Ching under Events, Pickleball.
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.
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 Ching 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.
Here are a couple of pictures from Saturday that Mandy’s husband Justin took of us with some of the teams in our division.
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.
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.
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.
This next one is of Antonio Lares, Jared Smart, and Ramon Lozano.
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 Ching 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.
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.
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.
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!
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 Ching 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.
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).
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.
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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