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Minto US Open Pickleball Championships

Posted on May 20, 2022 by Ching under Pickleball, Travel.

Miscellaneous pictures from the US Open last month…

Pictures of Championship Court…

The bleacher seats require general admission tickets but the box seats and the bar top tables in the lounge required special VIP credentials.

You want one of these special credentials…

Here’s a better picture of the air-conditioned VIP lounge.

Pictures of everyone’s tents at the Players’ Village.

Here’s a tournament map. This is definitely the most massive tournament I’ve ever attended. There were dozens of courts, a special section for players’ tents called the Players’ Village, there’s a couple of huge tents for the vendors called the Vendor Village, lots of food trucks, live music, and so forth.

Here’s a picture of our parking pass which I kept as a souvenir. The parking fee was $5 per day or $30 for the entire week and benefited the local Kiwanis club.

Got a picture with my friend Chase Distefano who was working at the Zelus booth inside the Vendor Village.

Brian bought a ball cap at the Zelus booth.

Got a picture with my friend Tien Nguyen from Oklahoma.

I had to take a picture of the portapottys because there were super nice. The nicest ones I’d ever seen at any tournament.

There were amazing matches going on everywhere, not just at the Championship Court. You can just watch from court to court to court.

If you didn’t have tickets to Championship Court, you could also watch the broadcasted matches via the jumbo TV at the Fan Zone.

Here’s a picture of Ryan Sherry and Ben Johns at the Championship Court.

Pictures taken at the Championship Court.

A selfie with the hubs at Championship Court.

Picture of the VIP lounge inside Championship Court.

When you arrive later in the morning, you have to park at the park down the street which they’ve turned into overflow parking. The nice thing is that there is a shuttle that goes back and forth. Here’s a picture of the shuttle bus that takes people to and from the overflow parking lot.

Picture with Joe and Cindy Witte at Players’ Village.

Picture with KaSandra Gehrke at the Kitch booth.

Picture with Belinda Dettman at Vendor Village.

Picture with Joe and Cindy at Championship Court.

Selfie at East Naples Community Park at night…

Group picture with a fun crew after some rec play at the park.

Caught up with the beautiful and talented Jessie Irvine at the Engage booth at Vendor Village at the US Open.

Impressive blue dome covering the Zing Zang championship court…

The Wichita pickleball crew was well-represented at the US Open.

Karen and Janelle on women’s doubles day…

Post-medal presentation selfie with Brian…

With our St. Louis, MO pals — Christie Pink and Monica Ray…

Met senior pro and hall-of-famer Enrique Ruiz at the Fan Zone…

With Mircea Moriariu and John Sperling, a couple of really awesome senior pros.

These pictures really do not do the tournament justice. To say that the Minto US Open is the biggest party on earth is an understatement. It’s like a cross between a pickleball tournament, music festival, and trade show that is attended by thousands of people – players and spectators alike. It is a truly massive event that every pickleball fan must experience at least once. I am completely hooked and am looking forward to going every year from here on out. So excited for next year!

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Breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.

Here are some pictures of our breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn in Edmond, Oklahoma during the weekend of the Oak Tree pickleball tournament.

Breakfast wasn’t included in the room rate but it actually wasn’t bad at only $10 with drinks included. And, I really liked that I could pretty much put everything (except for cheese because I don’t like cheese my omelets) in my omelet and there was no extra charge. So both days I had a ham, bacon, AND sausage omelet with tomatoes and spinach. It was so good!

Until next time, GNG.

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Pictures from the Oak Tree Tournament

Posted on March 10, 2022 by Ching under Pickleball, Travel.

We drove to Edmond, OK a couple of weeks ago for a tournament at the Oak Tree Country Club. I played singles on Friday, doubles with Jen Reifschneider on Saturday, and mixed with Ramon Lozano on Sunday.

I played four best 2 out of 3 matches and finished in third place in 3.5 singles.

My first match was against Lauryn Davis and then my second match was against her younger sister Bradey Davis.

I lost to Lauryn so the match against Bradey was my first in the back draw. I was a little bit confused that we were playing best 2 out of 3 instead of one game to 15 but I just rolled with it.

This next match is against Melissa Hawk. After playing against Melissa, I had to play against Lauryn again. This time it was for medals. I ended up losing to Lauryn a second time and got bronze.

I ended up playing against Lauryn again in women’s doubles the next day and ended up losing to her a third time. It was a super close match, though. We lost the third game 11-9.

With the exception of our first match, all of our women’s doubles matches were really close actually. We lost to the second place team 12-10 in the third game, and we lost to the third place team 13-11 in the third game. We were so close in our three losses. Those games really could have gone either way.

The next day Ramon and I played in mixed doubles and ended up taking silver. I love playing with Ramon. Not only is he a great pickleball player but he is also good listener and supportive partner. You can find videos of all the matches here.

There were 14 teams signed up for the 4.0 division. They ended up splitting us up into two groups of 7 based on the team’s average age. Ramon and I were in the 40+ Average Age bracket along with our friends Heather Griffin and Chris Wilson. Our other friends Jen Reifschneider and Jared Smart, and Kim Knotts and Daniel Nguyen ended up in the Under 40 Average Age Bracket. I thought it was weird at first but it actually worked out for the best because all four of us came home with medals. Heather and Chris took bronze in our bracket and, in the younger bracket, Jen and Jared took silver while Kim and Daniel took bronze.

This tournament was a bit of a mess but it’s always fun when you get to play with good people. I saw some familiar faces and also made some new friends. I can’t wait until the next tournament. Until then, GNG.

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Eddies in Edmond, OK

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.

We loved the Lounge so much that we decided to go check out their sister location Eddies on Saturday night.

It was still early on Saturday night but they were super busy. It took 30 minutes for us to be seated but we were willing to wait because we were thinking if they were even half as good as the Lounge it would be totally worth it.

Here are a couple of pictures of drinks.

These bacon-wrapped grilled shrimp skewers were really good.

I didn’t try these bacon-wrapped jalapeño things but Chris said they were good. I guess pretty much anything wrapped in bacon is good.

Brian got some potato skins and I thought they were just okay.

This was Jen’s. I think it is hummus.

Ramon’s fried pickles.

Everyone pretty much got pasta, which I immediately regretted not getting because all their dishes looked so good.

Brian and I decided to split a burger and they were nice enough to cut them in half and put them in separate plates for us.

I’m not sure if they were just so busy that they were just cranking the food out as quickly as they could but the fries at Eddies is not nearly as good as the ones at the Lounge. Eddies food wasn’t bad but I definitely like the Lounge much better.

Still worth checking out if you’re ever in the area. All these Oklahomans can’t be wrong, right? Until next time. GNG.

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The Lounge Kitchen + Cocktails

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.

We found a great restaurant in Edmond completely by accident last Friday. Singles didn’t finish until almost 10 pm and many of the restaurants were already closed. Chris Wilson found this place called Eddies which was still open so we drove over there. However, upon getting there, we found out that they decided to close their kitchen early due to power fluctuations all evening.

We (Chris, Ramon, Brian, and I) were all very starving and I think the host felt bad for us because he called their sister location down the street called the lounge and asked if they could keep their kitchen open a bit longer so they could feed four starving people who were on their way.

The Lounge was not very big but their food was amazing. And, they were pretty much the only place open that late at night.

Ramon Lozano and Chris Wilson

I love that their craft cocktails had unique, clever names.

The guys said the onion rings were amazing.

The fries were absolutely perfect.

The charcuterie board had something for everyone.

When asked what was good to get at the Lounge, the host at Eddies JC who sent us there, recommended the gouda burger. Both Ramon and Chris got it and they said it was fantastic.

We were so impressed with the food and their willingness to stick around and feed four hungry people. I highly recommend this place and we will definitely return next time we are in the area.