Archive for "Hobbies"
Chicken N Pickle Festivities This Week
Posted on July 11, 2020 by Ching under Community, Hobbies.
Michael Harris, head pickleball guy at Chicken N Pickle, turned 27 on Wednesday so I brought chocolate cake in his honor. It was delicious!
His wife Naomi came to hang out so we finally got to meet her.
I just happened to be there on Wednesday for mixed doubles with Kyle, Ryan, and Ryan’s wife Renae. I didn’t know that it was Michael’s birthday until that same day but thankfully Costco always comes through.
Then this morning, my friend Karen and I played in the Doubles and Bubbles tournament at Chicken N Pickle. She had signed us up for it a few weeks ago.
We decided to wear our matching Sofibella skorts with white tanks. Karen made us these patches to make our team uniforms look more legit. She is so creative!
I didn’t really know what to expect because it had been a while since I played in one of these events but I had so much fun! Karen and I actually won the tournament today. We won some Chicken N Pickle swag (it was a green tank that I already had two of but you can’t really have too many – now I can wear as a sort of uniform, which is only fitting because I’m there so much practically live at Chicken N Pickle) and Karen got to take home the big bracket poster.
Next week it’s the guys’ turn! Until next time. GNG.
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Ching is Now a USAPA Ambassador
Posted on July 8, 2020 by Ching under Community, Hobbies.
I did a thing last month. My friend Jeanie encouraged me to apply to become a USAPA ambassador for our area. They must have been in dire need because it happened very quickly. Less than a week after I submitted my application, I was approved. My friend and co-ambasssador for Wichita Gregg Smith actually found out about my becoming a USAPA ambassador before I did.
The move made perfect sense because I’d already been playing pickleball for over a year and I was completely hooked. I even got Brian to gift me with a lifetime membership to USAPA for Christmas last year. I am fully committed to supporting the organization that represents and promotes the sport. I was already sharing my love for pickleball with everyone, welcome or not. I was already an evangelist even before being anointed with an ambassadorship.
The only surprise really was why I took so long to apply. It’s a great fit from the start and, I suppose the USAPA organization saw it too, because they approved my application super quickly.
The current ambassadors for our area are:
Wichita – Gregg Smith
Mulvane – Cameron Tucker
El Dorado – Jeanie Ferguson
Topeka – Eldonna Coats
Eldonna is also our district ambassador, so basically she is the leader of all the ambassadors in our district. I had the opportunity to meet her for the first when she came to visit Wichita a couple of weeks ago.
Group photo (from left): Cameron, Eldonna, Jeanie, and Ching.
I already knew Cameron and Jeanie but it was nice to get together with fellow ambassadors. I had a blast playing with them. The only person we missed was Gregg, who was golfing in Manhattan that day couldn’t make it — but I’m hoping this won’t be the last time we all get together.
That’s all for now. Until next time. GNG.
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Ben Johns Clinic at Chicken N Pickle
Posted on July 5, 2020 by Ching under Hobbies.
Here are some pictures from the Ben Johns clinic at Chicken N Pickle a couple of weeks ago. I decided to take time off work to do the clinics because I had a lot of vacation time still available to use this year after we’d had to cancel a couple of trips. I took Thursday and Friday off that week.
This is our group photo from our intermediate clinic in the morning. Our group consisted of Beth, Margaret, Wanda, Debbi, Tommy, Brooke, Kim, and me.
Tommy, who celebrated his birthday that day, and Debbi both completed the intermediate clinic with us that morning.
Here are a few pictures from our clinic that morning.
After a little break for lunch and an outfit change, I participated in the advanced clinic with my friends Jarred, Kimberly, Tiffany, Amy, Matt, and Karen. There was only one person in our session who I hadn’t met before.
Karen was brilliant and got some individual coaching.
Of course, we had to get a photo with Ben.
That night there was a Team Ben and Team Matt exhibition, and we got to watch two hours of amazing pickleball. Ron Ponder and his friend reffed matches between the pros (from left) — Jocelyn Devilliers, Patrick Smith, Matt Wright, Lucy Kovalova, Chris Heck, Ben Johns, Altaf Merchant, and Collin Johns (not pictured). Collin didn’t make the group photo because he was walking his grandmother to her car at the end of the event. How sweet is that?!
Here’s a better group photo from my friend Debbie’s phone.
Brian came out to livestream the event. He was a little stressed out because, even after we tested everything two days before, when we got to Chicken N Pickle, nothing worked. Good thing we got there early so Brian could implement plan B — using his MacBook. It all turned out okay but Brian was stressed out nonetheless.
Here’s Debbie and Jenny with the “Don’t Miss!” sign that we made for Chris Heck. It is his #1 rule.
Debbie with a new friend she made holding the “Team Lucy Kovalova” sign.
Debbie with the KaChing sign. KaChing is the team name that Karen and I use whenever we are playing together.
Debbie holding an “I Love Ben Johns” and “I Love Lucy” sign. She did a much better job of taking pictures with my signs than I did.
We got a fun group photo with Lucy at the end of the evening — (from left) Kelli, Krista, Lucy, Debbie, me, and Karen.
That whole day was so fun. I got to spend the day learning from Ben Johns and then got to watch some amazing matches during the exhibition. It’s a day I won’t soon forget. I can’t wait until the next one!
P.S. Here’s a link to the video of the Q&A and exhibition matches in case you want to watch them. Enjoy!
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Pickleball with #TeamModel
Posted on June 21, 2020 by Ching under Hobbies.
A few weeks ago, Karen had this idea to ask Jocelyn Devilliers and Patrick Smith to play with us. I didn’t think they would be open to it because they are way, way, way out of our league but I guess Karen is friends with Jocelyn and so, while I wouldn’t even dream of asking, she wasn’t afraid to ask. At the time, Jocelyn was only playing singles (because of social distancing) but both he and Patrick seemed open to playing with us. Patrick said the four of us could play once Jocelyn is ready to play doubles again. But even after he was ready, it still took some doing to get our schedules to line up. We finally got to play together a couple of weeks ago.
Here are some pics from that night. (Jocelyn is on the left. Patrick is on the right.)
Mom and dad came out to watch and also had dinner at Chicken N Pickle.
Karen, Brandon, Brian and I ended up hitting the reverse happy hour on the rooftop after our matches. Here are some pics of our food.
The guys were so gracious and nice. I had the best time playing with them. Until next time. GNG.
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Chris Wilson’s Birthday Weekend
Posted on June 12, 2020 by Ching under Hobbies, Things to Do.
Last weekend was Chris Wilson’s birthday. We had a nice little patio party after our regular Friday night pickleball. Brian come out and brought chicken for our taco bar and a chocolate cake. The others brought taco bar fixin’s and chips. Kimberly made homemade salsa. Chris’ wife nina even came out to join us.
Here’s a picture of Chris with his wife Nina.
It was the perfect night for a patio party.
We ended up staying out way too late that night but it was totally worth it. It’s always fun hanging out with the Friday night pickleball crew and it’s even more fun when we have something to celebrate.
I had the opportunity to play more pickleball with Chris that weekend because we agreed to meet up for mixed doubles with Rick and Karen. I brought a dozen birthday donuts which included a few apple fritter ones. They are Chris’ favorite.
Anyway, we were supposed to play at Seneca Park but, by the time I got there at 7:30 AM, all the courts were already full. Fortunately for us, I always have a backup plan. I had my portable net in the car so we just drove two minutes South to Aley Park where there are six lined pickleball courts. The biggest caveat about Aley Park is there are no nets so you have to bring your own. That’s pretty much why no one ever plays there. It worked out great for us because, being the only ones there, we were able to play for two hours uninterrupted.
I hope Chris had a great time celebrating his birthday weekend. I sure did!
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