Archive for "Community"
National Pickleball Month MEGA Fiesta
Posted on April 28, 2026 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
Did you know that April is National Pickleball Month? If you’ve been following me, then you probably already know this because I am completely obsessed with pickleball and will tell everyone all sorts of pickleball factoids and am eager to celebrate my favorite hobby all month. Much like previous years, I planned some activities throughout the month to bring people together to celebrate.
To kick things off, we decided to host a MEGA Fiesta at TapNPaddles. For those who are unfamiliar with it, I host a Friday Night Fiesta round robin group every week at TapNPaddles. We started it last year and it has evolved over time. We’ve had as many as 16 teams (32 players) on 8 courts but on average probably get about 8-10 teams on average.
Anyway, to kick off National Pickleball Month festivities, we decided to have a MEGA event on April 3. We took over all 12 courts at TapNPaddles from 6 PM to close. Since we had 24 teams, we divided everyone into three pools of 8 teams each. After the round robin matches, the teams competed in a single elimination bracket to determine the winners. Besides the event lasting four hours (instead of the normal 2 hours), we also received a $250 grant from USA Pickleball which we used on some heavy appetizers and finger foods for the players. We also had festive decorations, fun prizes, and drink specials. We brought the sign board back out for people to write “why they love pickleball” and my friend Susie Ternes made an awesome photo booth which was a huge hit. It was a great kick off party overall.
Instead of using the usual king and queen crowns that we use for photos each week, I leaned in to the “fiesta” theme and got these mini sombrero headbands from Amazon to “crown” our winners. They usually don’t get to keep my fancy crowns which we just use for photo ops but they did get to keep these cute sombreros.
I got a bunch of “fiesta” decorations just to be more festive. A few people, like Jeanette Santo and Hai Nguyen, came early to help decorate.
We took some fun photos at Susie’s photo booth.
Susie’s custom photo both props were hilarious!
Bharath Reddiyar and Amy Dupont won the top group.
Karen Fox and Devon Fuller won the middle group.
Taylor Griffin and Rob Adams won the bottom group.
It was a Friday Night Fiest for the ages! Here’s a highlight video I made:
If you ever want to play pickleball on a Friday night, register your team here. Come and fiesta with us!
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Chicken N Pickle Courtside Crew
Posted on April 24, 2026 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
Chicken N Pickle expanded their ambassador program this year by launching a new group called CNP NET-Work. It’s kind of a scaled down version of the original Chicken N Pickle ambassador program with less emphasis on participating in tournaments and greater focus on building community. The NET-Work is designed for loyal, local fans who embody the spirit of Chicken N Pickle. Mom, dad, and Brian are all part of this program.
Some of the perks of being part of CNP NET-Work include:
- Welcome package with $50 CNP Gift Card, CNP shirt and hat
- 50 BOGO brunch certificates per year
- 4 FREE Court hours per year
- Monthly open play with our staff, NET-Work, ambassadors, kids crew, and campus crew members
- 25% OFF CNP swag in store and online
- 25% off ReserveCNP.com
- Plenty of volunteer opportunities
It truly is a wonderful program to be a part of and, since we moved our monthly open play night to Mondays, I am actually able to organize and participate in the events now. Last year the monthly ambassador open plays were on Wednesdays so I couldn’t attend any of them because my Zumba class. I did make it in time for a few group photos, though.
Our friend Jim Tsen actually got to join us for the one in March while he was in town. Brian and I were also back from the US Open in Florida in time for the one in April because the Courtside Crew Socials (as these events are called now) are on the third Monday of each month.
I just love being part of the Chicken N Pickle family!
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My First Blarney Breakfast
Posted on April 20, 2026 by Ching under Community, Things to Do.
The Blarney Breakfast is on its 51st year but I’ve never ever been able to attend because it’s usually on a weekday. This year, however, I managed to squeeze it in to my schedule. Although, I did have to get up super early and go at 6 AM. It helps to have a little bit of peer pressure.
The event benefits Rainbows United and is usually on St. Patrick’s Day (whatever day that might fall during the week). There were drink specials but I couldn’t partake because I had to go to work immediately after. Some of our friends were smart and took the day off, though. I’m thinking I might have to do the same to fully experience Blarney Breakfast next year. What a great way to start the day!
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Full Day at Chicken N Pickle
Posted on March 9, 2026 by Ching under Community.
I invited my Leadership Wichita classmates to a gathering at Chicken N Pickle last month for our first Leadership Wichita get together of 2026. Our class met in 2014 and, believe it or not, we are still in tough and getting together twelve years later.
Huge thanks to Chicken N Pickle for hosting our group and providing sliders and drinks for everyone. They even gave us a bunch of BOGO Sunday brunch coupons.
It was nice catching up with everyone.
We also had our first Court Side Crew social of 2026 that same day so we decided to just hang around. Court Side Social is an opportunity for Chicken N Pickle staff, ambassadors, Kids Crew, and NET-work members to get together. No one else signed up except for mom and dad so it turned into a family affair.
Huge thanks to Debbi Wright for playing with us.
We made good use of the our free court all things considered.
We have not yet set a date for the next Leadership Wichita gathering but the next Court Side Crew Social is next week, on March 16. I hate seeing courts go to waste so I am hoping for a much better turnout. Anyone want to join us?
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Dawn’s 60th Birthday
Posted on February 10, 2026 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
We held a surprise birthday party for our dear friend Dawn Hazlewood last month at TapNPaddles. It was actually Jeanette Santo’s idea. Dawn was volunteering with Girls Growing the Game on Sunday so we decided to have a surprise pickleball party immediately following so she would already be there.
As (bad) luck would have it, we ended up with a snowstorm that weekend and events were getting canceled left and right. The 3G event was also canceled so now Dawn was not going to be there and we needed to figure out a way to get her to TapNPaddles without giving the surprise away. Janelle Lindeman invited Dawn to play pickleball from 4-6 PM (the same time as her surprise party) and, thankfully, she accepted. We were actually concerned about her saying no and then we would have to fess up and tell her about the surprise just to get her there. We joked about just kidnapping her if need be. LOL.
Anyway, it all worked out great and she was none the wiser. Almost everyone still came, despite the weather that weekend, and we had a great time celebrating our lovely friend. Check out this YouTube short for the highlights.
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