Archive for "Community"
A Couple of Pickleball Tourneys to End the Year
Posted on January 6, 2026 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
I closed out the year by playing in a couple of fun pickleball tournaments at Chicken N Pickle and also helping my friends Zach Nguyen and Susie Ternes with their first Miracles and Mentors Pickleball Tournament benefiting Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and Youth Horizons.
Matt Rochat and I played in the Friendsgiving Tournament as Smash Ching Pumpkins.
Bo Tolbert and I played in the Ugly Sweater Pickleball Tournament as Tolbert and Erne.
Teamed up with Zach Nguyen and Susie Ternes to host the first ever Miracles and Mentors Pickleball Tournament, which Susie ended up winning (LOL) along with her partner Jordan Sparks.
Jamie Lynch and Krysta Crawford took second. Sarah Berry and Fernando Martinez took third.
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The winners of the recreational group were as follows:
- 1st – Janelle Lindeman and Devin Hansen
- 2nd – Scott Knox and Karen Fox
- 3rd – Evelina Le and Justin Kongmanychanh
It was a great turnout for a first fundraising tournament and I think everyone had a great time. We may have to do this again next year.
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Halloween Pickleball at the Park
Posted on December 29, 2025 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
Halloween fell on a Friday this year; however, since TapNPaddles closed early that day, we ended up gathering at Seneca Park, our old pickleball stomping grounds. It’s probably been almost two years since I last played at Seneca. Now that we have many indoor options, people are mostly playing inside rather than at the public parks. I really don’t know who play regularly at Seneca park anymore. The nets look dilapidated and the courts were full of debris. I think it was different when we were playing there regularly because the players would regularly sweep the courts or bring their leaf blowers and stuff. Though the courts looked largely neglected, it was still a great place to gather on Halloween night — at least until sunset because there are no court lights at Seneca Park.
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4K Members Celebration
Posted on November 7, 2025 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
Guess what. The Wichita Pickleball Facebook group finally surpassed 4,000 members. We held an event at TapNPaddles to celebrate. Thanks to Cameron Ventling for the idea!
I brought a cake from Costco as my contribution because no celebration is complete without cake.
A few players stayed for drinks that night.
Congrats to Julie Pauly and Matt Dutton for winning Friday Night Fiesta that week.
Anyway, here’s to 4K and looking forward to celebrating the next milestone!
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Other August Highlights
Posted on September 26, 2025 by Ching under Community, Hobbies, Things to Do.
August was a full month. Besides our trip to Grapevine for our 23rd wedding anniversary, I got to play a lot of pickleball and participate in several fun things. While I never get to play in the Chicken N Pickle ambassador open play anymore (because it’s on Wednesdays this year and I teach Zumba on Wednesdays at West YMCA), I always manage to stop by for the group photo. August was no different.
I also enjoyed a great month of team league with my awesome KC^2 teammates.
I played some chess at TapNPaddles.
I helped with the Dink Minor Leagues MiLP v3 presented by InPickle Nation at TapNPaddles.
We hung out with Chris Townley and Jay and Becca Dill at family fun day.
We celebrated Zach’s 40th birthday at Flight Club.
We ate lunch at Plentibloom (inside the Ruffin Building).
Brian got to try a new ramen place. I will make a separate, dedicated post about this. Stay tuned!
I played pickleball with some fun ladies.
We had our weekly InPickle Nation mini tournaments at TapNPaddles.
Lots of trips to the ballpark.
September is pretty much over so I’ll be recapping what happened this month soon. Eventually we will be completely caught up. Have a fantastic weekend!
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Mini Tournaments at the Pickle Club
Posted on September 17, 2024 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
It’s been a while since I’ve written about my pickleball exploits so I figured it was time. I’m giving you a break from all the restaurant and food posts for a bit. To be fair, there’s not really much to report on the pickleball front as I am currently on my tournament sabbatical year. Unlike in the past when I was sharing my pickleball adventures from the nearly weekly pickleball tournaments I was playing in, I’m barely even playing recreationally these days. However, since we are putting together another mixed doubles mini tournament at the Pickle Club in a few weeks, I thought I should share the results of the series of mini tournaments that we held over the summer.
Here are the some pictures of the winners from all three events…
July 6 – Men’s Doubles
- 1st – Matt Dutton and Derek Pruett
- 2nd – Dan Chocron and Steve Alvarez
- 3rd – Kyle Manny and Joshua Schott
July 27 – Mixed Doubles
- 1st – Susie Ternes and Ryan Kellenbarger
- 2nd – Julie Pauly and Zach Nguyen
- 3rd – Lena Quach and Fin Tatum
August 24 – Women’s Doubles
- 1st – Lacy Waugh and Lori Belew
- 2nd – Anna Le and Lena Quach
- 3rd – Jen Tiano and Monica McGehee
For all three of these events, we limited sign ups to six teams max because there are only two courts at the Pickle Club. There would be way too much waiting around otherwise. The format was round robin pool play plus single elimination bracket with a bonus third place game for the losers of the semi-final round.
Round robin games were one game to 11, win by 1 (to limit the wait). Each team played all the other teams so each team got five pool play matches. The single elimination bracket play format was best 2 of 3 games to 11, win by 2. Everyone got lots of play. All results were sent to DUPR after the event so the events are great for building up your match history and DUPR rating reliability.
These tournaments are a great value and specially since you get to pick your own partner (unlike the InPickle Nation mini tournaments that we have weekly). It a slightly different flavor. Anyway, highly recommend grabbing a partner and joining us for this one. Registration will open this weekend on the Pickle Club website.
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