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Chicken N Pickle Sponsored Athlete Sip ‘n Play

Posted on August 29, 2022 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.

Once a month, Chicken N Pickle hosts a “Sip ‘n Play” event for sponsored athletes. They give us a couple of courts for two hours so we can play, practice, and socialize with one another. It’s very generous of them and I am grateful for it. These are the highlights from the one we had this month.

These events are usually on the first Tuesday of the month but this month the first Tuesday coincides with Chicken N Pickle’s “Our Hearts are Local” employee volunteer day. Chicken N Pickle closes for the entire day so that employees can participate in a volunteer activity together. So our next sponsored athlete play day is on Wednesday, September 7, instead.

Other upcoming events at Chicken N Pickle include:

September 13 – Newbie Night
September 13-15 – Picklepalooza 2022
September 20-22 – Chicken N Pickle Signature Camp

Are you signed up for any of these fun events? If so, see you there!

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Another Dream Team Doubles in the Books

Posted on August 20, 2022 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.

These are some highlights from the last Dream Team Doubles event at Riverside Tennis Center last month. Many amazing players from both genders came to participate but there was only one team champ. Congratulations to Jen Tiano, Jenny Cole, Antwome Topps, and Nathan Peters!

This is a fun format that the players seem to really enjoy. I can’t wait for us do this again and to be able to play next time. Until then, GNG.

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Ramon in Wichita

Posted on August 4, 2022 by Ching under Community, Food and Drink, Pickleball.

My friend Ramon Lozano came to Wichita on the last weekend of June so we could play some games together before the Newport Beach tournament. We decided to play in the Y’s Men charity tournament benefiting the Greater Wichita YMCA so that we could kill two birds with one stone – we’re helping the community raise money for a great cause and we are getting to practice.

We didn’t fare as well as I’d hoped in the tournament but it’s always a good time playing with Ramon. There’s a reason “Everybody Loves Ramon” – LOL. That was our team name for the tournament.

Ramon drove into town early on Friday to get some games in with Kyle (Starkel, aka “Soapdish” also “Pornstache”) and a couple of other guys. Brian and I needed stamps for our Wicked Brew passports (something that we do every summer) and so we were game when Kyle suggested we meet up at Norton’s.

Here are some pics of our delicious food… BTW, you cannot go to Norton’s and not get bacon crack. It is a must!

Here are some pictures from the charity tournament at Chicken N Pickle the next morning. I had to get a picture with my friend Erica Lopez because we both were playing with Joola paddles that day. Formerly, we both played with Electrum Pro paddles. So we still managed to match somehow.

Here’s a pic of the top two teams of the tournament: Ian Carr and Jen Reifschneider vs. Karen Fox and Chris “Sexy Legs” Heck.

Karen and Chris won, obviously. Chris always wins. But, not too shabby for Ian who has come in second to Chris every time.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Until next time. GNG.

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Learning to Make Soap

Posted on July 26, 2022 by Ching under Community, Projects.

These are pictures from one of my most favorite Rotary luncheons of all time. It was the day that Isaac McNary came to present to the club (for the second time). The first time he visited our club, he talked about the Outreach Program. This time he showed us how to make soap.

He made it look easy but I’m still probably not going to try it myself. Some of the ingredients are caustic and must be handled very carefully. I can picture myself totally screwing everything up and getting burned by the acid. Anyway, I will just buy soaps from him which goes to a very good cause anyway. He makes and sells soaps to raise money for Rotary International’s End Polio Now initiative.

It was a really informative meeting. Also, Isaac is always very entertaining and engaging whenever he speaks so we always love having him visit.

Until next time, GNG.

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Dream Team Doubles at Riverside

Posted on June 28, 2022 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.

Last month we held our first Dream Team Doubles pickleball tournament at Ralph Wulz Riverside Tennis Center. We ended up with six teams of four — two men and two women — to complete for the title of ultimate team champion. It was my first time running a mini tournament with this specific format (women’s doubles, men’s doubles, and two mixed doubles) and I was so proud of myself for staying right on schedule. I think I’m starting to get the hang of this!

This is the Excel template that I created specifically for the round robin portion this event. After five rounds of play, which gave everyone a chance to play against all the other teams in the tournament, we did a single elimination bracket.

Personally, I like the round robin + single elimination format compared to a double elimination format because if you have a rough day then you could go 0-2 (meaning play twice, lose twice and be out) and only play a couple of matches. The round robin + single elimination ensures everyone gets to play lots of games, which in turn is way more fun. Even if you do end up finishing last, you still got to play a ton.

These were the two teams that made it to the championship round — Team Topps (Antwome Topps, Jody Vinson, Lesli Toubassi, and Chris Wilson) and 1 Right 3 Wrongs (Caesar Naftzger, Cindy Egan, Vickie Hancock, and Cory Sager). It was a really tight match. Actually, all of the matches were super close and some matches even came down to a point or two.