Archive for "Community"
No Medals but Had a Ton of Fun
Posted on November 18, 2021 by Ching under Community, Hobbies, Travel.
Some people bring back medals from their out of town tournaments. I bring back new friends which, in a way, is even cooler than medals. One of my favorite things about going to pickleball tournaments is making new friends and reconnecting with friends I’ve made from past tournaments. It’s a lot like ZINCON in that way.
Brian and I originally planned to drive down to Oklahoma on Thursday night because I wasn’t sure what time I was playing on Friday but, when I found out that our division wasn’t starting until 11:45 am, we decided to cancel our Thursday night stay and only spend one night at the hotel to save money. We were originally going to take Saki with us but then realized we wouldn’t be able to take her inside the tennis facility so she ended up getting boarded which ended up using the money we saved on our hotel stay.
This tournament was set up differently in that tournaments are typically held on Saturday and Sunday. This one held events on Friday and Saturday. Gender doubles was on Friday and then mixed was on Saturday.
I played with Jen Reifschneider in women’s doubles. I’m glad she agreed to play because I originally only had mixed lined up. This was only our second time playing together. We played together for the first time in ICT Fall-out back in September. We did pretty well (getting further than any of the other local women’s doubles teams in our division) and I had a lot of fun playing with her. I had high hopes for this tournament but also knew that it would be challenging because it was a sanctioned tournament and typically players play their actual level (or sometimes lower) instead of playing up.
We had the misfortune of playing against the gold medal team in our first round and then just had a rough go during our second match. I felt like we really should have medaled because even the gold medal team felt like we were their main competition (we were the only team to take them to 3 games, until the championship match) so I think we were just unlucky.
Anyway, once we were out, I took advantage of the time to catch up with friends like Michael McLemore who I only ever see at pickleball tournaments. I also enjoyed watching everyone play and taking a few pics.
We had dinner at Industry that evening. Our group consisted of over 20 people. Most of us were from Wichita but some were from Hays. We also made some new friends. I invited the two girls who won gold in our division to dinner because (a) I had no bitter feelings at all, and (b) they were super nice. I ran into Jenna earlier that day in the restroom and she was super complementary about how Jen and I played. She didn’t gloat and wasn’t a jerk so I invited her and Danae and Danae’s husband Barrett to join our group for dinner. Incidentally, she lives close to the restaurant and Danae and Barrett were both staying with her so it worked out perfectly. We did have to add another table and a couple more chairs but we made it work and everyone seemed to have a great time visiting with one another over dinner. Pickleball peeps are the best!
We just keep adopting people into the Wichita Pickleball family. LOL.
Here are some pictures of our food.
I tried to get as many food pics as I could but it was just too difficult because everyone was so far away from me.
Brian and I got a couple of the charcuterie plates to share with everyone as we waited for everyone to arrive to order dinner. As is what typically happens, we ordered way too much food. Brian and I only ate half of our pizza and we couldn’t do anything with the rest of it because we were staying at a hotel (Avid) and going home the next day.
Speaking of our hotel, I got to meet Alvaro Terron Gonzalez aka the Spanish Sensation or Jay 2.0 at breakfast the next morning because he just happened to be staying at the same hotel. He is super nice and graciously agreed to take a photo with me. I think he is still getting use to the idea of being famous.
Brian says he think I am more famous than Alvaro. This never would have occurred to me had this guy not asked to take a photo with me when I was at Riverside Tennis Center last week. He said “his mom is a huge fan” – his words not mine. Maybe Brian is on to something and maybe I am really more famous than I realize?
I am usually the one fan-girling so to have someone ask to get a pic with me kind of made me feel special. We’ve come full circle, friends.
And speaking of full circle, my friend Justin (one of our friends from Hays) recently posted this on Facebook. Naturally, I got a kick out of it. Alvaro is super nice. I found out that he is good friends with Michael Douglas, my mixed partner for that tournament. Any time that he wasn’t playing he came to watch us play.
He was watching when we played against Kali Wilson and Kyle VonAhn and saw our heartbreaking 15-13 consolation bracket loss which ended our tournament run. I thanked him for coming to watch us and he said it was fun to watch and then also added, “Too bad Michael didn’t show up today!” to mess with Michael – LOL – who was standing right there. Alvaro is not only nice and handsome but he also has a great sense of humor, and he is climbing the ranks of my list of favorite people.
Speaking of Michael, here’s a picture of him in the awesome team shirt that I had made for us. I had to make a different shirt (rather than a Wichita Pickleball one like mine and Jen’s) because Michael is from Tulsa, OK area.
I think I did great on the shirt design because the tournament director Gene Click totally got a kick out of it. #NailedIt — I wish there was a prize for best dressed because Michael and I looked amazing in our team uniforms.
You are probably wondering how I got teamed up with Michael for the SMASH 2021 tournament. That is a really cool story actually. We met through the ICT Classic pickleball tournament back in June. He and his partner Deana Holman sent me and my partner Mason McCanless into the consolation bracket on their way to taking bronze.
Even though we lost that match it was quite memorable. He said he was amazed how Mason and I managed to win the first game 14-12. I’m pretty sure we were down 0-8 or some insanely huge deficit like that. Michael said was super impressed at the significant amount of mental fortitude it took for Mason and I to turn that game around and actually win it. As you can see from the screen shot above, we lost games 2 and 3 pretty decisively (11-5, 11-5) probably because it took all of strength and focus to win that first game. LOL.
I think Mason and I would have made a deeper tournament run had we not encountered the silver and bronze medal teams so early in the tournament. That was unfortunate. But, anyway, those were the circumstances with which I met Michael. I guess I must have made quite an impression because he invited me to team up for a future tournament.
Being a lower level player, I was naturally super excited to have someone of Michael’s caliber invite me to play. I was like, “Wow. Seriously?” I didn’t even care what the tournament was or when it was. I was all in.
I had my mixed partner lined up months in advance but didn’t have a women’s doubles partner but, as luck would have it, Jen Reifschneider just happened to be available so I managed to snag an amazing women’s doubles partner too. If I was going to podium at a sanctioned event, this was the one. This is the first tournament ever that I’ve ever had teammates who are much higher level than me.
I didn’t come home with any medals but it was such a huge honor playing with both Michael and Jen. And, I also got some compliments on my game. I mean, I could have played 3.0 and 3.5 (because my ratings in women’s and mixed are actually low enough that I could have) and medaled rather than playing 4.0 in both events but how much fun would that have been? Plus, Michael says I belong in 4.0 so I guess I’m going to continue playing 4.0 for a while until I make some podiums.
Progress is slow as molasses but I’m still truckin’… until the next tournament. GNG.
1 Comment
Picklepalooza 2021
Posted on September 30, 2021 by Ching under Community, Hobbies.
Last week I had the opportunity to do one of my favorite things while supporting a wonderful organization. Evergy sponsored Senior Services of Wichita’s Picklepalooza event and we put a team of six together.
Our team consisted of (from left) me, Paul Haas, Chris Wilson, Anita and Jeff Harris, and Sarah Pearson. Paul is former Evergy. He retired from Westar Energy a couple of years ago. Everyone else is an active Evergy employee except for Anita who is married to Jeff.
Despite our recent divorce, Chris and I reunited to play together for the advanced group. Our other team ups were Paul and Sarah, and Jeff and Anita (obviously). Our other two teams played in the recreational group.
Here are a few more pictures from the event: Paul and Sarah in action.
Anita and Jeff make a great team.
Selfie with MariAnn. She played for the Great Harvest Bread Co. team – Professional Loafers. I actually teased Lesli Toubassi (owner of Great Harvest) for stacking her team with the best players: MariAnn and Tim Heeren, Jenny Cole, Scott Wolford, Zach Loomis, Michael Harris, and Vickie Hancock. She had a perfectly good explanation, though. With only eight employees, she would have had to close her store for the day to have her employees play.
The advanced group consisted of Lesli’s four teams plus me and Chris (Evergy) and Mark and Hershel (Waste Connections).
Don’t let their serious faces fool you. The event was a blast!
A bunch of us stayed for the mingle party at the rooftop deck after the event. Pictured with me above are Jenny and Mark.
I’m glad I stayed for the party because I won one of the door prizes.
It contained a bottle of wine and a bunch of pickle-themed foods like this jar of Holmes Made sweet spicy garlic dill pickles. So fun!
I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to participate in this event. To learn more about all of the services that Senior Services of Wichita provides to seniors in our community visit www.seniorservicesofwichita.org. I hope I get to play in this event again next year. Until next time. GNG.
No Comments
Social Tap with Leadership Wichita Pals
Posted on September 22, 2021 by Ching under Community.
Finally had the opportunity to check out Social Tap, a new tap room on the Wichita State University campus. The campus has changed so much in the years since I’ve graduated. It actually looks pretty cool.
The old Braeburn golf course has been transformed into Braeburn Square, a 20-acre area on the WSU campus that has restaurants, stores, and even a hotel. I’m not in the area much so I didn’t realize that there’s now a Hyatt Place on campus. Perfect for parents and other family members who are visiting.
Social Tap has a lovely outdoor patio that is perfect for gatherings. It’s a very nice setting with a view of the water and the Innovation Campus. I’m actually thinking of taking Brian there on a date. It’s been a while since we’ve ventured on the WSU campus. I think the last time was when we did our sculpture scavenger hunt a few years ago. It might be time do a 2021 edition of that cheap date idea.
I’m adding this to our growing list of to-dos to accomplish before the year is over. That’s all for now. Until next time. GNG.
No Comments
Passing of the Gavel 2021
Posted on September 8, 2021 by Ching under Community, Events.
I missed our Rotary club social at Stearman Field a couple of weeks ago. I really like Stearman so I was bummed I couldn’t go. The challenge I have is that I teach Aqua Zumba at 5:30 PM on Thursdays at VASA Woodlawn and that’s the same time we generally have a social ever other month. I wish it were easy to find a sub for class but it isn’t and so I end up missing out on things. Thankfully, Stephanie was there to take some pictures.
Norm Duncan, who served as president of our club for about a year and a half, recently left our club because he transferred to the Derby branch of his bank. In July, Cathy Harmon took over but we didn’t have an official “passing of the gavel” event until a couple of weeks ago. It was great to have both Cathy and Norm at the event so that Cathy could present Norm with our gift to recognize him for his service to the club. He served as president during the most challenging time of all. We really struggled to keep the club going this past year.
We couldn’t have Haus of Brews, our premier fundraising event, last year due to COVID so this is the first year that we are once again having it. We’ve resumed meeting in person but it has been a struggle to get members to come to the meetings with almost an entire year of not having them. Attendance continues to improve each week so it’s starting to feel somewhat normal again.
Anyway, everyone is invited to Haus of Brews on September 25 at Treescapes. Early bird tickets are available now for $35 (the price will go up to $50 per person after September 10) so, if you plan to attend, I highly encourage you to buy your ticket right away. Please help us support the Rotary Club of Andover. See you at our event in a couple of weeks. Until then, GNG!
No Comments
Mixed Doubles Fun
Posted on September 2, 2021 by Ching under Community, Hobbies.
Been enjoying some fabulous mixed doubles action the last few weeks. We had one of the best groups I’d ever had a couple of weeks ago thanks to my friend Kyle Starkel (Nick Soapdish). It all came together because I saw him on the waitlist for Debbie’s group so I knew he wanted to play. I wanted to play too but I couldn’t start at 10 AM like the others. I asked Kyle if he wanted to play 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM at Riverside Tennis Center instead and we could create a foursome.
He asked Lacy Waugh who happened to be available and then it was up to me to find a mixed partner. Lacy suggested I ask either Chris Heck, Steve Vetter or Jon Maugans. Chris had a tennis match in Topeka and Steve was going to be out of town that weekend. Jon is always kind of a meh-let-me-think-about-it-for-a-bit kind of guy so he told me to ask him again on Friday because he didn’t know what he was doing that weekend so early in the week. I think it was Wednesday when I was putting together play for Sunday.
So then I convinced my friend Ramon Lozano who was in town for the weekend to team up with Greta Siemens for Downtown YMCA Men’s Group’s charity tournament at Chicken N Pickle to stay an extra day and play with us on Sunday, to which he agreed. Unbeknownst to me, Lacy also asked Jon and, of course, Jon said yes to Lacy because Lacy is Lacy and I am just me. So then we had an extra person. I was stuck with either bumping either Ramon or Jon off, which I didn’t want to do, so I came up with the best solution. Add more courts and find more players to make it ladder play. But, once I got the all stars (Kyle, Lacy, Jon and Ramon) on board, it made it easier for the other better players to say yes so we ended up with Dave and Lori Belew and Heather Griffin.
It was quite an intimidating bunch, with me being the weakest link, to say the least. Thankfully, my friend Karen Fox really wanted to play so that gave me a reason to open up another court which we filled with players who are more my speed. It still turned out to be really fantastic group, though.
Dave and I even had a little duet in between games. I have a ton of fun playing pickleball but this was seriously the most fun session I’ve had in a really long time.
The last couple of Wednesdays, my mixed doubles partner Bo Tolbert and I have been practicing with Tony Mathews and Parrish Gumeringer after my Aqua Zumba class. The first week we won most of the games but lost quite a few times also. Last week we won all of the games but one. So this week I thought we could get a couple more mixed teams to play against for greater diversity. And also to make it more challenging.
It was definitely more challenging! We added a couple of 5.0s (Lacy and Steve) and a couple of 4.5s (Kim and Kyle). The teams were as follows: Ching and Bo, Parrish and Tony, Kim and Steve, and Lacy and Kyle. Lacy and Kyle did not lose a single game and pretty much owned winner court all session. We only played one game against Kim and Steve — the very first game, which we lost. And then after than our two teams bounced back and forth between winner and loser court, never meeting up again.
I really love it when higher level players play because it challenges me to be better. We got some great games in last night and I feel like as Bo and I learn each others strengths and weaknesses and how to effectively communicate with one another, we continue to get stronger as a team.
My other favorite pickleball play night is Tuesday, since Chicken N Pickle is in between league sessions. Michael and I have been doing different things the last few weeks. The first week we just did a regular ladder, where winners move up and losers move down (partners split at each rotation). I invited too many people to play so he fired me from setting up the play on Playtime Scheduler. The last could of times he set it up himself, hand-picking the players.
Last week, we did a “random partner” round robin tournament. All the guys picked numbers and all the girls picked numbers to determine teams. After that, you kept your same partner throughout the night. The team with the most wins won.
Donnie Lesperance and Krystal Fosnight were the champs of our little round robin tournament that night. I drew Matthew Rochat as my partner, which I was super excited about because he is amazing, but he hurt himself in Jujitsu earlier that day so he couldn’t finish. He had to quit after the third game because he was hurting too much. We won two of our three games together (we lost the last one for obvious reasons, my partner was in pain) and then Caden Courter took over. Caden and I played pretty well together. We won two and lost two, so not a bad record over all. There was no way we could catch up to Donnie and Krystal, though, because they didn’t drop a single game and were flawless all night. I donated a couple of gift cards as prizes for the mini tournament and they definitely earned them.
The other night, Micheal set up the play again (I think I’m banned from setting these up forever) and we went back to a ladder format except only the winners moved. The losers stay on their same court. Partners still split each team but only the winners advanced to the next court. The only difference is at the top court, the winner stays and the loser gets to start over at the bottom. It’s a really challenging format and you really have to earn your way to the top. Once you make it there and you drop a game, it’s a grind to get back up.
I love playing mixed doubles specially these smaller invite only groups we’ve been playing. The level of play is pretty competitive and really makes you play harder. Some days are better than others but I feel like each day I play I’m getting better so that makes me feel good. Until next time. GNG.
No Comments
