Archive for "Community"
Weekend Pickleball
Posted on August 13, 2021 by Ching under Community, Hobbies.
My friend Debbie Fanning sets up the best pickleball play groups. I still remember when she first invited me to play in her Friday night group. I was so excited! I also owe her for getting me connected with Tom Pham. I had never played with him before she and Dave started inviting us to play mixed doubles in the bubble at Riverside Tennis Center (RTC) a year ago. If it weren’t for these games, I never would have gotten the idea to team up with Tom last year.
We don’t do mixed during the week anymore because our schedules have diverged. Before I picked up additional classes at VASA, I was playing in multiple leagues so it was hard to play during the week nights. Nowadays the main hurdle with playing during the week is my Aqua Zumba schedule. I teach classes every single week night except for Friday. I have a 6:30 PM Aqua Zumba class at the Harry location on Mondays and Wednesdays and a 5:30 PM Aqua Zumba class at the Woodlawn location on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This makes it nearly impossible to get in any play groups. Even leagues are tricky. I can’t do a league that starts any earlier than 8 PM most of the time.
Anyway, in addition to our fabulous group on Friday night, Debbie has started organizing weekend play. They usually start at 9 or 10 o’clock in the morning, which is impossible for me to make because I have Aqua Zumba on Saturdays (Woodlawn location) and Sundays (Harry location) from 9-10 AM. There were a couple of Saturdays that I piggy-backed off the 10 AM Saturday group and started my group at 10:30 AM just so I could play with them. And then there were a couple of weeks when it was too hot to play outside and Debbie booked courts inside the bubble instead. On those times, the indoor courts at RTC weren’t available until later so I could actually join the fun.
The one day that has always eluded me is Sunday. They usually play from 9-11 AM at Rolling Hills so it’s impossible for me to join them. However, luck was on my side last weekend. The pools at VASA were closed for maintenance so my weekend classes were canceled. I didn’t find out until the weekend so I was on the waiting list but, luckily, there were a couple of cancellations and I managed to in.
I was so excited to finally be able to play with this group that I begged them to take a group picture at the end. I wanted to remember this forever because I wasn’t sure when the stars would align for me to be able to play with them again.
It’s so amazing that Debbie’s groups have grown so much. Our Friday night group is always a standard 10 players. Her weekend groups have gone from 12 players to an average of 16 players to now 24 players routinely playing a ladder format together. Even with that many players, she still ends up with a pretty deep waiting list.
I just love playing with this group. I wish I could play with them more.
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Ron Ponder Sighting
Posted on August 9, 2021 by Ching under Community.
My friend and favorite ref Ron Ponder was in town earlier this week. I hadn’t played in the morning at Seneca Park since the big fiasco with the “complainers” several weeks ago but I had to make an exception because this guy is pretty special. He was originally not arriving until 8 AM but he left his house in Oklahoma super early so he could play with us at 6 AM. This guy is the real deal and the coolest ever!
I had to wrap up and head to work well before 8 AM but at least I got to play one game with him. I am so grateful to everyone willing to get up early so they can play with me. I can’t play all morning like the retired peeps so, if people weren’t willing to play super early (before work), I wouldn’t be able to play at all.
Bill (who you can’t really tell from this pic because of the sunshine on his head), Lonnie, and Janelle decided to come and play early also. I just love these peeps. They are so fun! It was a great morning for pickleball and probably my last morning (aka before work play) for the season. Until next time. GNG.
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If You Build It, They Will Come
Posted on August 4, 2021 by Ching under Community, Hobbies.
With my group fitness schedule, it is really hard for me to make leagues and some of my friends’ play times. I still want to play but, often, people want to play at the same time that I’m at work (because lots of pickleball players are either retired, financially independent, or just don’t work) or teaching a class. Last year, I figured that since I have some time before work, why not play at 5 AM? The parks are empty and the weather conditions (with the exception of occasional rainy days) are perfect. It doesn’t really get super hot until about 10 AM and we can wrap up around 7:30 AM, with plenty of time for me to make my 8 AM start.
Last summer, we mostly played at Seneca Park. There were some days when it was rainy and we had to move the game indoors to Jamie’s family’s gym. It worked out pretty well. It started out with just a couple of guys, plus me and another female player. Sometimes it was Karen. Other times it was Kim (Knotts). Then Chase and Logan reached out about playing and we expanded to eight players and two courts. We still did it as a mixed format – so four female players and four male players. It was mostly either four or eight last year and we played all summer long at Seneca Park, peacefully sharing the courts with the morning open play group that arrives around 7 AM. Those were the days…
Since the beginning of the year, I had been anxiously awaiting when the sun would rise earlier and I could resume 5 AM plays. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. Several others wanted to play in the mornings before work as well. As our group grew to a consistent eight or twelve players, so did the angst of others in the pickleball community.
At first they complained that I was scheduling “private play” (these were originally listed as private sessions on Playtime Scheduler) at a public park. I was accused of only letting higher level players play and that’s why it was private. Supposedly, to keep the lower skilled players out. I honestly didn’t mean to be exclusive and alienate people. I was mainly just inviting those I knew for sure were open and willing to play that early in the day.
To rectify this, I made the games public. But then, when I made the games public, even more players wanted to play so we went from averaging eight to twelve players to twelve to sixteen. In fact, we consistently had twelve players most mornings. I think this made people even more upset. Specially those who can’t get people to play with them at five in the afternoon. Yet here I was and I was getting eleven others to play with me at five in the morning!
They were jealous and pissed and singled me out. Even though the courts were empty (with the exception of one morning, the open play group only needed two courts out of six at most the entire time that we would play), they would not allow us to play our ladder games past 7 AM. They wanted to hoard all six courts for open play even though they had eight to fourteen players at best. So on a good day, they would need only three of the six courts tops. However, because the posted sign said paddle rotation between the hours of 7 AM and 10 AM and 5 PM and 8 PM, they were strictly adhering to those rules even when they didn’t make any sense.
I vented to my friend Chris Heck (and a few others) about the ridiculousness of it all and how I was moving my ladder group to Edgemoor Park where we wouldn’t run into complaints or conflict and Chris went on a rampage. He urged me to stand my ground and not move my game and he started emailing people. He even played with us one morning so they could look the potential complainers (whoever they might be in the face). I think this made some people even more mad because then they emailed the USA Pickleball District Ambassador who lives in Topeka. I suppose so that she could scold me for using common sense and actually utilizing our parks to their full potential. She doesn’t even live here!
Despite all of Chris’ efforts and his support, I eventually moved my ladder group to Edgemoor Park because I was so tired of having to deal with all the conflict. And it’s like one or two people but they just cause so much trouble for everyone. For my own sanity and peace of mind, I caved. Yes, I let them bully me out of Seneca Park. Once we moved to Edge it was actually a lot nicer. We didn’t have to worry about the if people were going to complain about us and were so much more relaxed. When I was at Seneca, I really couldn’t concentrate on playing. I was always concerned with whether the complainers were present in the group and how many people there were and if we needed to wrap up early. I didn’t have to worry about any of those things at Edge. But moving the game to Edge meant I lost some really good players. Seneca was ideal because it was centrally located. A lot of our players who live out West did not want to drive all the way to Edgemoor Park, which is in East Wichita territory. So, moving the ladder group, did not have unintended negative consequences.
There were positive consequences also, however. Moving the group allowed us to grow from an average of twelve players to an average of sixteen and there was one day that we peaked at 26 sign ups! We could potentially fill all six courts. Who knew that there would be that many people wanting to play that early in the morning? It is beyond my wildest imagination. I thought I was lucky to have eight regular players last year.
Now that we are in August, I am done organizing the morning ladder group. The sun doesn’t come up until 6:30 AM these days and it’s too late to start ladder play if we expect to be wrapped up by 7:30 AM. So now, I am starting the countdown to next year. I’m thinking of restarting the ladder immediately after Memorial Day to get two whole months of play. I won’t even bother with Seneca this time, though. We will just make Edgemoor our home base. Until next summer, GNG.
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She Came, She Played, She Conquered
Posted on August 3, 2021 by Ching under Community.
Meet Meredith Novy. She is the cutest ever. I met her through Michael Harris last year. He found her in one of the beginner leagues at Chicken N Pickle, immediately recognized her potential, and invited her to be his mixed partner for the mixed competitive league. She was mostly playing tennis on the pickleball court at first but it didn’t take long for her to figure out the game.
It didn’t take long for people to figure out how amazing she is. She’s not only good at pickleball but she’s a good person overall and just a joy to be around. It didn’t take long for her to capture the heart of our little pickleball community and her boyfriend Brian Harshman.
When Fong Witte (pictured with Meredith above) invited me to come to her farewell party at Chicken N Pickle, I immediately agreed to come and even put myself in charge of bringing the cake. Cake is kind of my thing, in case you haven’t noticed. I relish every opportunity to buy and eat cake.
They kind of frown on you buying an entire cake for yourself so I like it whenever there’s a party because then I can buy cake and nobody bats an eye when I end up eating all of it. I just can’t buy cake for no reason and then eat it all because then that would make me a cake-a-holic (which I kind of am but that’s beside the point).
Not knowing how many people Fong and Brian (Meredith’s Brian), Brian (my Brian) and I bought two round cakes from Costco. Better to have extra than run out, right? Plus, I figured, I would likely eat half of one anyway.
We ended up with way more cake than we needed. LOL. Anyway, here are a few pictures from the party.
Here’s Meredith with Lori Belew (middle) and Fong. (Tommy Chau, aka Ching’s little brother, and Huyen Nguyen, aka Ching’s daughter are in the background.)
These are Dave Belew and Lori Belew, well-known pickleball power couple. #TeamBelew (I am a huge fan. Can you tell?)
This next pic has Tommy, Krystal (Fosnight), Huyen, Anna, and Tiffany.
I think Meredith is telling everyone — Brian, Lori, and Kim (Knotts) — that she will only be gone for a year and will eventually return because she will be the first ever young professional on rotation at Textron to pick Wichita as their permanent post-rotation location. I’d like to think the super awesome Wichita pickleball community has a lot to do with this choice/decision but I’m pretty sure Brian Harshman was the biggest factor. I’ve been part of various initiatives for economic development and retention of our young professionals in the past. Now, next time they ask for my feedback I’m just going to suggest that we get the said young professional into pickleball and maybe get them a boyfriend/girlfriend to get them to stay.
Obviously, we cannot keep Meredith from leaving, but, unless something drastically changes in her relationship status, I am absolutely certain that we will see her back in Wichita in a year’s time when her Maryland rotation is over.
Here’s a group picture with the ladies (from left): Kim, Lori, Meredith, Krystal, Anna, and me. Below, we have the same six ladies plus Tiffany (Lesperance), Huyen, and Fong.
Fong did such a fabulous job with the decorations, cookies, and making all of the arrangements for the party. Brian Harshman is in this photo talking to a couple of Meredith’s colleagues.
I didn’t really get pictures of Meredith’s coworkers as I did not know them well. Plus, we had four courts so we were all kind of our own little clusters. No pictures of the guys either because guys don’t really do pictures.
Anyway, I’m glad that I got to be part of her send off. Best of luck to Meredith on the next chapter and I cannot wait to see you again in a year’s time!
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Sobeks Visit Wichita
Posted on July 29, 2021 by Ching under Community.
Rosti and William Sobek, a father-and-son pro pickleball team from Key West, took the show on the road this summer. The show being Sobek Pickleball Academy. They embarked on a 75-day road trip across 36 states teaching pickleball clinics, competing in tournaments, and enjoying some sights along the way.
Wichita didn’t have any clinics scheduled but they had some time as they were passing through and decided that they wanted to check out our Chicken N Pickle. Not surprising because Chicken N Pickle is a destination in itself. There are only a handful of locations around the nation so it’s pretty special to have one here. I have known quite a few people to come to Wichita just to check out our Chicken N Pickle so they aren’t, by any means, the first.
Anyway, they didn’t have a place to stay lined up or solid plans for that matter. My friend Michael Cheung saw that they were looking for a host on Facebook and texted me about it exactly one day before they were set to arrive in Wichita. I reached out to Rosti on Facebook and offered to house them. They said they really only needed one night of lodging, which wasn’t a problem because we have vacant bedrooms that hardly ever get used. However, the last time I offered to house strangers on Facebook, Brian freaked out on me a little bit and it took a lot of convincing for him to allow them to stay with us.
I told Brian that these guys (the Sobeks) were going to be in town the next day and needed a place to stay for the night and I offered to house them. Brian was surprisingly cool about it all. Perhaps because he had heard of the Sobeks and maybe watched their videos? Or maybe because he thought I was about to tell him that I had quit my job and this news was nowhere near that extreme? Or maybe because he was busy re-configuring his gaming PC and so he didn’t really completely process what I was asking? I don’t know. Either way, I’m glad he took the news of strangers staying in our house overnight pretty well.
Now, for what to do with these guys as my weekend was already planned out. I knew they wanted to play at Chicken N Pickle but without any kind of reservation that’s near impossible. Chicken N Pickle is usually booked to the hilt on the weekends. Luckily, I ran into Cody (the guy with a stranglehold on all the high level male players in the city) and caught wind of their Saturday morning game (which I previously heard had stopped for a while but they were actually having one that Saturday) and I asked if he could make room for the Sobeks so they could have some skilled players to play with/against while they’re in Wichita. I think this might have been a bigger ask if Cody wasn’t already familiar with the Sobeks but he actually remembers playing against them in the Texas Open. He said he and Ev actually won that match. So at least he knew they could hang with his group of players and that I wasn’t sending a couple of hacks to his elite Saturday game. The timing worked out perfectly — the Sobeks being in town, my running into Cody, Cody having a Saturday morning game where he could make room for two more players. It was quite a relief because, even if I did have time to entertain these two pros, I wouldn’t be able to play at a stimulating and challenging enough level. It just wouldn’t be much fun for them. Anyway, I think the Sobeks seemed thrilled that they didn’t have to mess with having to make an online reservation and that they had a great group of guys to play with.
I usually spend my entire Friday evening at Nahola (open play from 5-7 pm and then Debbie’s Friday night play group from 7-9 pm) and that Friday night was extra special because we were celebrating Kimberly’s birthday. So I couldn’t just bail on it. But now I had these two house guests who I couldn’t just abandon. At first I was just going to take them with me to Nahola open play but then I realized that a bunch of other people want to meet and play with them and the two courts at Nahola probably wasn’t going to cut it. I decided to abandon that plan and took them to Seneca Park instead. Karen, Steve, Tim, and others met us there.
Karen and I had the opportunity to play mixed doubles with Rosti and William while we were waiting for other players to show up. It was such a treat!
Jeremy showed up and got to play with them too. Ian, who is normally at Nahola on Friday nights as well, somehow found his way to Seneca Park that night also.
Jon even came out of his sabbatical from pickleball to play a couple of games. That was a real surprise. Having proclaimed his “retirement” from the sport, I totally did not expect him to show up.
Here are a some pictures of my friends Steve and Jon, playing against the Sobeks.
Anyway, once they got to playing I was able to make my exit to go to Nahola without feeling bad because I knew I was leaving my house guests in good hands.
The next morning Brian and I had a lot going on so we were both out of the house by 7:30 AM, which was around the same time the guys were leaving to go to Chicken N Pickle to play with Cody’s group. I had back to back appointments that Saturday so by the time I got back home they were already gone. I didn’t get to say goodbye to William but I did say goodbye to Rosti before I left the house that morning. I gave him a hug goodbye and wished them well on the rest of their summer adventure and he gave me a CD of pickleball songs.
Here are some pictures from Saturday morning at Chicken N Pickle.
It was a pleasure meeting Rosti and William. It’s always great to meet people you’ve only ever seen in YouTube videos and followed on social media. I’m glad that we had the opportunity to meet and host them during their brief stop in Wichita.
That’s all for now. Until next time. GNG.
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