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The DUPR Double Dip
Posted on December 9, 2022 by Ching under Community, Food and Drink, Pickleball, Travel.
My “DUPR Double Dip” weekend over Thanksgiving break is hands down one of the highlights of my entire pickleball year. It’s the best things about going to pickleball tournaments without actually playing in one.
My weekend started in Oklahoma City for my friend Tanner Rice’s Friday night group play at Hidden Trails Country Club. I arrived early enough to get my butt kicked at ping pong, which I am decent at, and, even though Tanner told me “he wasn’t very good” at it, his concept of “not very good” is still better than me. The guy is just good at everything.
I also learned the basics of Euchre, which is a super complex card game. Tanner teamed up with Erica Dennis against Katie Merrill and me. It helped that Katie is a ace card player, who is really great at Euchre, and so I think I understand the game enough now that, whenever she and I have to play our friend Ramon Lozano and Tanner at some point (when our #TeamBonding thing ever happens — more on this later), we are going to smoke ’em.
Anyway, we ended up not reporting the results of the Friday night session because one of the players had an emergency and couldn’t make it. I still had a ton of fun, though. I met and played with new people who I’d never met or played with before and that’s kinda my jam. Oh, and I hit a sweet ATP — even without the potential payout as an incentive.
Katie rode to OKC with Erica and then spent the night with me at Avid so the two of us got to do a little “team bonding” with just the two of us. The more I get to know Katie the more I love her. She is just an all-around great human being.
The next morning, the two of us rode to Tulsa together and bonded some more. She took me to her favorite lunch spot in Brookside called Blue Moon Cafe.
It’s hip little place that serves great sandwiches, salads, and other things. I don’t know much about Tulsa but apparently Brookside is kind of the place to go dining and shopping and such.
Here are some pictures of our food…
After lunch, we went to LaFortune early to help set up for the “Paddle Off the Turkey” DUPR event. Tanner was actually working in the area and decided to swing by to help Ryan and Caroline Luelf with their event by entering scores, taking some pictures and videos, and even helping with tear down. So I didn’t get any pictures from Friday because we were all playing but, since Tanner didn’t play on Saturday, I actually have some pics and clips to share. Thank you, Tanner!
I was super impressed with Ryan and Caroline’s DUPR event. They were highly organized and I love that they took the time to group everyone that that the games would be more competitive. Here’s how my rounds went:
Round #1 —- I played with Genevieve Eskridge and Amanda and Jordan Jones (this amazing mom and daughter duo from Edmond). I only won one game this round but the scores were super close. Genevieve and Iost 12-14 and Amanda and I lost 8-11. When I played with Jordan, we won 12-10. She was super excited bec she prefers left side and I prefer right side and so we stacked on our serves. It was my first time playing with the Joneses and it was a blast!
Round #2 —- I played with Caroline, Colby Fugit, and Kali Wilson. This was my favorite round of all because I won all 3 games. And, Kali and came back from being down 2-9 to win our game against Caroline and Colby, 12-10. It was epic!
Round #3 —- I also loved this round because we got to play mixed doubles and I love mixed! Mike Ward and I were paired against Jesse Mabon and Erica Dennis. It was my first time ever playing with Mike and first time meeting and playing against Jesse. The format was best 2 of 3 games to 11, win by 2, but if one team wins in straight games then you switch partners and still play a 3rd game. We split games so ours was a legit 2 out of 3. It went 11-4, 3-11, 11-6. There was clearly a better side but Mike and I pulled it out in the end.
Round #4 —- This was my 5-player group with Caroline Luelf, Erica Dennis, Jordan Jones, and Ben Meyer. This was my worst round. I think in part because we were in hour 4 of playing and also because there was a long break between the previous round and this one. You will see in my DUPR match history that my scores were not good this round.
Anyway, I loved getting to play with different people and I loved how they set up the groups so that the matches would be more competitive. I’m so glad that I made the trip to check out both Tanner’s Friday night session and Ryan and Caroline’s DUPR event because I learned so much this weekend. I can’t wait to implement some of the things I learned at my own events so that matches will be even more fun and competitive for all the players.
On Saturday night, after playing, a bunch of us decided to check out Roosevelt’s. We wanted to have dinner there but the wait was over an hour so we stayed and took some pics while we waited for everyone to arrive but then ultimately ended up eating a nearby Mexican restaurant called Chimi’s instead.
Here are some pictures of our dinner…
You can never go wrong with Mexican food!
We took some pictures on our way back to the car after dinner.
It was so great that a couple of friends from Wichita (Colby Fugit and Ben Meyer) came to check out the DUPR event and also joined us for dinner.
I am so grateful to Katie for letting me stay with her that weekend. I not only got to bond with her but also met and bonded with her sweet dog Rosie. It was the best weekend ever and one that I won’t soon forget, specially now that I’ve written about it here. Definitely one of the highlights of the year for me. I just love spending time with my Oklahoma friends and can’t wait to visit them again. I’m already counting the days until my next OKC tournament! Until then, GNG.
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Post-Pickleball Grub at Poblano Grill
Posted on December 7, 2022 by Ching under Community, Food and Drink, Pickleball.
We crashed the Bartlesville pickleball crew group dinner while at the Smash tournament a few weeks ago. I think my “party crashing” ways are starting to rub off on my friends. LOL.
There were so many of us that we had to take up two booths. I ended up in the same booth as Kumar Krishnan, Erica Dennis, and Marva Stroman.
The other Wichita peeps went to the larger booth. Clockwise from left: Ryan Kellenbarger, Karen Fox, Deana Holman, Kali Wilson, Cyndi Conley, Jenny Corley, Cindy Egan, and Chris Wilson.
Here are some pictures of our food…
I only got food pics from our booth because everyone else was far away. Anyway, there was a bit of drama at dinner. I think there was something wrong with Karen’s food. She is the one person whose food you really do not want to mess up. Everyone else will be super chill about it but Karen will not let anything slide. True to her name, she won’t stop until the situation is resolved to her satisfaction.
There was also a bit of drama surrounding dinner itself because some felt left out. Honestly, there was no official dinner invite. We just kind of crashed the Bartlesville dinner and, luckily, they had enough room for all of us party-crashers.
I had no idea what we were doing because Molly and Corey Sager were still playing in their championship matches and so I knew the Bartlesville people were going to Poblano Grill but was holding out for what the Wichita people were doing. When my friend Katie Merrill was ready to return to the hotel, I ended up riding back with her (because I didn’t have my own vehicle that weekend and was just hitching rides with everyone). I was literally in the middle of showering when my phone rang. It was Cindy and Jenny calling me from the hotel parking lot, asking if I needed a ride to Poblano Grill. They were both starving and wanted to eat early and Cindy said she cleared it with Molly and that Molly was okay with us not waiting for them.
As I did not have a car, I made a game-time decision to just roll with it. I have never gotten ready so fast in my entire life! I’m pretty sure I didn’t even put lotion or deodorant. I just dried myself off and put clothes on. I was in such a hurry that I tried to get in the first car that I saw was running in the parking lot, startling a total stranger. LOL. Ryan and Chris both said they were coming too. Luckily, there was still room at the big booth for the two of them.
Dinner was wonderful. I had a great time catching up with Erica, Marva, and Kumar at my table and I had no idea about the whole super awkward bill issue at that happened at the big booth until later. Oh, Tanner Rice (not pictured), also came to hang out but he arrived after everyone was pretty much done. Erica and I stayed while he ate dinner. The three of us had a really nice visit.
I just love my pickleball friends, specially my Oklahoma pickleball friends. I enjoy every moment I get to spend with them and always look forward to when we can all get back together again. Until the next time, GNG.
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New Friends from Minnesota
Posted on November 21, 2022 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
I met another one of my Facebook friends in the flesh last weekend. Mang and Sou Vang were on a road trip to visit family and decided to come through Wichita on their way back to Saint Paul (Minnesota).
They asked me where I would be because they wanted to play pickleball. It was too cold to play outside so I told them I would be at the Pickle Club and they actually came! They signed up for guest accounts and added themselves to open play and everything! With the addition of the two of them, we had quite a few people for open play that day. It was awesome!
If you have not been to check out the Pickle Club, you should. It’s in the former Nahola facility so you know that the lighting is great and the court spacing is perfect. It is hands down one of my most favorite places to play. The only down side is that it is so far from my house.
Anyway, I’ve had some conversations with Mang on Facebook so it was wonderful to finally meet her in real life. Her husband and two girls are lovely as well. I hope I can make it out to Minnesota next year and play with their group. Until then, see you at the courts! GNG.
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Spooktacular Sunday Funday
Posted on November 16, 2022 by Ching under Community, Events, Pickleball.
We were all so very excited about the new pickleball courts at Sedgwick County Park that we started using the courts as soon as the nets were installed. We even had a cookout the very next day. I couldn’t believe how well the cookout turned out with very little notice (just a few hours and some notes on PlaytimeScheduler.com) and absolutely no planning whatsoever. So for Halloween, I wanted us to have a proper cookout with at least a few weeks to plan ahead.
This is our group picture from the September cookout.
Anyway, my birthday is the day before Halloween so Brian wanted to know what I wanted for my birthday. When I need something, I usually buy it so I didn’t really want anything — except I did want him to grill for us at the cookout. That was the one thing I wanted for my birthday — I wanted him to come out and bring the portable grill and be grill master at the Halloween cookout.
He still let me buy things so I think I got a new pair of pickleball shoes and a new pickleball paddle but grilling at the cookout was the most meaningful to me. Stuff is just stuff. I think I used to like getting gifts but over time my love language has transitioned to “Acts of Service” because I feel like that requires more effort from the other person. Also, I don’t ever like when Brian buys me stuff because he usually pays twice as much. I get discounts on everything so anything he gets for me I can usually get waaaay cheaper. LOL.
Here is an awesome view of the pickleball courts at the park.
Some people came dressed up, which was so much fun!
I think the funniest part is that only 2 people got Noi’s costume. The rest of us had absolutely no clue what (or who) he was supposed to be.
The event had a huge turnout. A couple of days before the event, I checked the list to see if the 32 burger buns and 36 burger patties that we had purchased for the cookout would be enough and, at the time, it looked like it was. However, that number doubled to over 60 the day before the event. It turned out okay though because there were several of us who double dipped (we had the cookout and also Tim Satterfield’s 40th birthday celebration at Chicken N Pickle) so not everyone ate. I think some people waited to eat at CNP.
Here’s a fun video montage I made from the pics and videos taken at the cookout. The drone footage is courtesy of Jonathan Thorne.
After Brian packed up the park and went home, I went and stopped by Chicken N Pickle to make the last part of Tim’s birthday celebration.
It’s always kind of hectic when you go from one event/thing to another but how often does a friend turn 40? I wanted to be there for that too.
I didn’t play at CNP but I was glad to be there for Tim’s celebration. It looked like everyone was having a great time. I just love how pickleball brings everyone together. I met so many new people and made so many new friends at both events that day. Now that it’s the holiday season, the next round of get-togethers is about to begin and I cannot be more excited. Stay tuned for more fun events and pics!
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Pickleball Lawrence Visitor
Posted on November 8, 2022 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
I hadn’t been able to set up any DUPR match sessions in a while because of my crazy tournament schedule. There was like a six week stretch around September-October that I was out of town every weekend. Anyway, I finally got a break so when Steve Berndsen from Pickleball Lawrence reached out and asked if he could visit and check out a DUPR session, it worked out that I could put one together.
I didn’t actually plan to play that day because I had enough participants but Jim Spencer started to cramp toward the end so I ended up having to play a couple of games — without socks. Luckily, I had shoes in my backpack that were still there from the last time I played. I just didn’t pack any socks because I didn’t think I was playing. It felt a little weird but it all worked out.
It was wonderful to meet Steve and his wife DeAnn. She didn’t play so she ran the last two rounds when I was playing. They are both lovely and I think everyone had a great time. I always love meeting other pickleball players from far and wide. Making new friends and connecting people is kind of my jam.
It turns out we have some mutual friends, Nicole Mathis being one of them. I cannot wait to make it up to Lawrence and meet the rest of the players from their club! Until next time, GNG.
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