Pickleball

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Shangri-la Resort in Monkey Island

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Ching under Pickleball, Travel.

The Shangri-la Resort is a place unlike any other. I can see why so many retirees are flocking to this area. Grand Lake is exactly that — grand. With pickleball, tennis, golf, boating — the area has so much to offer. It’s no surprise why our retired friends are spending a lot of time there.

Brian and I discovered this pickleball haven last year when I played in the Shangri-la pickleball tournament for the first time. I was impressed with how beautiful the surroundings area. The only thing that would make it better is if there were actually more than six courts. While six permanent pickleball courts is probably sufficient for their needs most of the time, I’m thinking they’ll need a few more as more and more people flock to this area.

Brian and I arrived on Friday in time for the open play. We got to hang out with our friend Kumar Krishnan, who was hosting us for the weekend. Not many tournament players came for open play so we ended up just mixing in with the Todd Kerr’s Friday night mixer. Todd is the director of the Anchor racquet club.

The weather was beautiful and the sunset absolutely breathtaking. I can’t imagine a prettier place to play pickleball. Speaking of pretty, the resort pool is also beautiful. We didn’t get to experience it this trip but I’m thinking we will have to stay at the resort next time and take advantage of all the amenities.

Eddy’s Lakeside Bar is another place that I would like to try at some point. The restaurant was already closed for the season when we were there but I heard it is a pretty fun summer time hangout spot.

Anyway, if you are looking for a pickleball getaway, I highly recommend checking out the Anchor. They have pickleball pretty much everyday except Wednesdays and Sundays. The outside courts are free for members to use and the guest fees are reasonable. The mixers are also free for members and just $15 for non-members. Having visited a couple of times now, it kind of makes me wish we had a house there. Maybe someday. Until then we will just visit whenever we can and keep on dreamin’ – GNG.

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Doc’s Bar and Grill

Posted on October 2, 2023 by Ching under Food and Drink, Pickleball, Travel.

We ate at Doc’s last year when we were in Shangri-la for their inaugural pickleball tournament. It was our first stop again this year. The menu changes on a regular basis so the list of dishes is vastly different than when we were there last year. Here are some pictures of the food we had this time.

The food was fabulous as always and the company even better. Just like last year, we were with Kumar Krishnan, his wife Sujatha, their daughter Priyanka, and Cody Kent. It is Kumar’s tournament but, if you ask him, Cody is the brains behind the operation. He single-handedly runs the tournament desk at the event. Cody’s wife Dana had to work this weekend so she didn’t come out but we gained Fernando Martinez and Amanda Ades who joined us for dinner after the Friday night open play/mixer at the resort.

There weren’t as many players from Wichita this year so I am glad that Fernando and Amanda made the trip. The tournament venue is just breathtaking and I want to be able to share the experience with as many people as I possibly can.

I’ve decided to significantly reduce the number of tournaments that I am playing in next year (seriously, as of right now zero) but Shangri-la is probably one that I will still do just because it’s more of a vacation than a tournament. It’s just so beautiful out there. Until next time. GNG.

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Mixed Doubles Mini Tournament at the Pickle Club

Posted on September 28, 2023 by Ching under Pickleball.

I ran a mixed doubles mini tournament at the Pickle Club a couple of weeks ago. It was actually a reschedule from June and I decided to play in it because it would a good opportunity for me and Chris to practice before our Bartlesville tournament. We had six teams participate and I actually remembered to take pictures of everyone this time. Here’s all the teams:

Sarvi and Michael

Leah and Kafer

Fernando and Amanda

Jenny and Zach

Lesli and Greg

and, lastly me and Chris

We played five games to 15 (win by 1) in pool play so everyone got to play against all the other teams and then we seeded everyone based on pool play performance for the single elimination bracket. Bracket was also one game to 15 (win by 2) until the medal rounds. The championship and third place matches were best 2 out of 3 games to 11, win by 2.

We got to play a lot of games and it was so much fun. We ended up having to play against Jenny and Zach in the championship and then Michael and Sarvi played against Fernando and Amanda for third place. Their third place match was actually way more intense than hours. Anyway, everything ran according to schedule and I think we just went a few minutes past 5 pm, which is what I had budgeted.

Anyway, now that we are in the cooler months, I’m back to playing at the Pickle Club again. If you’re not already a member, I highly recommend checking out one of the open play sessions on Sunday and then eventually joining. It’s probably the best place to play in town. I love it there.

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Chicken N Pickle Ambassador MiLP

Posted on September 21, 2023 by Ching under Pickleball, Travel.

I got to meet and hang out with fellow Chicken N Pickle ambassadors at the first ever Chicken N Pickle Ambassador Minor League Pickleball event a couple of weeks ago at Chicken N Pickle – Grapevine.

Brian and I got there just in time for the tail end of the free open play (practice session) for ambassadors on Saturday afternoon and so I got to hang out with the Kansas City ambassadors as well as meet a few others who I hadn’t met before. The super fun Kansas City team (KC Picklrs) consisted of Kyle VonAnh, Craig Morford, Danielle Piorier, and Suparna Garinger.

Here’s a picture of the player briefing at the start of the morning.

Noi barely made it in time for the group photo!

I got some fun team uniforms made for us just for the occasion. Nicole, my go-to person for pickleball shirts, talked me into using glittery vinyl for the text. Noi didn’t have any plain black shorts so he wore some dino shorts. All of his shorts are colorful. This is the closest to black shorts as he could get.

This next pic is of me and Kendra with Suparna (left) and Lindsey Vermillion, who is in charge of the Chicken N Pickle ambassador program.

Brian was able to livestream all of matches that day. You can find all of them here. We won all of our matches except for the first one. This team, which called themselves “Last Minute” because they were a last minute entry, consisted of four local Dallas-area players (JP Gorby, Chase Orme, Chrissie Hintz, and Jenna Rogers). They were so last minute that they’re not even on this list. They were pretty dominant and went undefeated at the event but we took them to a dreambreaker (singles tie breaker round, if you go 2-2 against another team).

I honestly think the outcome might have been different if we played them last (or at least after we’d already gotten a match or two behind us) rather than first because, not to be biased, our team was pretty amazing. As it was, we ended up taking second. In my mind I’m thinking, we really would have been the champions had they not entered last minute. LOL.

But such is life. None of my last few tournaments have really gone according to plan. In fact, I’ve had to play with a couple of blind dates for mixed doubles in my last two tournaments (PPA KC Open and Tulsa Pickleball Classic). It’s pretty much par for the course and I’ve learned to roll with the punches, and enjoy the beatings along the way. And, I keep on truckin’. Next up, NEO Shangri-la Pickleball Open this weekend. You know I’ll be writing about it. Come back soon. GNG.

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Texas Road Trip and Making Lemonade

Posted on September 20, 2023 by Ching under Pickleball, Travel.

Brian and I drove South a couple of weeks ago for the Chicken N Pickle ambassador Minor League Pickleball event at Chicken N Pickle – Grapevine. Except, I am a ding dong and I thought the event was at Chicken N Pickle – Grand Prairie so, when I booked my Airbnb, I booked it within in ten minutes of the Grand Prairie location — only to find out that the event is actually at the Grapevine location which is 30 minutes away. LOL.

Always really good at making the best out of any situation, I figured I would just visit both locations while we were already there anyway. This gets me closer to completing my goal of visiting all of the Chicken N Pickle locations.

Chicken N Pickle – North Kansas City – CHECK
Chicken N Pickle – Wichita – CHECK
Chicken N Pickle – Oklahoma City – CHECK
Chicken N Pickle – Overland Park – CHECK
Chicken N Pickle – Grapevine – CHECK
Chicken N Pickle – Grand Prairie – CHECK

Now I just need to visit San Antonio (Texas) and Glendale (Arizona). I would be done except Chicken N Pickle is opening seven more locations in 2024 so I have my work cut out for me. The newest locations will be: