Archive for "Pickleball"
It’s Pickleball Tournament Season Again
Posted on May 13, 2024 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
Cinco de Mayo weekend was packed with tournaments but it’s only the beginning. Once we get to this time of year, I feel like there’s multiple tournaments competing for your attention every weekend.
On Saturday, May 4, we were at Chicken N Pickle for Erica Case’s pickleball tournament to raise money for her Leukemia Lymphoma Society visionary of the year campaign. Ronnie, Jay, and Becca were actually playing in that one and they needed a fourth. I volunteered Brian. I hadn’t donated to Erica’s campaign yet at this point so I figured paying for Brian’s team was a good way to show my support.
The next day was the day of the first iPickle Nation 3-player team tournament which was held at Genesis Rock Road. We had just the right number of teams for the courts that we had. Katie Merrill and Deana Holman came up from Oklahoma to play. The event went pretty smoothly and we finished right on schedule.
Here’s a little highlight video that I made.
Speaking of iPN, the weekly Nation Builder Series round robins are back at Riverside. We are playing every Sunday starting at 9:30 AM (except June 16 because that’s the weekend of the Midwest pickleball tournament). You can sign up for the weekly iPN mini tournament here.
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Highlights from an Epic Pickleball Tournament
Posted on April 25, 2024 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
I had the privilege of helping with the pickleball tournament at the Wichita Country Club benefiting the Wichita Children’s Home (WCH) again this year. WCH has two big fundraising events: “It’s a Big Dill” which was their pickleball tournament and “Fore the Kids” which was the golf tournament. This year they decided to combine both events into one truly epic weekend.
Festivities kicked off with the party at the Wichita Country Club on Friday night, April 12, followed by the pickleball tournament the next morning. The golf tournament was held on Monday at Terradyne Country Club.
My involvement is pretty much limited to pickleball but there are so many people who make the whole thing happen – from asking donors for sponsorships, inviting people to the party, recruiting players for both pickleball and golf, asking for donations for the live and silent auction packages, decorating for the party, helping at the party, setting up and tearing down the pickleball tournament – I am always super impressed at how seamlessly everything comes together.
This is one of my most favorite tournaments because the Wichita Country Club team is phenomenal. I’m used to doing everything – getting volunteers for taping, hanging sponsor banners, setting up nets etc., tearing down, running the event – but with WCH tournament, the country club staff pretty much has everything taken care of so all I really have to do is come up with the tournament format (we’ve been doing round robin into single elimination bracket) and put together the schedule/plan and then follow the schedule on the day. My job is super easy.
Anyway, if you are looking to play in this highly sought-after event next year, mark your calendar for April 12. Kickoff party will be Friday, April 11, and then the pickleball tournament is the next day. Hope to see you then!
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Not Playing, Running Tournaments Instead
Posted on April 18, 2024 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
I’ve been having all sorts of issues (pickleball elbow, yips, monovision issues, etc.) since the start of the year so I am kind of glad that I’m on a self-imposed break from tournaments. I can’t imagine how frustrated I would be if I were competing and had all the problems I’ve been having.
Anyway, I’m not playing as much because of (a) the issues I’ve been having with my arm and (b) I’m not really training for any upcoming tournaments (since I don’t have any this year) but I’m still around pickleball because I’m still organizing tournaments and facilitating events of iPickle Nation and the Pickle Club.
Here are a few pictures from the St. Patty’s Day team pickleball tournament we had at the Pickle Club last month…
We had six teams compete:
Wu-Tang Clan: Julie Pauly, Michelle Belew, Micah Jacques, and Matt Dutton
Kitchen Killers: Jonathan Thorne, David Thorne, Leila Loomis, and Isabela Bifano
Smarties: Amanda Ades, Jared Smart, Lyle Smart, and Kendra Wicks
The Young and the Ruthless: Derek Pruett, Janelle Lindeman, Susie Ternes, and Devon Fuller
Clover Gs: Brandon Tran, Bee Bandasack, Karen Fox, and Reiko Trigo
Better with Vetter: Steve Vetter, Jen Tiano, Monica McGehee, and Fin Tatum
The tournament was MLP-style with pool play consisting of matches against every other team followed by a single-elimination bracket. The winners ended up being:
1st Place: Wu-Tang Clan
2nd Place: Better with Vetter
3rd Place: The Young and the Ruthless
It was really fun to watch the matches. I’m grateful that even if I can’t play, I can still be around pickleball. Our community is the best!
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CNP Ambassadors Sip N Play
Posted on April 3, 2024 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
Once a month, Chicken N Pickle reserves a couple of pickleball courts at local CNP locations all over the nation for CNP ambassadors to get together. Here are some pics from our “sip n play” event last month.
Donnie Lesperance and I wore our matching shirts that day!
Our next ambassador sip n play is on April 11. Feel free to swing by and say hello!
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Newbie Night at Chicken N Pickle
Posted on March 25, 2024 by Ching under Pickleball, Things to Do.
I’m on a mission to get all of my friends.. Scratch that. I’m on a mission to get every single person I meet into pickleball. Recently, I met a couple of friends (Jarrica Briedenthal, a friend from Zumba, and Teresa Winfield, an former coworker) at Chicken N Pickle for Newbie Night.
Me and Jarrica
Me and Teresa
Michael Harris, director of pickleball at our Chicken N Pickle in Wichita, did a wonderful job of leading the session.
Newbie Nights are a great way to introduce friends to pickleball because of the fun casual environment. Besides that, they also provide all the equipment so you don’t even have to have your own paddle. Most people who are eager to get into the sport have already bought a starter set from Amazon and usually show up with their own paddles but it is not required.
I remember dragging mom and dad, and even some of my Leadership Wichita classmates, to a Newbie Night a couple of years ago when they were first getting into pickleball also. Anyway, if you would like to check it out, the next one is on Tuesday, April 16.
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