Pickleball League Nights
Posted on February 21, 2020 by Ching under Hobbies.
I’ve been participating in pickleball leagues at Chicken N Pickle for a few months now. In the past I’ve only played in one league at a time. I went a little nuts this season and actually signed up for a couple of leagues. It seems crazy considering my busy schedule but with a little help from Aaron Trost (the lead pickleball guy at CNP), I was able to make it work.
I’m currently in Intermediate Mixed Doubles with my friend Mike on Monday nights and then Intermediate Women’s Doubles with my friend Renee on Wednesday nights. And then I’ve also been hitting the weekend open plays and special events at CNP so now more than ever I really feel like I’ve been spending practically all my free time there.
Anyway, Mike and I are team Cobra Kai on Monday nights. We actually started this team back in the Fall when we played in the Bob Jackson Friendship Tournament together. Mike already had the shirt and talked me into buying myself one so that we could wear it as our team uniform. We already have the same paddle so it was cool to wear the same shirts too. It’s a little nerdy but fun.
Speaking of nerdy, Mike agreed to recreate this meme with me last month. I thought it was hilarous!
Oh, I forgot to mention that he got the same yellow Zumba shoes that I do so we can actually match head to toe now (if we felt like it) — from our shirts to our paddles to our shoes!
Here’s a video of our toughest match of the season. Up until this match, our two teams — Bananas (Tommy and Sammi) and Cobra Kai — were the only undefeated teams left in our league. Both teams went into the match with 10-0 records so it was a really important one. Mike and I are still undefeated so long story short – we won. But watch the video anyway. LOL.
My record in my other league (the Wednesday night Intermediate Women’s Doubles) is not quite as fabulous. We’re actually one of the bottom teams. It’s crazy how vast the difference in skill level is within the intermediate range. Some of the women in the Wednesday night league are just amazing. Aaron recognizes it too and he’s actually moved some of my friends up to play with the competitive group.
Despite having mixed results on Wednesday nights I do love going because the competitive men play after us and they are really fun to watch. We have a couple of pros and a bunch of semi-pros in that league and the level of play is out of this world good. A few of us usually stay after and watch some of the games. The last couple of weeks I’ve stayed until the end and played a couple of open play games with the guys who are nice enough to play with me.
A few weeks ago Frank Anthony Davis was in town and subbed for Mason who was out of town that week on a ski trip with his wife. Above is a pic of me and my friend Karen with Frank. Below is a pic of us with Jocelyn Devilliers (one of our local pros) and Logan (Mason’s partner who got to play with Frank that night).
These guys are so nice and super approachable.
If you want to learn more about Frank, check out the video above. He was the special guest on the Eddie and Webby podcast last night. He is not only fun to watch play but he is super smart, stands for equality, and is an all around great guy.
Here’s a pic of me, Debbie, and Sharmin on one of the Wednesday evenings when we stayed and watched they guys play. I think Jocelyn Devilliers and Matt Conrad played against Patrick Smith and Jamie Lynch. It was a big, big match up that drew lots of spectators because Jocelyn and Patrick are both professional pickleball players who play together in the tournament circuit. Thankfully, they’re not playing together in the Wednesday night league or no one would have any chance at all of winning. They’re both amazing players separately and would be practically impossible to beat in league if they played together. LOL.
I wanted to share this last pic of Jocelyn and Matt because it is the cutest. It’s not often that men do the matchy-matchy thing and they did it spectacularly with matching shirts and shorts. The significance of the 2018 Collegiate Girls State Tennis shirts is Jocelyn coaches that team and Matt’s daughter was in it.
Anyway, while league play isn’t always the most fun for me (I’m skipping it next season and possibly the rest of the year), Chicken N Pickle is always a fun place to be — most specially on Wednesday evenings. It’s definitely my favorite night to watch some amazing matches.
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Winter League Tournament on March 19, 2020
[…] took first and Bananas took second. Cobra Kai (our team) unfortunately only took third despite a really great undefeated regular season. I guess you can’t win them […]