Open Play with the Pros
Posted on January 5, 2022 by Ching under Events, Pickleball.
Jack Sock came to Wichita last month. I took a vacation day so I could attend the “Open Play with the Pros” event at Chicken N Pickle featuring Jack Sock (world famous tennis pro), Lauren Stratman (the #1 female pickleball player on the APP Tour), Dylan Frazier (young, up and coming pickleball pro), and Jack Oxler (director of pickleball and resident pro at Kansas City Chicken N Pickle location).
I originally signed up for the 10 AM session only but my Oklahoma friends Grant Bond and Alvaro Terron Gonzalez (pictured above with me and my friend Karen Fox) said they were coming and were signed up for the 1 PM session so then I signed up to attend the afternoon as well.
They actually ended up driving up on Thursday night and staying with Patrick Smith so they played a lot that weekend. My friend Donnie Lesperance, who works at Chicken N Pickle, texted me on Thursday to let me know that “my guys” were there. I didn’t come out that night but, when Karen texted me the next morning with a pic of her and Alvaro, I skedaddled over.
I was going to be there for the 10 am open play session anyway so I basically just went an hour or so early. It worked out great because I got to watch Grant (Pat 2.0) play with Pat and Alvaro (Jay 2.0 aka “the Spanish Sensation”) play with Jocelyn “Jay” Devilliers. It was like seeing double. It was pretty much like an exhibition match for an audience of one.
Here are some pics from that day. The above pic features Jen Reifschneider (aka Chef Jen or Lefty Jen), Lesli Toubassi (who gets mistaken for me sometimes so I consider her like a sister), and Lauren Stratman.
This pic has Tami Racine and Ron Owens with me and Lauren.
Of course, I look like a midget next to Jack Sock. LOL.
It was fun watching them play a couple of games in between the two sessions.
Hanging out with Alvaro.
Lauren and Karen.
With my buddy Matt Nola who hopefully will be playing with me at the Minto US Open Pickleball Championships in April.
With Jack Oxler, plus Jody Vinson and Lonnie Lollar below.
The guys were smart and stayed together so they had some super fun competitive games. Pictured below are Ev Kim (playing with Jack Sock) and Grant and Alvaro (who are playing together on the far end).
With Dylan Frazier. He is the nicest guy ever! One night he was waiting for Jay at Chicken N Pickle and agreed to hit with me and we got two others to play with us and we actually got a few points in before Jay arrived.
Here’s a pic of me and Dylan with Zach Nguyen and Matt Nola.
I will leave you with a fun video montage that I made of some of the pics and video clips I took that day. Enjoy!
Until next time, GNG.
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