Looking Back at 2021
Posted on January 27, 2022 by Ching under Life.
A bunch of friends at the PPA Carvana Desert Ridge Open this week which brings back memories of when I was there last year for PPA Foot Solutions Arizona Open, which this year is at the new Bell Bank Park at the Legacy Sports Complex in Mesa, AZ. Anyway, this got me reflecting on 2021 as a whole.
I am a little bit sad that 2021 is basically just a continuation of 2020 and I haven’t traveled out of the country at all since our Mexico trip in late 2019. I went to some tournaments out of state but we really didn’t get to do any international travel. We were going to break the cycle in January this year but the Jamaica trip ended up falling through — because COVID ruins everything.
Despite failed plans, 2021 wasn’t all bad. I finally got participate in some big tournaments, which I had originally planned to do in 2020 but couldn’t because everything was canceled when the pandemic brought the world to a screeching halt.
- I played in my first PPA tournament and got my first ever PPA medal (silver in women’s singles).
- I played in my first APP tournament (APP Delray Beach Open). I didn’t earn any medals at this tournament but had a great time as always.
- I played in my very first USA Pickleball regional tournament (Middle States Regional Championships) but actually participated in two last year because I also played in Great Plains Regional Championships. (Brought home some medals from both tournaments but no “golden ticket” for USA Pickleball Nationals so the quest continues.)
I also participated in some tournaments closer to home like one in Lenexa and another in Great Bend. I played with my friend Ramon Lozano in both who is the main reason I actually did them. The one in Lenexa means a lot to me because it was my first 4.0+ tournament and we actually beat some really good teams.
I played in a couple of tournaments in Oklahoma, which I have decided is the state that runs the best tournaments because you get fed lunch and they provide lots of snacks. The first one was called Picklemania (at Lifetime Athletics) and it was non-sanctioned and the second was PC Smash (Gene Click’s tournament) and that one is sanctioned by USA Pickleball so even though it’s not a regional tournament, it’s a totally legitimate one.
Speaking of tournaments, I intentionally participated in the ICT Tournaments last year (unlike in 2020 when I ended up playing because one of the guys mixed partners fell through, so I played as a stand in) and got my first ICT medal.
I think my entire year revolved around pickleball, which is not entirely unusual because when I get into something I really go all out — much like I did with Zumba. There was a whole decade of my life that was pretty much dedicated to all things Zumba.
Other pickleball-related things that happened last year include:
- Organizing my first pickleball tournament and it was a huge success. My Rotary club is doing it again this year but bigger and better!
- Participating and helping with a bunch of benefit tournaments — but Wichita Senior Services’ Picklepalooza event was definitely one of my favorites.
- Creating ictpickleball.com, a website geared at keeping pickleball players in our community who are not on Facebook informed about what’s happening in the picklesphere.
- Visiting my third Chicken N Pickle location when a bunch of us went down to the OKC Chicken N Pickle for Lauren Stratman and Patrick Smith’s clinic. I was going to say “only three more to go” but they’re about to open two more new locations. I may never be able to keep up!
- Playing pickleball at 5 AM — which created a lot of controversy this year because a ton of people want to play at 5 AM now. The first summer we played in the early mornings, I was only getting eight players on average and this past summer we were averaging twelve to sixteen players (and some days even 20-24 — it’s insane).
- Hosting friends from out of town. Noi stayed with us on one of his visits last year but he probably won’t be staying with us anymore now that he knows Zach Nguyen (Zach has a pickleball court in his backyard).
- Meeting a shit ton of people in 2021 including the famed Pickleball Librarian when he came to visit Wichita last year. I also met William and Rosti Sobek when they came through Wichita during a teaching tour across America.
- Learning how to play singles and playing in a couple of singles leagues until Chicken N Pickle quit offering it because not enough people wanted to play. Pickleball is really more of a doubles game. And it takes a special person to want to play singles.
- Participating in our own version of Major League Pickleball organized by Jenny Cole and Michael Harris at Chicken N Pickle. We followed their format and did a draft and everything.
- Hanging out with my pickleball besties including Patrick Smith. He is so much fun!
Speaking of hanging out with friends, late in 2021 (before Omicron happened), things were almost returning back to normal and I feel like people were starting to feel comfortable gathering again. I actually got to see my Leadership Wichita classmates a few times last year. Tallgrass Film Festival was back and had in person viewings and parties. Zach Hyatt (Brian’s cousin) and Krystle (now also Hyatt) finally had their wedding.
I think with more people getting vaccinated, people started feeling more comfortable and maybe even a little complacent. After my bout with COVID in 2020 (natural immunity) and getting shots 1 and 2, I have to say, I was feeling pretty invincible until some of my friends started getting COVID. Some of them were vaccinated.
By the way, as paranoid as Brian is about getting sick, he was super reluctant to get vaccinated and only got his shots because he wouldn’t be able to leave country. So even though we didn’t get to go to Jamaica this month as planned, at least Brian got vaccinated as a result. I got my booster shot a few weeks ago to protect myself because it seemed like all of my pickleball friends were catching COVID. Brian still hasn’t had his booster and I think he’s still on the fence about it.
So far, we managed to get through 2021 without catching COVID again (that we know of). I think one encounter with COVID is enough for me.
Nothing too exciting happened last year, other than I got to play a lot of pickleball. After ringing in the new year at pickleball tournament in St. Louis this month, I’m not joking when I say I have even more pickleball planned this year.
Stay tuned! GNG.
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