USAP Newport Beach Highlights
Posted on August 7, 2022 by Ching under Pickleball, Travel.
I had a blast playing with my friend Ramon Lozano at the USAP Newport Beach Championships pickleball tournament. On the one hand, we wanted to win gold but on the other, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to go to Nationals since I’ve already committed myself to going to the Diamond Amateur Championships in Florida this year. Plus, I didn’t want to go if I only had one golden ticket. We took 3rd and, while we could have done better, I’m totally okay with it.
One of the best parts of the trip was meeting Ramon’s wonderful family. Uncle Ramon decked everyone out in Chicken N Pickle gear. What a great uncle he is!
The group pic above was taken in the morning and then this second group pic is after we got our medals.
Here are some pics of Back Bay, a beach that’s literally just a five minute walk from our hotel room. We walked over a couple of times. We didn’t get in the water but we took some pics and people-watched.
The area was breathtaking and the weather was absolutely perfect (as it often is in California – they are fortunate to have wonderful weather year-round). I would totally go back if Brian is up for it next year.
Here are some pics we took at Back Bay. Thank you to Lucky in Love for the cute outfit in the next pic.
Back at the tournament, I met some really fabulous people and made new friends (as always). I may not bring a bunch of medals home but I can always count on making new friends.
Above is a Filipino lady from Illinois that I met at the tournament, Michelle Chow. Below is my blind date/new friend and women’s doubles partner Nancy “Moondust” Kaplan.
I met the amazing founder/creator PlayTime Scheduler, Reine Steel.
And, I also got to watch my friend Jenna Doffer (Hessert) kick major butt in the pro division.
Meanwhile, Brian got a cool new ball cap from the Zelus booth.
Brian and I also got to go to Fashion Island.
I’ll end it here for now and share pictures of our hotel/resort in the next post. Until next time, GNG.
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