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PPA Kansas City Open

Posted on September 4, 2023 by under Pickleball, Travel.    

I played in some PPA tournaments in 2021 but then, after I got them out of my system, I resolved never to play in them again because I found them to be completely overrated. After playing in a few of these, I’ve concluded they are way more fun for spectators than actual players. The local/regional tournaments are just as fun and provide way more value for amateur players. I did get talked into playing in one last year (PPA Las Vegas) but I told myself never again because I’m not a fan of how the PPA charges for every single little thing.

I had to eat my words this year because PPA ended up working out an agreement with USA Pickleball and ended up taking over the “golden ticket” events from the APP. “Golden ticket” tournaments are ones that guarantee gold medalists a spot in USAP Nationals. Since I didn’t have my mixed doubles “golden ticket” (Ramon and I only ended up with second place at the DAC in Florida where I earned my women’s doubles and singles GTs), I still needed to earn one. I tried to earn it in APP Cincinnati and failed so PPA KC Open was my last chance. So despite my best efforts to avoid PPA tournaments, I still ended up playing in one.

Anyway, I’m pretty adept at making lemonade out of lemons so even though this was more of a “have to” than “want to” do tournament I was bound and determined to make the best of it. Despite already having my GTs in women’s and singles, I went ahead and registered to play in these events as well to get some additional tournament practice. And since I was just playing for practice, I decided to play up in those events whereas I played my normal division for mixed doubles (’cause I was actually trying to earn my GT for it).

We drove down on Thursday so I could compete in singles in 100+ degrees. LOL. We decided to stay at Hampton Inn because they’re super pet-friendly and reasonably priced and, apparently, we made a good choice because the Kawamotos chose to stay there too.

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Brian was actually the one who spotted Jade Kawamoto in the lobby as we were walking to the car. He signaled for me to look. I knew it was one of the Kawamotos (they are twins who play women’s doubles together) but I hesitated to approach because I wasn’t sure if it was Jackie or Jade and I didn’t know how to tell them apart. I didn’t want to miss my opportunity so I went ahead and asked for a photo and that’s how we figured out it was Jade.

It’s easier to tell them apart when they are playing together because Jackie is right handed and Jade is left handed, but I really couldn’t tell you how to tell them apart when you see them by themselves. Jade said she’s the one who usually has her hair in a bun but, as her hair wasn’t in a bun right then, that wasn’t really a fool proof way to do it. She said if you see them together then you’ll be able to tell them apart easier. I told her about how the Johnson twins (Hunter and Yates) wear different color socks — one wears white socks and the other wears black socks — to help the fans tell them apart so I requested she and Jackie come up with an easier way to tell them apart. You know for the sake of all the fans. LOL.

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Speaking of fan-girling, had to get a photo with one of my favorite dudes Brendon Long. He is so nice. I just love him.

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Also got a pic with some of my favorite senior pros, Mircea Moriariu, David Belew, and Julie Johnson. Not only is Julie an amazing player in her own right, but she is mom to JW and Jorja Johnson.

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I got pictures with all my singles opponents on Thursday. My first match was with super fun lady Kecia Vekovius. It turns out we had the same idea. She also has her singles GT already. Like me, she’s playing 3.0 at Nationals but she played 3.5 at this tournament for practice. Great minds think alike!

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My second match was against Grace Lee. She was also super nice. Even though I lost, I had a blast playing against her. After I lost to Grace, I had to play Kecia again in the back draw before moving on to play Melissa Slezak below.

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This match was also super fun. Our division started at 6 pm and our match was well past 9 pm. I honestly didn’t have any more fight in me at that point and what little energy I had left (very, very little after playing in the heat all afternoon) was no match for how well she could cover the court with her length.

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Ultimately, my most favorite photo from Thursday is this pic that Karen snapped of Ben Johns in the sidelines as I was playing my first round match against Kecia. The photo reminded me of this photo that Justin McClung took at the Smash tournament a couple of years ago.

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I ended up earning bronze in 3.5 35+ singles. Grace got gold and Melissa got silver.

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We didn’t get back to the hotel until almost 11 pm. It was a long day. Thankfully, I had a later start time (3 pm) for women’s doubles the next so I didn’t have to get up super early. However, this was also a bad thing because then we were playing during the hottest part of the day. I think I would have much rather sacrificed sleep had a 7 am start to avoid the heat.

Here are some pics from Friday…

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The conditions were brutal and we almost withdrew partway through our first round match against Liz Wright and Karly Gleason (pictured below). We were down 7-9 in the second game when we took a longer timeout to give Kendra some time to recover because the heat was really getting to her. Part of me wanted to win but winning that game would mean we would have to play a third game and I wasn’t sure Kendra’s body could take it.

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I reassured Kendra that she wouldn’t be letting me down if we had to withdraw. Ultimately her health is the most important thing. Anyways, we already had out GT and were mostly just playing in the tournament for practice before Nationals. We ended up pushing through and continuing on with the second game.

I was kind of relieved to lose that game because it meant Kendra would have a longer break so we could decide our next steps. Somehow the break allowed Kendra to regain some energy and she decided that we should keep going. We ended up defeating Molly Sager and Megan White in the back draw before falling to Jenny Corley and Carley Mitus.

Out of all the teams we could have played in our division (4.0 10-34 age group), I somehow only ended up playing against people I already knew. The only person I hadn’t met before was Carley but that’s still pretty much a Wichita team because she was playing with Jenny. This always happens to me at tournaments. I usually end up playing against either people from Wichita, people I normally partner with, or close friends and usually in the first round too.

Kendra and I didn’t get the results we were hoping for but got some really great practice. And, all things considered, I’m just glad we survived and neither of us collapsed that day. The heat was really getting to everyone.

Saturday was my break because it was men’s doubles day. The guys got to enjoy cooler weather because it rained. It was both good and bad. The weather was better but due to the rain delay some events ended up getting canceled. I hung out with Brian most of the day and then went to the tournament to get some rec games in the late afternoon/evening.

I was actually hoping to catch my blind date Bill McChesney but I only saw him long enough to give him his shirt. Because of the rain delay, their event started and ended super late and then he had to go. I did get some rec games in with my new friend Craig Morford who I had only met the week prior when we hosted him for the Chicken N Pickle mixed doubles tournament the previous weekend. He was nice enough to hang around even though his men’s doubles event was canceled. We got to play some doubles and a couple of singles games, which despite not being much of a singles player (or so he says), he still kicked my butt.

You’re probably wondering why I had to get a blind date despite knowing so many people. I was kind of in a weird situation in that most of the mixed doubles partners I play with are higher level. Because I was trying to earn my mixed GT, unlike in women’s doubles and singles divisions where I already had GTs so I had the luxury of “playing up” a level, I had to play as low as my rating would allow for mixed doubles. That meant playing 3.5 and I didn’t really know very many people who could still play 3.5 level because even those who could wanted to play up it seemed.

I ended up picking up Shawn Kirby, who I had met at Smash a couple of years before when he ended up playing with Jenna Hessert as his blind date in 4.0 mixed. She had just started playing and didn’t know how good she was (she’s playing professionally these days). I was thinking if he could get gold in 4.0 and was eligible and willing to play 3.5 then we would have a good shot at earning our spot for Nationals. As luck would have it (or misfortune in this case), he ended up getting hurt and contacted me literally two days before registration cutoff. I had to scramble and find someone from the “players needing partners” list so as not to get moved to the waiting list. That’s where Bill comes in.

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I’m glad I came out on Saturday night, even though I didn’t get any games with Bill. I at least got to watch Chris Olson and William Chaing (the Pickleball Studio duo) play their 4.5 men’s doubles championship. They ended up earning silver.

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At the next court, Kyle Rinck and Matthew Rochat were playing a match against a team from St. Louis.

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Much like the first two days of competition, matches went on until late. However, there were several empty courts which made those whose events got canceled quite peeved. The only way you were getting a refund was if you paid for insurance. As someone who usually skips that part, I’m pretty sure there were several people who did not get to play and did not get their money back.

It wouldn’t be so bad if you signed up to play multiple events but, if men’s doubles was your only event and it got canceled, then you would have come to the tournament for no reason. That would have really sucked. I’m not sure how many were in that situation but, considering the backlash I saw online after and some of the grumblings I heard, I think there were quite a few people who were.

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We had to check out of our hotel on Sunday so Brian and Saki hung out with me at the tournament. Thankfully, they didn’t have to be out there very long as Bill and I went 0-2 in our division. I didn’t realize it until that morning but this was Bill’s very first tournament. I admire his gumption for choosing a GT tournament for his first because the draws are that much tougher when everyone is trying to earn their spot for Nationals.

I was really bummed about failing to earn my GT (yet again) but lucky for me, because of the events getting canceled on Saturday, PPA decided to pretty much give everyone who played in the tournament that weekend a guaranteed spot for Nationals. They sent an email to everyone stating this and I immediately got to work on finding a partner so I could claim my confirmed spot for mixed.

It’s so funny because the day they sent that email to everyone, I think people were scrambling to sign up for Nationals and the PickleballTournaments.com website ended up going down. The site went back up later in the evening and I was able to update my registration to add my mixed doubles partners and we are now officially confirmed.

Although things didn’t go according to plan, I truly feel that everything happens for a reason. I had a great time hanging out with friends at the tournament, seeing people I hadn’t seen in a while, and making new friends. As they say, all is well that ends well. Until next time, GNG.

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