Mom and Dad’s First Pickleball Lesson
Posted on May 31, 2020 by Ching under Family, Things to Do.
A couple of weeks ago, mom and dad posted a video of the two of them hitting a pickleball back and forth over a dining room chair in their living room. It seemed to me that they were interested in playing so I invited them to come to the park and play with other people. However, they seemed a bit apprehensive so I booked them a lesson with my friend Chris Heck at Nahola Fitness.
They didn’t feel like they were ready to play with other people so I was hoping the lesson would give them confidence and help them to feel more comfortable with going to the park and playing with others. I watched part of their lesson with Chris last week and took some photos. I think he did a great job of teaching them the basics and making them feel more comfortable with playing. He covered a lot of information during their 90 minute session. They even had a short section on scoring that I got to participate in.
Here are a few pictures from their lesson last week.
As you know, I am completely addicted to pickleball and so I’m super excited that mom and dad have shown an interest in it. I want to encourage them and help them along their pickleball journey.
They seemed to enjoy their first lesson and wanted to do another lesson so tomorrow they’re doing a lesson with Kayla Keuter (one of owners of Nahola). Tita Esper will be joining them. I wish I was still off work so I could be a fly on the wall for this next lesson. I happened to be on vacation last week so I was able to be there for their lesson with Chris. My time off work is unfortunately over so I go back to work tomorrow. Anyway, I’m sure I will hear all about it.
I can’t wait until mom and dad are comfortable enough to come to the park and play with other people. I can’t wait to introduce them to everyone. I’ll be sure to keep you updated on their progress. Until next time. GNG.
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First Post-Lockdown Outing
Posted on May 30, 2020 by Ching under Things to Do.
If I don’t count pickleball, then our Chicken N Pickle outing on Memorial Day was our first since the pandemic. It was certainly our first non-ZOOM social with this group. When we made plans to meet up at Chicken N Pickle a couple of weeks prior, the weather was supposed to be nice. Unfortunately, the weather changed and it turned out rainy. As a result, we couldn’t reserve a pickleball court because all the courts were busy. Many of the pickleball players who would have normally played outside ended up playing inside at CNP.
At least there was a ping pong table that we could use. I ended up playing four times and won every single game. I would have rather been playing pickleball but ping pong is the next best thing. I hadn’t played in over a year and I had forgotten how much I enjoy it. Here are some of our pictures from our outing.
We had such a great time catching up. Though not renting a court was a bit of a disappointment at first, it turned out okay. Anyway, I can’t wait until we are free to have more of these outings.
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Pickleball Fun
Posted on May 29, 2020 by Ching under Hobbies.
Pickleball is ruling my life right now. I am completely addicted to it. Here are my favorite things about pickleball, in no particular order.
Matching Outfits
I finally met a pickleball friend who enjoys being matchy-matchy just as much as I do. Meet my friend Karen. These are all the matching outfits we have but I have no doubt we will have more.
Lobsterfest
My friend Tiffany just bought Patti’s lobster so I’m thinking Lobsterfest will now be a regular occurrence.
Shirtless Pickleball
‘Tis the season for shirtless pickleball.
Post-Pickleball Picnics
We’ve been taking advantage of the nice weather and having munchies on the patio at Nahola after pickleball. Last weekend we had margaritas, pizza, and wings. Yesterday, Karen brought lasagna for everyone.
Fan-Girling
It’s perfectly normal in other sports, yet seems completely ludicrous in pickleball, but I’m bound and determined to make it a “thing.”
#SangriaSunday
I’m not a big drinker but I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy #SangriaSunday. There are days that I’m not feeling particularly competitive. I just want to play and be social and sip on my sangria and have a great time.
French Braids at the Park
This is probably one of my most favorite developments this year – Karen’s mobile hair braiding station at Seneca Park. I love playing pickleball with my hair in braids because it’s secure and out of the way.
Making New Friends
Possibly the best part about pickleball is meeting other pickleball addicts and making new friends.
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Grandma’s Flowers
Posted on May 23, 2020 by Ching under Life.
Late post from Mother’s Day weekend. Brian and I went in on a big bouquet of flowers for grandma for Mother’s Day.
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First Time Back at CNP
Posted on May 13, 2020 by Ching under Community, Hobbies.
Chicken N Pickle reopened last week, which was just in time for our top contributor reward. A couple of months ago I decided to start giving prizes to recognize top contributors to our Wichita Pickleball Facebook group to encourage more engagement and activity within the group. We had planned a trip to Hilton Head Island and so I was thinking I would bring some Head swag back from Ansboury Academy which I could use as a prize.
Alas, that trip didn’t happen so I ended up just giving a $25 Amazon gift certificate to the winner who turned out to be Cameron. He immediately used it to buy some pickleballs, which makes sense because we are constantly breaking them.
For the month of April, rather than giving away another Amazon gift certificate, I decided the prize would be a one-hour court reservation at Chicken N Pickle. The condition was that, since I’m paying for the reservation, I would get to play but the winner would get to invite two others to play with us.
My friend Mark Smith ended up winning. When I reached out to him about the date and time that he would like to claim his reward, and agreed on Thursday, May 7, I found out that it was his birthday the very next day. So I ended up reserving an extra hour as his birthday present and he got two invite two additional people.
Here are some of our pictures from that evening…
Our group consisted of (from left) Mark’s siblings Kim Shea and Gregg Smith, Kim Knotts (Mark’s usual mixed doubles partner), Brooke Ayala (Kim Knotts’ doubles partner), and me. We probably could have invited more people to play with us but we were limited by Chicken N Pickle to six people per court based on the current social distancing rules. Everyone in the Wichita pickleball community is just so lovely and so much fun.
Kim Knotts even brought these delicious cupcakes for everyone.
Anyway, it was great to be back at Chicken N Pickle after being away for so long. I just love playing there because it’s an outside court surface but indoors. I’ve missed playing with these guys so much too so it was great to be together again.
It’s been super rainy this week so I’ve actually been hanging out at CNP quite a bit. Since making the court reservations for Mark’s top contributor reward last week, I’ve made a few more reservations.
Last night I was there to play with Jimmy Cho, Michael Cheung, and Ryan DeSantis. It was so much fun! Jimmy even complimented me on the progress I’ve made since the last time he’d seen me play. It made me feel good.
While we were playing, he gave me a couple of lobs that were unsuccessful for him and winners for me. I hit the first one in the air backwards as I was running to get it and ended up lobbing it right back. It landed in and neither Michael nor Jimmy could get to it. I ended up smashing the second lob for a winner. I think he was utterly surprised. I used to not know how to hit overheads but Chris Heck has been helping me and I can actually hit them now. I still flub them once in a while but I feel pretty good about hitting them now for the most part.
I’m playing at Chicken N Pickle again tonight. This time with my friends Tiffany Lesperance, Donnie Lesperance, and Steve Vetter. On Thursday I’m playing with Mark’s group. I’d be back again on Friday but I have a group lesson with my friends Karen Fox and Jenny Cole at Nahola.
I have some court reservations in queue for next week but I’m think I might reserve something for Saturday too because it’s supposed to be rainy that day. I need to figure out who’s available to play, though. Coordinating everyone’s schedules is usually the biggest challenge. Anyway, I’m super grateful to be playing again finally. Time to run off to Chicken N Pickle. Until next time. GNG.
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