Gearing Up for Picklemania
Posted on February 2, 2022 by Ching under Community, Pickleball.
My Rotary club has started gearing up for our second annual pickleball tournament. Last year we hosted our first one out of necessity. Because of the pandemic, we had to cancel our main fundraising even in 2020. Since we could not have Haus of Brews, and we had to figure out a way to raise money for our club projects, we decided to host a pickleball tournament. We originally planned it for May 2021 but it ended up getting rescheduled to June 2021 due to rain. We are hoping that the weather will cooperate and we will be able to hold our event on our selected date this year.
Last year our club funded the event on its own. This year we are partnering with local companies so it’s going to be bigger and better than ever.
Another significant change is in the format. Last year we opted for a more traditional tournament with social and competitive brackets in the morning, social and competitive brackets in the afternoon, and lunch served in between. Everyone got plenty of games in because we did round robin plus bracket play.
This year, we are still feeding lunch and including free drinks and everyone will still get lots of pickleball play, but we are going to a team-style tournament so it’s going to be even more fun.
Ever since I participated in the MLP-style team tournament at Chicken N Pickle last December, I’ve been toying with the idea of hosting a team tournament. I presented the idea to the other two members of the pickleball tournament planning team (Chris McGill and Ryan De Santis) and they approved it. I am super excited!
We couldn’t do full-on MLP because, when we did it at CNP, the matches lasted almost an hour and a half on average and we don’t have that kind of time. So we modified it a bit so that there are only three games per match for the round robin matches — women’s doubles, men’s doubles, and mixed doubles — and best two of three games (same format) for the bracket play.
The twist is that for the mixed doubles game, it’s going to be “wrestlemania” style. So you can tag-in and tag-out team members during the timeouts, as long as the resulting combo is still one male and female. It is mixed doubles after all.
During the round robin portion, the plan is for all three games to be played that way everyone will get to experience the mixed doubles “wrestlemania” format. We will keep track of the number of wins and use that to determine the seeding for the single elimination bracket tournament in the afternoon.
In bracket play, we will do best two of three — so the mixed doubles game could potentially be skipped if one team wins both the women’s doubles and men’s doubles games. This is to save time so that the tournament doesn’t run so late. Anyway, those out of the tournament can continue to eat and drink and just hang out and enjoy. It’s a win-win for everyone.
So far we already have three sponsors committed and I have a few more asks I’m waiting to hear back from. I am really looking forward to the event this year because we are not doing it on our own anymore. We have others willing to partner with us. I think it’s going to be even more fun!
You can find out more about our tournament and sign up here. Form a team or simple be a spectator, have a nice lunch and some drinks at the country club, and enjoy the day with us! We would love to see you!
Until next time, GNG.
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Celebrating with Tiffany
Posted on January 29, 2022 by Ching under Pickleball.
Brian and I celebrated Tiffany’s birthday with Tiffany and Donnie Lesperance a few weeks ago. I actually didn’t know it was her birthday until after dinner. We went to Texas Roadhouse with them because when we were driving home from St. Louis, we talked about places that they dine at all the time and Brian and I hadn’t been to TR in many years. So we jokingly said that next time they decide to go to TR, they should let us know so we could go with.
Well, we got home super late on Sunday night and they went the very next day and didn’t tell us. We could have gone too because Brian and I both took that Monday off expecting to be home late on Sunday night. So I gave them both a hard time about that the next time I saw them.
Anyway, they decided to go to TR the Saturday before Tiffany’s birthday and they actually remembered to invite us this time so the four of us went. LOL.
After that, they came over to our house and we had a Mexican train dominoes marathon. Brian, who is usually the big loser at dominoes, actually end up second place that night and, after playing for several hours and about 500 points, I was the biggest loser. Tiffany brought these delicious shots in tiny mason jars (will have to look for these next time we are at the liquor store) and so we did some shots so it was still a win. Although, looking back, maybe that’s why I was losing?
Tiffany’s birthday is actually on January 17 (also known as Martin Luther King Jr. Day) so she’s one of those lucky people whose birthdays always fall on a holiday. I have another friend whose birthday is on November 11 so she always gets the day off for Veterans Day. Of course, you could be like Brian and just take a vacation day on your birthday every year and make it your own special holiday.
Anyway, since I was off work in observance of the MLK Day holiday, and so were Tiffany and Donnie, I set up some birthday pickleball for us at Nahola with Chris Wilson. Chris and I work for the same company and so he had the day off as well. And, I knew that he was also going to be there for our Monday night league so he would just need to come a couple of hours early. It worked out great and we had some fun games with really awesome rallies.
The following night I brought a big sheet cake to Chicken N Pickle so we could continue celebrating her birthday during our mixed competitive league.
It was way more cake than we needed on Tuesday night because we enjoyed the rest of it again on Wednesday night during the men’s competitive and super competitive league. I think a lot of people got to partake of Tiffany’s birthday cake over those two days because Danny Leddy said they ate some of it earlier in the day too.
Tiffany sure knows how to handle a big knife. Donnie better watch it. LOL.
We continued the celebrations all the way through to Friday night at Nahola with the Friday night pickleball crew. Kimberly brought homemade brownies for everyone. They were still super warm in the pan when she brought them in. These guys are such a hoot.
From left: Tiffany Lesperance, Kimberly Howe, Chris Wilson, Debbie Fanning, Donnie Lesperance, Dave Fanning, Greta “the Machine” Siemens, Mark Armstrong (hiding behind Ryan Kellenbarger’s arm), Ryan and me.
This is our full crew minus Eric Howe who has been in recovery. Ryan has been serving as a permanent sub over the last several weeks.
Friday nights are so fun because I get to play for four hours straight — two hours of open play, followed by two hours with Debbie’s Friday night group — but it’s even more fun when one of us is celebrating a birthday. And it has been super fun getting to celebrate Tiffany’s birthday with her this year. Cheers!
Until next time, GNG.
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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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Rotary District 5680 Refugee Project
Posted on January 22, 2022 by Ching under Community, Projects.
Kathy Sexton from the Derby Rotary Club spoke to our club last week to talk about the Rotary District 5680 refugee project. Our nine area Rotary clubs are partnering with the Wichita office of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to help resettle hundreds of families fleeing Afghanistan and other crisis zones.
IRC helps refugees find homes, jobs, English classes, and connects them with resources to help them transition to their new environment. Refugees often arrive with nothing and need dishes, furniture, and other items for their new home.
The Rotary clubs in our District have committed to providing and assembling dinnerware, kitchen, cookware, and bathroom kits consisting of new and gently used items, and transporting kits, vacuums, and other household items. We are asking everyone for help in putting together these kits.
- Dinnerware Kit: 8 place settings of dinner plates, salad plates, bowls, drinking glasses, mugs/teacups, and silverware
- Kitchen Kit: 3 mixing bowls, 3+ kitchen knives, 3 cutting boards, 3+ plastic/glass storage containers, can opener, dish drying rack, 3+ cooking utensils, 2 oven mitts, 2 towels
- Cookware Kit: 3+ pots and pans, stockpot, 3+ bakeware, tea kettle
- Bathroom Kit: shower curtain, curtain rod and package of shower hooks, toilet brush and plunger, toothbrush holder, wastebasket
If you are downsizing or minimizing, then this is a great opportunity to put extra items that you no longer need to good use. Please consider donating items listed above that you no longer use. There is an immediate need as we are expecting hundreds of refugees to arrive in Wichita the coming weeks.
The IRC in Wichita is currently located at 1530 S. Oliver Suite 270 but they will be moving their office to a new location sometime in February. The IRC accepts kits Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM. You an reach them at (316) 351-5495 or volunteerks@rescue.org to let them know that you’re coming by to drop off a donation.
If those days do not work for you, you can also deliver your donation to BRG Precision Products at 600 River Street (Derby, KS) through February 11. BRG can accept donations Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. It’s best to call them ahead of time at (316) 788-2000 to notify them that you’re dropping of a donation. They will give you parking/drop off instructions based on when you’re arriving to ensure that there are no conflicts with their normal business operations and other deliveries.
On Presidents Day (Monday, February 21), Rotarians will gather at the BRG office from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM to assemble all the donations received into the kits listed above. BRG will provide boxes, bubble wrap, and packing materials. Rotarians will deliver the completed kits to IRC on Saturday, February 26.
Kathy Sexton from the Derby Rotary Club is leading this effort. If you wish to donate, volunteer, or have questions, please contact her at sextonkbs@gmail.com or (316) 371-6451. Thank you in advance for supporting this initiative and helping us welcome refugees to their new homes.
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New Year’s Eve
Posted on January 15, 2022 by Ching under Life, Travel.
What do you do for New Year’s Eve when you have an early wake up the next morning for a pickleball tournament? You stay in and drink in the hotel lobby and play Mexican train dominoes and Uno all evening.
I set up in the lobby and started making drinks from my Shaker & Spoon cocktail kit while we were waiting for Tiffany and Donnie to come down. This random guy comes over and asks if it’s the “manager’s special” because he wants a drink, I guess. I’m like, “Sorry, dude. This happy hour is private.” LOL.
I made drinks for both me and Tiffany.
The four of us enjoyed some cocktails while playing Mexican train dominoes. It’s nice to be able to drink and not have to worry about driving home (or anywhere for that matter). The guys looked quite serious because Brian was seriously losing and Donnie was hot on my heels (I was the points leader for most of the game but Donnie ended up winning at the end by a mere two points).
Everyone was in it to win it. Except for Brian because, after his triple digits in the first round, he didn’t have a prayer.
I’m so disappointed that we didn’t get to drink these shots. They came in the cutest jars. However, the size of them was somewhat intimidating. I mean, the jars are cute but they are a good size so there’s a lot of alcohol in those shots.
Tiffany won at Uno on NYE but I owned it the next night.
I think one of my favorite memories from the weekend was when Tiffany and Donnie and Brian all banded together to help Brian win the round and keep me from winning. I think I had 4 wins, Brian had 3, Tiffany had 2, and Donnie had 0 wins. We were in the 10th round. If Tiffany, Donnie, or I won the round then I would be the winner. The only way they could prevent me from winning is if Brian won the round and tied me at 4 wins, which would force a sudden death tie breaker round. So even though, Tiffany and Donnie were both ready to go out, they weren’t going out because because they wanted Brian to win.
It was three against one and I still won! That was definitely one of the weekend’s highlights for me. Of course, winning gold in mixed 4.0 with Devon was nice too.
That was pretty much our NYE weekend. Until next time. GNG.
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