Sunday Mixed at the Park
Posted on July 17, 2020 by Ching under Community, Hobbies, Things to Do.
Seneca Park is hands down my most favorite public park. I’m not really much of a park goer. Except, twenty years ago visiting Sedgwick County Parks to have a nice picnic and feed the ducks was one of our favorite cheap date activities. I can honestly say, I haven’t been to Sedgwick County Park in forever. For one, we have ducks out back that I can feed any time I get the hankering for it. Secondly, it’s clear out West.
Seneca Park is probably the only park (besides Edgemoor Park) that I visit regularly (and mostly only because of pickleball). I like playing at both public parks (primarily because it doesn’t cost a dime to play) but Seneca Park is my ultimate favorite because of the shade provided by the trees and street access. You can basically park right next to the pickleball courts. Also, it’s easy to do a quick drive-by, see who is playing, and decided whether or not you want to stay and play.
At Edgemoor Park, there’s a little skate park between the pickleball courts and the parking lot. There are also windscreens that prevent you from seeing who is playing. You can’t tell who’s playing just by driving by. You actually have to get out of your car and walk over to the courts. LOL.
Of course, it’s a lot easier to figure out who’s playing when people post their play times on Playtime Scheduler, but people don’t always do that. Sometimes people just want to play privately with their own crew. When you post on Playtime Scheduler (or on the Wichita Pickleball Facebook group, for that matter), it’s an open invitation for everyone to come and play.
I don’t really do open plays as much anymore because I’m always already playing with specific people. My favorite thing right now is Jimmy’s mixed doubles events on Sunday. Our start time is so early but totally worth it. At first we started with only 9 mixed teams and now we are up to a solid 12 teams on our roster.
The first weekend that I played, I played with my friend Michael Cheung and we revived our Cobra Kai team shirts. The following weekend, I played with my friend Tom Pham (one of my favorite leftys). The funny thing about this is I actually asked my friend Chris Wilson first (also a lefty) but Kim Knotts had already asked him to play and they usually play together because the have an upcoming tournaments so he had already said yes to her. So anyway, I told him I found another lefty to play with. He immediately thought I was referring to Cody Courter, another lefty who is super amazing and well-known in our circle. I didn’t reply to his text because I just wanted him to mull it over because Cody is probably the best lefty pickleball player in all of Wichita. LOL.
The other hilarious thing is when Jimmy sends a group text to the ladies to tell him who their partners will be, and all of these texts come in, I’m usually texting some random made up thing like “Ching and Chris Heck” or “Ching and Patrick Smith” just to see people’s reactions. They know I’m totally joking because those guys wouldn’t play in our little Sunday thing, but I think it’s the funniest thing ever.
This last Sunday however, I did get Patrick Smith’s men’s league partner Jamie Lynch to play. So I had three different partners over the last three weeks. Since Brian doesn’t play pickleball and I don’t have a “pickleball husband” (like my friend Karen does — she’s gone through two already), I’m not locked in to a specific partner. I’m kind of enjoying the flexibility that I have to play with various people. Sometimes it sucks because I don’t have someone I can count on to play with me for various events and play times but the positive side of it is if there’s a different person I want to play with for a specific thing then I don’t feel like I have to “check” with my normal partner to give them first rights of refusal.
Anyway, we first started our Sunday games at Seneca Park but quickly outgrew it. Patti has a large group that plays there on Sundays and the most we can get is usually three courts. We relocated our mixed doubles games to Edgemoor Park where we know we can get all six courts as long as we start at 6 AM. It’s worked well for us the last couple of weeks. We will be playing with a full group of 24 players again this weekend. This time were doing full-on King of Court. Normally, the mixed pairs stay together as they move up or down the court ladder. This weekend Jimmy is going to have the pairs split up. It should be interesting.
I’ll let you know how it goes this weekend. Until next time. GNG.
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Chicken N Pickle Festivities This Week
Posted on July 11, 2020 by Ching under Community, Hobbies.
Michael Harris, head pickleball guy at Chicken N Pickle, turned 27 on Wednesday so I brought chocolate cake in his honor. It was delicious!
His wife Naomi came to hang out so we finally got to meet her.
I just happened to be there on Wednesday for mixed doubles with Kyle, Ryan, and Ryan’s wife Renae. I didn’t know that it was Michael’s birthday until that same day but thankfully Costco always comes through.
Then this morning, my friend Karen and I played in the Doubles and Bubbles tournament at Chicken N Pickle. She had signed us up for it a few weeks ago.
We decided to wear our matching Sofibella skorts with white tanks. Karen made us these patches to make our team uniforms look more legit. She is so creative!
I didn’t really know what to expect because it had been a while since I played in one of these events but I had so much fun! Karen and I actually won the tournament today. We won some Chicken N Pickle swag (it was a green tank that I already had two of but you can’t really have too many – now I can wear as a sort of uniform, which is only fitting because I’m there so much practically live at Chicken N Pickle) and Karen got to take home the big bracket poster.
Next week it’s the guys’ turn! Until next time. GNG.
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Independence Day Cookout
Posted on July 11, 2020 by Ching under Events.
We’ve had a couple of impromptu cookouts at Seneca Park in the last month but nothing in magnitude compared to the one that Matt threw on 4th of July weekend. The first time we joined Jimmy and the guys for a cookout, I think we just kind of invited ourselves. Well, Jimmy told Karen about it and, since I was playing mixed doubles with Karen that morning, she invited it me.
It was the weekend of Chris Wilson’s birthday and, since we were playing together, I brought him his favorite donuts (apple fritter donuts) from Krispy Kreme. Anyway, I brought extras because I figured we’d be sharing with the guys. Seneca Park was super busy that morning so we couldn’t even play there. Karen, Chris, Rick, and I had to relocate our mixed doubles to Aley Park down the street. There are no nets there so it gave me a reason to break in my portable pickleball net.
After we finished playing, we went to Seneca Park to meet up with Jimmy and the guys. They hadn’t started cooking yet but had me concerned because instead of a grill, they had a wok and a burner. I ended up interrupting Brian’s gaming that day because I asked him to bring the portable grill out. When we had another cookout again the following weekend, Jimmy knew to give me a heads up about borrowing the portable grill. LOL.
Anyway, those cookouts were basically just warm ups for the one that Matt organized last Friday. I was worried because Friday also happened to be the first day of the new mandatory mask mandate. It turned out pretty well, though. My college friend Brandi Richardson even came out. Here are some pics…
Jimmy came to join us after he finished his pickleball lesson at Riverside Tennis Center. We had a wonderful turnout. All six courts were used and part of the group rotation. There were lots of familiar faces but also new ones.
We had so many people waiting that we didn’t have enough room on the paddle holders. The paddles actually overflowed and we just propped them on the chain link fence. I think this may be the biggest group we’ve had to date.
Here are a few pictures of the players in action.
As you know, my friend Karen and I like to twin, so she got us matching tutus. We looked super festive!
I’m so glad Mother Nature cooperated. It turned out to be a beautiful day, perfect for a fun cookout and pickleball. Matt always does such a great job of organizing these things. Until next time. GNG.
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Going Back to Normal, Kind Of
Posted on July 10, 2020 by Ching under Life.
Before the pandemic, I’d started gradually giving up some of my group exercises classes to free up more time for pickleball. When COVID happened, everything came to a screeching halt. All the gyms closed and I even quick playing pickleball during the lockdown (stay at home period). Some of my friends didn’t quit playing but I followed the rules and really buckled down. I started doing ZOOMba (that is, Zumba via the ZOOM platform) just to keep myself sane.
Of course, I had to quit offering ZOOMba once the stay at home order was lifted and we could go out again because then I could rejoin my pickleball-playing friends at the park. When the gyms reopened in June, I really wasn’t eager to reclaim my crazy busy Zumba schedule so I only took on Monday nights at VASA. It was and has always been my all-time favorite day to workout because if my schedule works out well, then I can attend STRONG with Liz at 5:30 PM before teaching my 6:30 PM Zumba class and make it a double.
Anyway, I’m so glad to be back. I’ve missed my gym family so much. And, in case you were worried about exposure, our classes at VASA have always been really small so there’s plenty of room for social distancing. Liz and I would love to see everyone do doubles with us on Monday. If we stay for Jamey’s express yoga class after, we could even make it a triple! Oh, yeah!
Until next time. GNG.
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Ching is Now a USAPA Ambassador
Posted on July 8, 2020 by Ching under Community, Hobbies.
I did a thing last month. My friend Jeanie encouraged me to apply to become a USAPA ambassador for our area. They must have been in dire need because it happened very quickly. Less than a week after I submitted my application, I was approved. My friend and co-ambasssador for Wichita Gregg Smith actually found out about my becoming a USAPA ambassador before I did.
The move made perfect sense because I’d already been playing pickleball for over a year and I was completely hooked. I even got Brian to gift me with a lifetime membership to USAPA for Christmas last year. I am fully committed to supporting the organization that represents and promotes the sport. I was already sharing my love for pickleball with everyone, welcome or not. I was already an evangelist even before being anointed with an ambassadorship.
The only surprise really was why I took so long to apply. It’s a great fit from the start and, I suppose the USAPA organization saw it too, because they approved my application super quickly.
The current ambassadors for our area are:
Wichita – Gregg Smith
Mulvane – Cameron Tucker
El Dorado – Jeanie Ferguson
Topeka – Eldonna Coats
Eldonna is also our district ambassador, so basically she is the leader of all the ambassadors in our district. I had the opportunity to meet her for the first when she came to visit Wichita a couple of weeks ago.
Group photo (from left): Cameron, Eldonna, Jeanie, and Ching.
I already knew Cameron and Jeanie but it was nice to get together with fellow ambassadors. I had a blast playing with them. The only person we missed was Gregg, who was golfing in Manhattan that day couldn’t make it — but I’m hoping this won’t be the last time we all get together.
That’s all for now. Until next time. GNG.
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