David Lawell
What do you do when an uninvited guest shows up at your party? Mike Rains and MJ Wong were faced with that dilemma on the second day of the annual resident pickleball tournament. Besides, the guest had not paid the entry fee! Just kidding! The guest wasn’t a real person but her presence was felt nonetheless. She was Mother Nature and was she a force to be reckoned with. So Mike and MJ and helpers packed up their tents and went home for a day or two. Play for the second annual Resident Pickleball Tournament was continued and completed on Saturday, January 24.
What a belated finish it was for the 100 or so participants. With the two-day postponement, one would have thought that a damper would have been put on the enthusiasm and excitement of tournament play. But the two-day layoff did not minimize the competition one bit. The play was just as sharp and aggressive as on day one of the tournament in spite of some challenges presented by the wind.
The medal matches were all very competitive and hard fought. And as has always been said about championship competition, it was too bad anyone had to lose but also as always a winner must prevail.
Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals went to the top three finishers in each skill category. The following is a list of those winners:
Ladies 2.5: Gold, Karn King/Doris Tolmach; Silver, Coleen Flannery/Maureen Weidner; Bronze, Kathy Schneider/Christine Schroeppel
Ladies 3.0: Gold, Brenda Kline/Susan Phillips; Silver, Pat Pennington/Sylvia Schupbach
Ladies 3.5+: Gold, Barb Hager/Terri Yates; Silver, Brenda Amans/Sue Sherwood; Bronze, Donna Duran/Connie Koser
Mixed Doubles 2.5: Gold, Doris Tolmach/Gene Tolmach; Silver, Pam Carlson/Bob Carlson; Bronze, Christine Schroeppel/Larry Suskevich
Mixed Doubles 3.0: Gold, Gini Cassidy/Bob Buck; Silver, Susan Phillips/John Ambrose; Bronze, Pat Pennington/Mike Pennington
Mixed Doubles 3.5+: Gold, Jeannine McKinna/Kelly McKinna; Silver, Jan Ballman/Ron Herzog; Bronze, Nancy Kraus/Larry Kraus
Mens 2.5: Gold, Larry Morin/Keith Uhlenbrauck; Silver, Jim Sanford/Nick Stchur; Bronze, Jim Campbell/Red Vermeire
Mens 3.0: Gold, Bob Buck/Don Gibson; Silver, Mike Pennington/Norm Schupbach; Bronze, John Ambrose/Rick Kline
Mens 3.5+: Gold, Ron Herzog/Jeff Jones; Silver, Larry Kraus; Bronze, Dave Amans/JimDuran
Congratulations to all the winners and a big shout out to all the competitors who made this tournament even better than last year’s. The biggest shout outs go to the main engine of the event: Mike Rains and MJ Wong. To fuel the engine lots of help was needed and special thanks to Paula and Jerry Steger, Richard Shine, Mary Burton, Sheila Corey, Sandi Feller, JoLynn Rains, Dave Wong and many others who helped make this event such a pleasure to participate in and attend. Sometimes sequels can be disappointing, but this was not one of those.
A big reminder about the third annual Robson Ranch Skill Level Tournament to be held Wednesday, March 18, through Sunday, March 22. By the time you read this the tournament will probably be filled up. The expected player count will be in the high 300’s to over 400. That should provide for some of the best pickleball play our community will see until the national tournament next November. So stop by and enjoy the action.