We Both Medal at the Pickleball National Games

We were back at CB Smith Park, Saturday morning by 11:30 for the championship games. The pool play was over, players were seeded and the competition brackets were posted. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals for the champions were on display.

The day began with men's and woman's doubles competition, followed by the mixed doubles play. Each team played the best 2 out of 3 games to 11 points, win by 2. The losing team moved to the losers bracket, with a chance to come back for the gold playing one game to 15, win by 2, and then the final match which was the best 2 out of 3 to 11 points.

Rich and his partner Bob Huskey from Opelika, AL, took the gold medal in their division. Bob is only 59, so Rich had to play down in 55-59 age bracket. They defeated all teams in both the 55-59 and 6o-65 age brackets in pool play to be seeded number one in the championship games. They had never played together before. Bob has his own courts, but not many players at home in AL, so he practices with his ball machine. Great Job Guys!!!

ME - well I went with Rich to the games to help Nancy and David - and of course with my camera. They were in need of one more player, so I agreed to play. In the woman's doubles 55-59, I teamed up with Nancy Jordan. We lost both of our games in the pool play, but ended up with the Bronze Medal. The picture is of Marth and Laurie who are from Arizona and two of the best woman players I have met. Laurie loves to train an coach players almost as much as she likes to play the game, and she spent a lot of time working with me. Her help definately paid off. Most of you are used to hearing Rich and I talk about "Coach Mo" --- well Laurie is a female "Coach Mo". I will definately look her up when/if we get out to Arizona! Not hard to tell we were having a great time!! BFF as Nancy would say!

Linda Kramer wasn't able to make the Nationals, so Rich teamed up with Roxanne Ware from Texas. Like his doubles partner - they had never played together before. The picture above is the group of mixed doubles players inthe 60-64 age bracket. It took them a few games to get used to playing together. They lost a couple of their games in the pool play, but got on track for the championship games taking the Silver Medal.

Roxanne is the lady in the middle in the front row (yellow shirt).

There championship game for the gold/silver was the last game of the night, ending after 10:00 pm.


ME - well I also got to play in the mixed doubles. This time I was teamed up with David Jordan. In pool play, we lost one game, and won the other. I got some coaching from Laurie and headed into the championship matches. We lost our first game 11-5, and the second game 11-0 to Greg and Nancy. What a mess I was!!! We went to the losers bracket - it's double elimination, so we still had a chance to come back. And we did. We met up with Greg and Nancy again for a 15 game match for the Silver Medal - and we beat them 15-13.

The picture above is David and me, Tom and Coach Laurie, Nancy and Greg.

We met so many great people from across the country over the past four days and had a wonderful time. We would love to make the USAPA Nationals in Arizona - but afraid that's not in the budget this year!!

Rich had a waffle and I had a bagel early in the morning - and nothing but a banana and a few chips to get some salt back in the body. It was nearly 11:00 when we stopped at subway to pick up dinner on our way back to the hotel. We needed a good nights sleep. Sunday we were leaving early to get back to Wauchulla to get our 5th wheel out of storage. We were not looking forward to the long day ahead.