Florida State Senior Championship Games

On Friday the weather was so nasty. It was one of those days where it just rains all day. We were packed and ready to head out, but held off for a while hoping the rain would let up. No luck. We backed the car in as close to the door as possible, and began loading the car with luggage . By early afternoon we were on our way to Ft. Myers for the 2009 Florida State Senior Championship Games.

We arrived at the Best Western Inn and Suites in Ft. Myers, and were surprised to see Mike and Nadine were staying there as well. Mike and Nadine live in Kings Point in Sun City Center. Later in the evening Rich's doubles partner, Gary Ball, and his wife arrived and we made plans to meet them at the Olive Garden for dinner. Despite the rain- we enjoyed a delicious meal.

The pickleball event was scheduled to take place at the Rutenburg Community Park, but because of the bad weather, the courts could not be lined and ready for play. So the tournament was rescheduled to take place at the Wa-Ke-Hatchee Recreation Center in Ft. Myers. They were supposed to start at 8:00am, but the Rec Center was being used in the morning, so the start of the games was delayed until noon.

Click on picture to enlarge - use back arrow to return to this page. The picture in the top left, is of all the players during the opening ceremony, before the the games started. There was about 112 players registered to play. Here are some pictures of friends and players we have met over the past few years. Marv and Chuck are players we met last year at Tanglewood in Sebring. Marv and his partner, Gail Brown ended up taking the Bronze medal in their age division. The Millers are from Solivita in Poinciann, Fl. We see them at ALL the tournaments. Jean, Debbie, Mark, Don, Bill and Jeff are some of the group that Rich plays with when we stay at The Villages.

Click on picture to enlarge - use back arrow to return to this page. The pictures above are of Rich and his doubles partner, Gary Ball. They lost to two guys from the Villages in the first game and went to the consolation round, where they beat all the teams to come back and play the same two guys from The Villages for the Gold/Silver medal. Gary and Rich took the Silver Medal.

Click on picture to enlarge: use back arrow to return to this page. The pictures above are of Rich and his mixed-doubles partner Linda Kramer. They won their first match and then lost to Bill Freeman and Deb Harrison of The Villages, which put them in the consolation bracket. They worked their way back and would have had the Silver Medal locked in. Unfortunately, while playing the couple that ended up with the Silver Medal, Linda took a pretty bad fall on the court. The medical staff thought she might have a hairline fracture. She was definately hurting, but insisted on finishing the game. Yes they won the game . But between Rich, and me and Louann she agreed that she should not continue to play. Rich and I helped her pack up, gave Bill a call and gave him the news and we all left for home. We called later to make sure she got home OK............and found her still hurting, but with Bill enjoying dinner. After a trip to the doctor today, Linda learned that her wrist was broken. So we wish her a quick recovery.

Click on picture to enlage - use back arrow to return to this page. In the picture above are Cindy Eddleman and Nancy Meyer, friends and fellow USAPA Ambassadors, who live in Ft. Myers. In the center is Rich with two guys who came all the way from Jacksonville, North Carolina to compete in the State Games. On the left is Rick Laskey. Rick is also a fellow Ambassador. The guy on the right is Lew Hendricks. Rick and Lew took the Bronze in the men's doubles. They played in the same age division as Rich and Gary.

And rouding out our pictures for the day is our good friend Louan Dubendorf, from Kings Point in Sun City Center. Her husband Tony was with her today along with Dixie and Dusty. Beau never got to meet these two good looking girls -but loved his frequent massages from Miss Louann.