Saturday, July 6, 2013

Pickleball Canada National Open Championship July 6 - 7, 2013

It was a wonderful busy long day at ARC packed with 230 participants from 7:00 am to 7:15 pm.  So exciting to watch the top players competing at the largest pickleball tournament in Canada!  Our big thanks to the City of Abbotsford, Ryan Coreau, Dino Tsembelis and Kim Griffith, 40 volunteers and referees.  Thank you to our sponsors: Investors Group, Tourism Abbotsford, Pickle-Ball Inc., Pro-Lite Sports, All About Pickleball, Pickleball Outfitters, I Got It Pickleball, Courtside Sports, IGA, Safeway, Bridgestone Tires, Saxbee Insurance, North Bellingham Golf Course, Murray GM Abbotsford, Great Clips, Chilliwack Pickleball, Pickleball International, OldSpaghetti Factory, Ocean Park Pizza and Domino's Pizza.  Many vendor tables with the latest paddles and pickleball attires and raffle table with over 70 prizes.  Len Taal and his wife Anna Marie from Victoria helped with the membership table and refereed some gold medal matches.  Rosie Roper from California was a player and the Head referee.  Pickleball Canada's President Dave Shepherd and Secretary Shirley Shepherd were the Tournament Directors.   Medal Presenters: Past President Bill Canning, Dave and Shirley Shepherd.  Ed Burke was our official photographer.  Abbotsford News's reporter John Morrow was there to report this event.  Thanks to so many volunteers:  Ken Witt, Danny Garinger, Kary Taylor, Judy Newman, Grant Brittain, Anne, Janet Hutchinson, Jennifer, Iris, Nigel Dance, Leslie Spier, Henrietta Waters and many more.  Mayor Banman led the singing of the National anthem at the opening ceremony.
Our tournament went off very well with 60 US players competing. We had players from Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Tennessee, Indiana, Florida, Alaska with Jennifer Lucore, Darcie Jacobsen, Christine Barksdale, Kimberley Bennet, Joy Leising, Chris Miller, Billy Jacobsen, Josh and Zack Grubbs. Having these top 5.0 players competing has really boosted our numbers and the level of play has increased dramatically. The top Canadian players are really benefiting from the competition. 
Huge crowds were watching the matches with many cheers and applauses, expecially in the Gold medal matches by Jennifer Lucore/Darcie Jacobsen (CA/WA) and Christine Barksdale/Kimberley Bennett(CA/OR) in Open Women's Doubles and Chris Miller/Billy Jacobsen (WA) and Denis Zhekhovskiy/Scott Lenan (BC/WA) in Open Men's Doubles.   There were so many 5.0 players performing their incredible athletic skill and talent with fantastic dink shots, overhead smashes and volleys.   
Each participant received a goodie bag and a beautiful waterbottle with the logos of PCO and the City of Abbotsford. ARC provided delicious lunches with an assortment of sandwiches, muffins, chips, oranges, bananas, bottled water, coffee and tea served all day.  
RESULTS 
55+ Womens Doubles Debby Holley/Claire Pool, Diane Gillis/Shirley Knorr, Milda Postler/Shirley Edwards
60+ Womens Doubles Brenda Jmaeff/Kathleen Parkes, Terry Saunders/Wendy Porteous, Pat Khan/Beryl Kusch
65+ Womens Doubles Diane Hill/Olga Jetelina, Susan Nigh/Diane Weeres, Janis Pssepp/Pat Crawford
70+ Womens Doubles Alice Tym/Betty Silver, Inge Scholz/Vera Loskot, Karen Peniuk/Pat Thomson
Open Womens Doubles Jennifer Lucore/Darcie Jacobsen (CA/WA) , Christine Barksdale/Kimberley Bennett (WA/CA), Luba Zhekhovskaya/Trish Graham (BC/WA)
Under 55 Womens Doubles Elaine Lerner/Anh Tran, Trudy Pitcher/Nancy Stern, Kathleen Brundo/Feige Li (CA/BC)
55+ Mens Doubles Maurice Parobac/Dan Jmaeff, Brian Brunink/Matt Annan, Brad Pape/Henry Paynter
60+ Mens Doubles Randy Bourne/Dave Touchet, Brian Parkes/Earl Hill, Basil Taylor/Paul Bannes
65+ Mens Doubles John Kusch/Henry Meerkerk, Peter Darvill/Bud Meltsner, Brian Parkes/George Pool
70+ Mens Doubles Ron Hohman/Silver(Alaska/WA), John Jetelina/Wayne Kennedy, Dave Anthony/Danny Hui
Open Mens Doubles Chris Miller/Billy Jacobsen (WA/WA), Denis Zhekhovskiy/Scott Lenan (BC/WA), Zachary Grubbs/Josh Grubbs (IN/IN)

Under 55 Mens Doubles Rob Schneider/Dave Briones, Rhys Martell/Mat Khan, Ken Franz/Gene Latray

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