BREAKING NEWS!

This is what we have been waiting for:

The 2018 USAPA National Championships Committee in concert with Desert Champions, LLC parent company of Indian Wells Tennis Garden is excited to share event and registration details for this year's tournament, November 3-11, 2018 in beautiful Indian Wells, California. Visit this link to learn more: 
https://www.usapa.org/2018-usapa-national-championships/#q1

Meet The Pros – Carol Lindow by elizaled

Meet The Pros – Carol Lindow

Carol Lindow

Carol is an ambassador for both pickleball and tennis. She does not believe a player has to give up one for the other! Enjoy!

Can you list for us your major wins so we can correctly introduce you to our readers?

2017 USAPA NATIONALS -Gold, Women’s Doubles 5.0/Age with Jackie Faegre
       -Bronze, Mixed Doubles 5.0/Age with Randy Bourne
2017 US OPEN-Gold, Women’s Doubles Age with Jackie Faegre
      -Gold, Senior 5.0 Women’s Doubles with Jackie Faegre
2016 NATIONALS-Gold, Women’s Doubles Age with Jackie Faegre
2015 NATIONALS- Gold, Women’s Doubles Age with Jackie Faegre
2015 NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES- Gold, Women’s Doubles Age with Jackie Faegre
-Silver Mixed Doubles Age with Skip Houghton
2014 HUNTSMAN WORLD SENIOR GAMES- Gold, Women’s Doubles Age
-Bronze Mixed Doubles age

What paddle do you play with and why?

Extreme Point 5 Composite Paddle

Cobra 2G Lite Composite

Manta Extreme Point 5 and Manta Cobra Lite. These paddles give me great control and power when needed. Also, I seem to get a more consistent 3rd shot and great touch. I am a Manta Sports Sales Representative and member of the Manta Pro Team. I love being sponsored by Manta. They are a good up-and-coming company.

What is your pickleball story? How were you introduced to pickleball?

I have always loved racket sports and started playing pickleball 5 years ago when I retired and was looking for something new to do with my time. As a former Physical Education teacher, I taught pickleball, but did not realize it had become so popular until I retired and started playing and competing in it. I love the quickness, strategy and variety of shots involved in the game. Plus, the people that play it have so much fun that it is hard to stop playing.

“ One more game,  OK...”

Duel in the Desert 5.0 65+ - Jim & Yvonne Hackenberg, Gold; Carol Lindow & Randy Bourne, Silver; Marsha Freso & Murph Murphy, Bronze 

Do you like singles or doubles better? Why?

I only play doubles mostly for this reason: I have had bilateral knee replacements and I want them to last for a long time. The lateral movement of  singles would be much to demanding on my replacement knees.

What is your preference – playing indoors or outdoors?

My favorite place to play outdoors is at the Palm Creek Resort in Casa Grande, Arizona, where I spend my winters. There are 32 individually-fenced, premier courts here. This is a place I refer to as “pickleball heaven” for active adults. In the summer I play in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where there also are numerous, designated-outdoor pickleball courts with a very active pickleball community.

Great Angled Smash Shot!

What is your secret sauce? Any tips for players?

I feel having a wide variety of shots is the key. I don’t want to be predictable and I like trying to take away my opponent's type of game style with various shots that can throw them off. I feel being consistent, keeping the ball in play and not making mistakes is the key to success. I like to play percentage pickleball and not give away “free points”. I try to keep a calm disposition and not get upset when my opponents gain momentum in the game. When I get behind, I tend to concentrate better and always believe we can win the game or match no matter what the score might be. So much of this game is mental. I also enjoy “setting up” the point for the offensive lob or angled smash shot which I would say are my favorite shots. 

What is your day job?

I am a retired PE Teacher.  

How many hours a week do you play? How do you make time to play?

"One more game" is my motto, which means I play every day, endlessly! 

Any lucky rituals before a big tournament?

Not really. I just try to focus. I don't get nervous because it is so much fun. A ritual would probably make me nervous. 

Do you have any pickleball goals you would like to share?

I have met most of my goals to win gold in all the major tournaments. Of course my goal now is to stay healthy and encourage tennis players to play both sports because one game helps the other. I don't believe you have to give up one for the other. One of the big resistances among tennis players is that they might want to quit tennis because they fall in love with pickleball, but there are so many folks that do both. Many folks who play tennis at Palm Creek, where I live in the winter, have warmed up to the game. So I also "ambassador" for the game of tennis for the pickleball players, because they can do both. I might consider going abroad to play pickleball as long as they have Age categories. Madrid may be a possibility. 

Anything else you would like to share about your experience being one of the best pickleball players in the world?

I am fortunate to have good partners. A good partner is a fine player you can have fun with, like Randy Bourne, who shares the court with you and who encourages their partner. 


Carol Lindow and Randy Bourne

Congratulations!!!

 Green Valley Tournament

Marg Ouimet - Rosemary Nichol - Lou Ann Billig - Clive Jones

Spring Slam Sun City Tournament

Patti Decker - Bruce Lewis

Venture Out Super Senior Tournament

Ray Gagnon - Patti Decker - Joel Brown - Bob Gross

Robson Ranch Tournament

Wow - This Group Brought Home the Medals

Complete list of medal winners is listed under Club Information

The Best on the Planet

No one, celebrates volunteers like the Palm Creek Pickleball Club!

327 Volunteers Celebrate 

Thanks to them, we have the best organization on the planet

This six hour event started with breakfast catered by Mimi's - Fresh fruit, Quiche, Muffins, Orange Juice and Coffee!

Our Sports Leads Randy Bourne, Lee Metcalf, Kerry Hawthorne, Della Bass and Maurice Parobec organized a day of play for 12 teams.  The Black Team lead by Captain Russ Guernes won the day!

Pickleball was on the Agenda and

Bumbee Ball (tennis)

Pickle  Volleyball!

Pickle Softball!

Event coordinators Barbara Parobec and Sheila Balson made sure  everyone stayed nourished with all this activity.  The Sports Grill served Hamburgers, Salads and Chips.  Plenty of beverages were available.  

Pickleball Hall Of Fame

Would you like to nominate someone?

This all you need to know from Elizabeth Higginbottom - This years chair

Hopefully by now most, if not all, of you have heard about the Pickleball Hall of Fame.   But if not I would like to share this with you.  We in the Nominating Committee are hard at work choosing the 2018 Nominees.   We need your help in raising awareness of the nomination process so we can gather more applications.    

Pickleball Hall of Fame

The Pickleball Hall of Fame was formed in 2017 to recognize individuals who have achieved exceptional results in Pickleball play over the course of their career, as well as those who have made exceptional contributions to the growth, development and leadership of the game. All candidates should have also

demonstrated a high level of character, integrity, sportsmanship and consideration for others and thus

earned the respect and admiration of their peers. Nomination applications are submitted by the general public through the Pickleball Hall of Fame website

http://pickleballhalloffame.com

and go through an extensive nomination and selection process. The top candidates are chosen by the Nomination Committee to send through to the Selection Committee . The Selection Committee then choses the

Pickleball Hall of Fame Inductees from amongst these Nominees. Nomination applications are being accepted for 2018 candidates through April 1, 2018.  2018 Nominees will be announced at the US Open in April and the Inductees will be announced at the Nationals in November.

So, how can you help this process? It's easy! Just fill out a nomination application for your favorite player

http://pickleballhalloffame.com/phof-competitor/

Or your favorite contributor.

http://pickleballhalloffame.com/phof-contributor/

and have them join this prestigious group!

2017 Pickleball Hall of Fame Inductees

Joel Pritchard

Barney McCallum

Sid Williams

Arlen Paranto

Mark Friedenberg

Billy Jacobsen

If you have any questions about the Pickleball Hall of Fame nomination process contact me. I would be happy to help!

Elizabeth Higginbottom

PHOF Nomination Committee Chair

Ambassador At Large

 

2018 Duel In the Desert

A Great Success

The weather was perfect for Players and Spectators 
Each day the tournament ran without a hitch. Anyone new to the game may think this is normal. The critics know better, they have experienced various problems at different venues. It takes a great deal of organization and experience to have a tournament of this size run this well.  The comments from the "Critics" are resounding. 
From "This is the Best Run Tournament" to this is "The Best Tournament on the Planet"

Here are the Numbers:

737 Players Competed                       992 Matches

128 Teams competed on Thursday    58 Medals were awarded  

152 Teams competed on Friday         76 medals were awarded

174 Teams competed on Saturday     76 Medals were awarded

106 Teams competed on Sunday       76 Medals were awarded

Players  by Skill Level:

Description	Code	5.0	4.5	4.0	3.5	3.0	Total
Mens Doubles Skill/Age	MDSA	28	54	95	122	77	376	51.0%
Mixed Doubles Skill/Age	MXDSA	49	62	112	112	91	426	57.8%
Registration	REG	56	86	176	232	187	737	100.0%
Womens Doubles Skill/Age	WDSA	23	28	64	89	78	282	38.3%

Players by Age Group:

Description	Code	50-54	55-59	60-64	65-69	70-74	75-79	80-84	Total
Mens Doubles Skill/Age	MDSA	12	30	91	122	99	15	7	376	51.0%
Mixed Doubles Skill/Age	MXDSA	27	55	122	116	86	16	4	426	57.8%
Registration	REG	42	100	199	213	149	27	7	737	100.0%
Womens Doubles Skill/Age	WDSA	25	61	91	65	35	5	0	282	38.3%

Duel in the Desert is a Tier 2, Sanctioned Tournament
We were the first club in the country to receive this Tier Level in 2012!
A Requirement of Sanctioning is Referees for all matches and Line Judges for medal matches

Here are the numbers:

98 Referees were on board to insure every match had a referee
18 Of these Referees are USAPA Certified (approximately 18% of all the certified referees in the country)
52 Line Judge's (13 Teams), all Palm Creek Pickleball Club members, covered all the Bronze medal matches         in addition to the Silver-Gold matches.

TournamentPhotos:
If you felt at every turn someone was taking a photo, you are right! We had 10 photographers in all, 2 of which are not pickleball club members, but members of the photo club.

Here are the numbers:
   107 Medal Photos
   845 Action Photos
   145 Volunteer Photos
   160 Candid Photos
     80 Vendor Photos
     30 Set Up Photos
1,337 Total Posted in our drop box on this Blog under "Club Photos"

 

Congratulations !!!

2018 Duel InThe Desert Medal Winners

2018 Grand Canyon State Games

Tournaments are about many things....

New Certifications

George McCulley - Referee Coordinator

Lynn Raph - Our newest Certified Referee

 Raffles

 NinaFields presenting to Linda Mc Adam

her winnings from the St. Jude's Children Hospital Raffle

Reuniting

Pat Murphy brought the Bainbridge Cup to our Tournament

Rodney Grubbs from Pickleball Rocks teamed up with our Lynn Carlson

as they helped win the trophy for North America

Photos will continue to be published under Club Photos

15th Duel in the Desert

This years tournament has been amazing. To quote a player  "this club has the best tournament, it runs like a well oiled machine".

Don't miss our last day of competition.  We have great players and have had great weather. Our volunteers run the tournament as professionals.

Vendors are here with clothing, paddles and accessories.  They are best equipped to answer your questions.   The Sports Grille is open and Cold Stone Creamery is a hit!

Feeling Lucky?  We will have a 50/50 Raffle today for St. Jude's Children's Hospital and Research Center.

Come and Join the Fun!!!