David Zapatka and Dianne Zimmerman, 4.5 silver medal winners
Outside of the USAPA Nationals, the Grand Canyon State games is the granddaddy of them all when speaking about pickleball tournaments in Arizona. This is a four-day tournament that drew nearly 500 participants from all over the country and is the only Arizona qualifying event for the State Games of America to be held in Michigan in 2017. If there was ever a time to bring their best game this was it and that’s exactly what Sun Lakes’ club members David Zapatka and Dianne Zimmerman did. Competing in a huge bracket over eight rigorous hours, Zapatka and Zimmerman scored the silver medal in a very competitive field. The gold medal match was no contest as they were run over by Melissa McCurley, owner of pickelballtournaments.com and Alex Potapoff 11-1, 11-3.