David Zapatka With the sport of pickleball becoming so popular in the Valley and across the United States, pickleball clubs, city park courts and tournaments are springing up all over the country. Sun Lakes residents David Zapatka and Dianne Zimmerman scored big in the inaugural PebbleCreek Pickleball Championships winning a bronze medal in the 4.5…
The13th annual Duel in The Desert was held at Palm Creek’s beautiful 32 pickleball-court garden in Casa Grande. This ever-popular tournament draws players from numerous states and out-of-towners were exactly what Simmons and Zapatka faced in the 4.5 men’s gold medal match. Rodney “Rocket” Grubbs, owner of Pickleball Rocks, Inc. from Indiana and Mark Beltz…
Sun Lakes resident Steve Smitham teamed with ex-Sun Lakes resident Bruce McClain to make a big splash in the inaugural Leisure World Pickleball Championships winning the bronze medal losing in a tight match to familiar Ahwatukee competitors Steve Speight and Don Cantrill.
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…
Sun Lakes pickleball players Dianne Zimmerman, Sheila Parkinson and Steve Smitham competed in the 2016 All City Pickleball Tournament. All three players brought medals home. In the women’s doubles, tough-as-nails Zimmerman and Parkinson bested one of the toughest pairs from Tempe, Diana Brown and Missy Myers 15-3 to get to the bronze medal match. The…
In the May Splash on page 71, the “Wearing of the Green pickleball social” article names Jerry Pederson as the B level winner with Ellen Forbes. The winner is actually Dave Sproull. Congratulations Dave and Ellen!
Janet Myrick Summer of Love was our last Pickleball social until next fall. Players picked their own partners and played a round robin within their level of play. We had one A group, two B/C groups and a C/D group. Everyone had a great time. Matches were exciting. In the A Division Todd Williams and…
Janet Myrick What a great time 60 participants had celebrating St Patrick’s Day in a mixed doubles social. Partners were decided from a blind draw. Our day started at 7:00 a.m. in order to set up our temporary nets and court lines for the extra four courts. This takes a team effort, which we had.…
Jack Hill and Tom Dawson are winners at the Duel in the Desert! Sun Lakes pickleball players Jack Hill and Tom Dawson ventured out of the familiar Sun Lakes pickleball confines 28 miles east to the Duel in the Desert. No, this wasn’t the familiar OK Corral saga. This was the more serious Palm Creek…
David Zapatka and Don Simmons, 4.5 gold medal winners David Zapatka and Dianne Zimmerman, 4.5, 50 Plus silver medal winners Dave Zapatka Sun Lakes players trekked across the valley to compete in the Sun City Spring Slam Pickleball tournament and play they did bringing home gold and silver medals. This tournament was held in Sun…