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The Branson Pickleball Championship was held August 1st and 2nd at the Branson Convention Center in Branson, Missouri. The venue was beautiful with twenty plus courts and a balcony to watch from above. Roberto Camara did a great job directing this tournament on its maiden voyage. There were three hundred and twenty matches the first day! Robert and I played men’s doubles the first day and won silver in 3.5. We played well and our only loss was to a team that won gold. It was a great day considering our performance (mainly mine) at Crystal City only a couple of weeks prior. On Sunday, Missina and I took gold in 3.5 mixed. We both played well and it was a good day. As always, bring home a medal and do not get injured! All of us did!

This will likely be our last tournament at 3.5 (for all of us). It is amazing how far we have come in a short time. We continue to get better as we all work our tails off drilling and dinking and drilling and re-setting and drilling and third shot drops. Wash, rinse and repeat. It has paid off. There is no substitute.

Also….a special shout out to a lovely dinner with great friends at Big Whiskey’s American Resturant and Bar. It was a beautiful evening as we sat outside near the town square where we could enjoy the fire and water show while consuming a nice meal and adult beverages. I hope to do it again next year!

I was working in Madison, Wisconsin and visited Wyndham Hills Park. At Wyndam Hills there are six pickleball courts with permanent nets. The courts are very nice, divided and there are windscreens as well. The person in charge (I can’t recall her name but she was VERY nice letting me play) put up a list of players and we rotated through every eleven minutes. It was a nice evening! I got to play a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the group. If you ever get a chance……go there in the evening to play! Great facility and as always great people!

The Crystal City Open was held in Crystal City, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri on July 11th and 12th, 2020. It was hot and humid. The temperature on the court on Saturday was 108 degrees. We went through everything we had to drink and searched for more. On Saturday, Robert and I played men’s doubles. It was our first tournament outing and I played like I had never seen pickleball before. Tight would be an understatement. I embarrassed us both and most of the spectators that came to watch us. They would have headed for the shade if there was any to head for! Regardless, it was a well run tournament and Missina and her partner won silver in women’s doubles. So she had a good day! On Sunday we took on numerous teams in mixed doubles and came away with bronze. It was a good showing considering the heat and we finished third out of thirteen teams. As always, a sucessful tournament is achieved by bringing home a medal and not getting injured. We did that. So the drive home was good.

A special shout out to Imo’s pizza which we had on the way home. And….to Missina’s first ever visit to White Castle!

I stayed up late June 29th, 2020 so I could order the new Vanguard Invikta. I’m so glad I did. I have played with the Selkirk Amped Invikta for the last year, accumulating six different colors in that time. Yes…..I have a problem, I am aware.

The Vanguard feels much more sturdy in my hand. The dwell time (how long the ball stays on the paddle) is something that is palpable. Although the advertising states more speed and consistency, the latter is what stands out. Dinking, third shots and resetting is where this paddle shines. You can feel the ball “stay” on the paddles new QuadCarbon face (two layers vs one) . Plus, if you have ever played with an Invikta before, you know there are dead areas around the top and bottom of the face. You can hear the dull thud when the ball finds those spots. No longer. The entire face seems to react the same with the Vanguard.

I encourage you to give the Vanguard line a try. I honestly believe you will love the confidence you will get from the consistency this paddle has to offer.

Missina and I were fortunate enough to attend a Ben Johns Advanced Clinic in Wichita, Kansas on a Wednesday afternoon. It was an awesome experience! Ben John’s is incredibly nice and an amazing player. I learned so much that day in just two short hours. He was very interactive and gave advice freely. On the drive home I filled out and entire page of things that I could improve on and drills that would help. It was an amazing experience! I cannot say enough about him and our experience there. I hope I get the chance to do it again!

If you ever get the opportunity to attend one of his clinics. Do so! You will love it!

One minor note. Ben hit a TV screen with a pickleball and blamed it on me. I am certain that if there is video I will be found innocent! Such a troublemaker!

One day and after the State Games of Oklahoma…..and a long drive home…. Missina and I played mixed doubles in the Millennium New Years Classic at the Millennium Fitness Center in Joplin, Missouri.

In an odd moment, I looked over and saw someone reading my book Closure. It is always surreal as I feel like the person that wrote that is different from me. As though the author is someone else entirely. A stranger that I know but do not immediately perceive. It always takes me a moment of recognition and realization. I am proud of my book! I am so fortunate. And I appreciate everyone who has read it and enjoyed it. Once again, a heart felt thank you!

The tournament was a long, fun day with difficult matches and good friends. It was a round robin tournament with one match after another. We played several matches and won them all somehow. We were a bit tired but proud.

We went into the weekend with two goals. Win two golds and not be injured. We did both! Overall, it was a wonderful weekend!

The Millennium is a wonderful place with great people. Joplin is lucky to have such a facility!

The State Games of Oklahoma were held at the Lifetime Fitness in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was a wonderful facility (absolutely beautiful!) and there was a tremendous turnout! The floor was concrete that was used primarily for tennis. So there were approximately twenty-four courts set up for pickleball. It was, by far the most temporary nets I have ever seen in one place! Yet as large as it was, and there were hundreds of entries, it was the best run tournament we have ever been to. There were announcements overhead of who was up next and what court you would be on, plus there were monitors with who was playing next and where. It was a well oiled machine! A huge shout out to the promoters and facilitators of the tournament. Simply wonderful!

We played we and won first place. The final had referees for lines calls which was a first for both of us. We played the second place team twice and enjoyed their company and became friends. It was a great experience all the way around……..other than a slight hiccup of being stopped by the highway patrol on the way down to Oklahoma City. Only a warning, but the story will live on forever.

The State Games were an awesome experience and we look forward to going again!

The second tournament of the year was located at the Hillcrest High School in Springfield, Missouri. It was a nice facility consisting of an old gym and new gym with wooden floors, temporary nets and an eclectic array of lines from numerous sports. In fact, in the only game we lost in men’s doubles (Alex Talbott was my partner), it was pointed out later from spectators that the opposing team played the first six points using the basketball end lines which were three feet inside the end pickleball lines. Needless to say….we had a hard time keeping shots in and their serves were on us pretty quick! Eventually the opposing team noticed this but failed to share that information with us. Regardless, we won second place and it was our first tournament together. Alex did a great job!

Missina and I played in mixed doubles. In a bracket that was supposed to begin around noon we began sometime around seven or eight p.m.. The tournament had also advertised that there would be a concession stand throughout. It had sold out and was closed by eleven a.m.. A hungry team of us is not the best team! Regardless, we hung in there. Many teams left due to the delays which added to the chaos and confusion. We eventually lost and we were both happy to get in the car and drive home. In hindsight we should have left much earlier along with other teams. We had nothing left in the tank.

For Alex and I it was a good first try. For Missina and I it was a disappointment, but we learned that it is better to bring more food and drink than you need…..than not to have enough. Every experience is a learning one! On to the next!

The very first tournament of the year did not turn out very well for us. It was played in the Pickleball Warehouse in Marionville, MO. The facility itself is a simple metal building with cement floors that have been sealed….causing quite an array of bizarre, unexpected random bounces. Plus the background included one wall of nothing but upright poles for pole vaulting. For me…..it was incredibly tough to see the ball come out of those. Not an excuse, but no one had a clean, pretty match that I saw. Most were one or two hits and done due to the conditions. But it was nice to see familiar faces and play a few games.

We will hope for a better showing at our next event!

The last tournament of 2019, for Missina and I, was December 15, 2019 at the Branson Rec Plex in Branson, Missouri. Located at 1501 Branson Hills, the Rec Plex has wooden basketball flooring with almost invisible pickleball court lines, lots of seating and quite comfortable. The tournament was very well run, fast paced and you never sat for long. Saturday was mixed doubles and Missina and I won gold. Well….we won a piece of paper (yes…I can’t make that up). A white piece of paper that said in black ink…..Certificate of Award. Gold. This was especially odd and frustrating because during the two day event they kept announcing overhead how much money they had made. Oh well. We fought hard for several hours and it was good to win. We laughed and laughed about that “award” and always will, but a win is a win and we have a story to tell. Later, a friend of ours, Dean (who also won gold in men’s doubles) got us all gold medals. That was incredibly nice. Thank you Dean!

On Sunday it was men’s doubles and ladies doubles. My partner, Doug Greek and I played. He played very well! I, however, have and will continue to apologize for my poor showing on that day. Hopefully he will give me another chance.

It was a good tournament at a very nice location! I hope to go back again!!!