On an early Sunday morning, November 9th, 2019, exactly one month to the day that I broke my ankle, Missina and I drove to Bentonville, Arkansas to play in the Northwest Arkansas Pickleball Classic presented by Walmart.
The tournament was indoors at the Walton Fitness Life Center. The facility is very nice (although we heard that they are tearing it down to build a new one). There were twenty temporary courts set up on permanent tennis courts. There is a nice viewing area from above, plenty of space with temporary stands in between the main courts and a nice clubhouse and bathrooms.
We played in the 3.5 mixed bracket, which was a round robin bracket with eight teams total. The matches went fast, back to back and the tournament was well run as there were LOTS of entries in numerous divisions.
We played well and learned quite a bit. In hindsight, it might not have been the best idea to play one month after breaking my ankle. Thankfully, as I did not wear a boot this time, I was not injured worse! However, I did not have the stamina needed to play several hours of tournament matches. I wore down fast! Plus, for Missina, it had only been six weeks since she had torn her groin. Once again…..hindsight. We had not played much and it showed in our lack or timing and energy. Regardless……our opponents were all very skilled! We were both impressed with the level of play and we learned more about what we have to do in the future to become better.
Our first matches were good and our opponents were very nice! A special shout out to Rusty and Kelley (our first match opponents) who were a lot of fun to play against and Kathryn and Rob (our second match opponents) who were also great and we have seen before. I hate to leave out anyone…..but as the matches progressed my physical ability and memory faded. Carol and Brian, our last match were also very nice…….although I think I had already retired in my head.
As ever, most all of pickleball people are wonderful and we are now starting to see some familiar faces along with the new. It was an awesome experience and we look forward to the next challenge.
An added note. Things to work on…..dinking, angles and faster hands. Bring on the drills!