Part two of the World Pickleball Tournament is proving difficult to write without the probability of upsetting someone. You know how it goes: Why wasn’t I mentioned? Oh god, that picture makes me look fat! In this case so many Landings Club competitors won medals, each against stellar competition, it seems unfair to let anyone go unmentioned. Apologies in advance to anyone inadvertently omitted or otherwise slighted.
The tournament began on Friday with Men’s Singles and Women’s Doubles. Eight men medaled in their respective singles categories. AJ Goldman and Rich Nielson won gold while Peter Dorward, Pat Brooks, Charlie Bradford and Wayne Pero won silver. AJ Goldman, who was playing in two merged categories, won silver as well. Alex Fox took bronze.
Women’s Doubles had a banner day. For those impatient to learn if Dinah Zapatka and Amy Paderewski kept their winning streak alive, they did. Also raking in gold were Krista Poppell, Kimberly Phillips, Leslie Medinger (playing with Courtney Waite), Janet Eastwood, Courtney Neely, Chris Lanigan and Joanie Belair. Nancy Early and Lisa Tocci grabbed silver, while Claudia Gaughf (playing with former Landings tennis pro, Laura Wester), Jennifer Dwyer, Nancy Sasso, Cindy Altman and Lori Roberts won bronze. All in all, it was an outstanding display of pickleball talent.
Eleven teams garnered six gold, nine silver and four bronze medals playing Mixed Doubles on Saturday. Amy Paderewski, playing with Scott McKessy, and Dinah Zapatka, playing with Mark Medinger, won their second gold medals of the tournament. Also winning gold were Karen Inglese and Steve Holst. Silver medals were grabbed by Nancy Early and Jim Dwyer, Janet Eastwood and Adam Hecht, Dee DeClerque and Johnny Moran, as well as Benny Eichholtz and Anne Brooks. Courtney Waite and Jacob Rakosi also won. Newlyweds Cherie and AJ Goldman won bronze. Courtney Nein and Peter Dorward also took bronze, as did Claudia Gaughf (playing with Vin Thomas).
Men’s Doubles and Women’s Singles were contested on Sunday, the last day of the tournament. Like each of the two previous days, spectators were treated to outstanding pickleball. Betsey Andersen won gold and silver medals in two categories that had been combined to make up for a lack of players. As Betsey won the combined categories, she deserved credit for both. Lisa Tocci won a silver and the overall gold.
The same is true for Bill Jaques and Jeff Tocci, who won silver and gold in their combined categories, in this case the men’s over 50 and over 60 categories. They were not the only gold medalists. Mark Medinger and Tim Sampson took gold in their category, as did Andrew Jones (playing with Harding Bumby). Scott McKessy and Max Lemaigre won silver. Bronze was taken by the teams of Eric Larson and Andrew Nash, Chas Ferrelle and Johnny Moran, and Alex Fox and Bradley Morse.
All in all, as noted in the previous article, the World Pickleball Tournament was a huge success. Congratulations to all who played and all who won medals. Great job all.