Print Story Email Story Discuss Story (1)

Recommend ( 0 )

Courtesy photo . Level 3.0 medalsits from this past weekends Pickelball Tournament at Tanglewood, left to right, Charlie Athorn (silver), Mike Canham and Wolf Grundner (gold) Clayton Farrar (silver).

click any photo to view this story's photo gallery

Related Links

advertisement

published: Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Tanglewood's Winter Classic Pickleball Tournament

Special to the News-Sun

SEBRING - More than 130 pickleball players from Central Florida descended upon Tanglewood for the Winter Classic Tournament held Saturday Jan., 5 and Sunday, Jan. 6.

The tournament, sponsored by Alan J. Holmes of Edward Jones and the Alan Jay Automotive Network was a rated tournament.

This means that the players were grouped according to their ability levels and not by age.

Players can be self-rated by comparing one's own ability to a published set of criteria.

Ratings can also be determined by a player's performance in tournaments.

Ratings go from a relative beginner at 2.5 to an extremely skilled player at level 5.0.

In Ladies' and Men's Doubles action on Saturday, the inclement weather Thursday and Friday had organizers worried.

On Friday they had to dry off the courts and tape six pickleball courts on the two existing tennis courts to have a total of 10 courts in use.

Saturday morning, the sun shone brightly and the men's and ladies' doubles competitions ran smoothly.

Players aged 40 to 81 took to the courts, playing 103 matches.

Due to a lack of teams at the highest level of the ladies' competition, both 5.0 and 4.5 competed together.

The 5.0 gold went to a team from The Villages/Naples, while 4.5 gold was taken by a team from Tampa/Fort Myers and the silver was won by Tanglewood's Diane Reynolds and Debbie Yandell.

In 4.0 competition, medals were won by teams from The Villages, Sola Vita and North Fort Myers.

Medalists at the 3.5 level hailed from Fort Myers, Thousand Trails and Riverbend.

The medals at the 3.0 skill level were swept by Tanglewood teams.

Betty Schleis and Cheryl McCullough combined for the gold, Bonnie Schmidt and Barb Thulin were paired for the silver while Tracy Vernest and Barb Miachika took home the bronze.

The men's competition was finished under the lights Saturday night with the 4.5 gold and silver medals being captured by teams from Summerfield and bronze going to a Sola Vita/Villages pairing.

The 4.0 gold medal was taken by a team from Englewood, the silver medalists were from North Port and Tanglewood's own Wayne Buck and Jimmy Maynard captured bronze.

The 3.5 gold and silver medals were taken by teams from Englewood with bronze going to a Riverbend team.

In the 3.0 competition a team fromRiverbend took home the gold with Tanglewood's Charlie Athorn and Clayton Farrar earning silver and yet another home team, John Crafton and David Linderman.

Rain overnight Saturday meant that the grounds crew was pressed into service early Sunday morning to dry the courts ready for mixed doubles play on Sunday.

Hard work and much better weather than forecast allowed the tournament to be finished in almost ideal conditions as 82 games were played Sunday.

In the 4.5 flight, gold went to a Summerfield team with a duo fromValencia Lakes taking silver

The bronze medal was captured by Debbie Yandell and Johnnie McKinney of Tanglewood.

The level 4.0 medals went to teams from New Port Richey (gold), Fort Myers (silver) and Sola Vita (bronze).

The 3.5 competition had players from far afield.

The gold pairing hailed from Fort Myers and Rochester, NY while the silver medalists travelled from Ottawa, Canada.

Gloria Soltes and Doug Aman of Tanglewood took bronze.

At level 3.0 it was a clean sweep for Tanglewood with Colleen Schenking and Ross Myles taking gold.

Silver was captured by Ellen Nesbitt with Barb Miachika and Marvin Strope (the tournament's oldest players) earning bronze.

Tournament chair, Clayton Farrar, was thrilled that the weather cooperated and that so many pitched in to make the Winter Classic a success.

Special thanks goes to Diane Reynolds for being ready to do almost any task in preparing for this event.

The great work of the pickleball grounds crew and the Hometown America Maintenance Department was greatly appreciated.

The team of referees under the direction of Nancy Fair did an outstanding job.

Thanks to Ben Yantis for coordinating food and to Joe Sorenson for helping out with electrical concerns.

Thanks is also extended to our sponsors, Edward Jones/Alan J. Holmes and the Alan Jay Automotive Network.