Idaho’ s Coeur D’ Alene Classic Boasts Record Turn-out
For those of you who haven’ t been to Coeur D’ Alene, let me paint a quick picture. The city has a population of over 45,000 but has a rustic quaint feel. The downtown has streets lined with restaurants and boutiques, and the main attraction is the beautiful lake that gives the town its name. With this as the backdrop, the North Idaho Pickleball Association( NIPBA) hosted a spectacular event.
The Coeur D’ Alene Classic is a tier 2 USAPA Sanctioned tournament, held at the Cherry Hill Park which offered 18 pickleball courts located on the tennis courts( 6 painted and 12 temporary). This year, 291 players participated in the event. A breakdown of participants by event is listed below.
|
WDS |
MDS |
WSS |
MSS |
MXDS |
3.0 |
30 |
14 |
6 |
8 |
28 |
3.5 |
24 |
46 |
3 |
9 |
58 |
4.0 |
24 |
40 |
8 |
16 |
50 |
4.5 |
14 |
26 |
7 |
9 |
38 |
5.0 |
14 |
26 |
7 |
11 |
34 |
One of the most important factors that determine the success and enjoy-ability of a tournament is the promptness of court assignment. Speaking with the tournament director, Ken Hayden, this is what he had to say.“ Letha Rodrigues, Shay McHenry, and Nancy Kelly coordinated our volunteers where they were needed, from local members and players … Coeur d’ Alene is a very sharing volunteer community and people just step up where they are needed.” He added,“ As for our tournament organization, we made the right choice a year ago to bring Dee Davison on our team. She kept our team on track and provided the experience and expertise we needed as a new tournament to make it successful.”
On the first day of the tournament events, Men’ s singles and Women’ s Doubles kicked off the tournament. In Men’ s 5.0 singles, the medal winners were: Ty McGuffin( Gold), Mills Miller( Silver) and Kurtis Campbell( Bronze).
BY ROB DAVIDSON
In Women’ s 5.0 Doubles, the medal winners were: Joy Leising / Bonnie Williams( Gold), Laura Fenton Kovanda / Irina Tereschenko( Silver), and Lynn Syler / Miok Lee( Bronze).
The day ended with a Meet & Greet dinner, located next to the venue, with food being provided by one of the tournament sponsors, Pita Pit. The dinner also included live entertainment, which was a young local fiddler, who has won national acclaim. It provided an excellent atmosphere to enjoy a meal with pickleball friends.
The second day progressed with the largest event of the tournament, mixed doubles. With just about every registered player participating, mixed doubles is often the event when tournaments find themselves short of referees. NIPBA was well prepared and the matches ran smoothly. The Mixed 5.0 Doubles medal winners were: Irina Tereschenko / Rob Cassidy( Gold), Joy Leising / Chris Miller( Silver), and Lynn Syler- Enrique Ruiz( Bronze).
The final day of events included Men’ s doubles and Women’ s singles. The day had occasional gusts of wind, but the sun was still out and there were no delays. The Men’ s 5.0 Doubles medal winners were: Enrique Ruiz / Travis Rood( Gold), Matt Goebel / Glen Peterson( Silver), and Jay Rippel / Ty McGuffin( Bronze).
And the Women’ s 5.0 Singles medalists were: Irina Tereschenko( Gold), Bonnie Williams( Silver), and Joy Leising( Bronze).
The day after the last event, a social mixer was organized. It divided the players who signed up( it was free, but required early sign-up) into groups based on their skill levels. Courts were assigned, and for the next two-and-a-half hours, players rotated through different partners and had a great opportunity to play some competitive games with people they might not have been able to partner with normally. It was a fun and relaxing way to finish up a great tournament. •
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2016 | MAGAZINE 45