Pickleball Magazine 2019 USA National Championships | Page 30

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t Nationals
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At 91, Doris C r—and she’s not slowing d
playe
By Drew Wathey
Photos by Steven Jackson
F
or many, the moniker “Big D” refers to the city
and play unless he took me, so I was able to play with
of Dallas, Texas, where conversations are large
the neighborhood boys while my older sister and the girls
and the stories told, even larger.
played with dolls and read books. I knew early on that
But perhaps one Big D—Doris Castaneda—
wasn’t for me, but sports were.”
though short in stature, is aptly named. At 91 years
Doris attended University High School. With no girls
old, lovingly nicknamed Big D by her friends and
teams available, she joined the Girls Athletic Association
fellow competitors, Doris was this year’s oldest playing
after school and played a variety of sports, including
participant in the 2019 Margaritaville USA Pickleball
softball, basketball and volleyball. The impenetrable spirit
National Championships.
that fuels her pickleball passion today was borne out of
As with most athletically inclined girls growing up prior
these activities early in her life. One of Doris’ goals in
to the enactment of Title IX in 1972, opportunities for
fact was to make the United States Olympic Team. She
Doris to excel on athletic
excelled in numerous
fields were limited at
events—most notably,
best. But that didn’t stop
discus and sprints—but in
her. Living in the Cheviot
the Olympic Trials for the
Hills area of Los Angeles,
Summer Games in 1948
there was a lot of open
in London and the ’52
land around her house,
Games in Helsinki, her
so the neighborhood kids
qualifying performances
would play tag, hide and
fell short for inclusion on
seek, and football.
the U.S. squad.
“When a new house
Earning a Bachelor
was built, we loved to
of Arts in Physical
play in the big piles of
Education from St. Mary’s
sand that were brought
College in Kansas,
in,” she recalls. “My older
Doris headed back
Doris won silver medals in both Women’s Singles 75+, 85+ and in doubles,
brother could not go out
west to get her master’s
teaming with Ron Schmeck.
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