The Bainbridge Cup continued
Andreas Kopkau- 2019 Cup host; Bruna D’ Albenzio, player; Mike Hess, IFP President.
Fish Williams, Las Vegas; Jayden Short, St. George, Utah; Javier Munoz, Toledo, Spain; Daniel Hernando, Madrid, Spain.
Pre-match dinner at the seaside restaurant Riviera. Players cheered and presented flags. Seventeen countries were represented.
Carolyn Laville, Wimbledon, England; Roberto Rospo, Italy; Jen Johnson, Oklahoma; Guy Laville, England. Europeans make it a family affair. Guy is Carolyn’ s son.
captain, and his French team were so supportive and they brought their children.
There were little kids hitting between matches and some very good young players who played in the tournament and won medals. Europeans see pickleball as a family sport— husbands, wives and kids all play. The tournament was a family affair. The Moore family( Scott and Jon) of the U. S. demonstrated the success of this model, and both had a good tournament.
All this went on while top players were drawing cheering crowds surrounding the court barriers. The medal ceremonies had flags waving, cameras, and a row of children sitting crosslegged at the foot of the podium. It was a delightful picture of the future of pickleball. The most touching moment came during the Sunday night banquet. The Sea Lion Hotel was the players’ headquarters and the site of the delicious seaside banquet. Zelindo thanked all of his staff and the U. S. support team. You could tell he was pleased the Cup and Italian Open were so successful. Then IFP President Mike Hess spoke on behalf of the IFP and awarded the Cup to the U. S. captains. He then explained the meaning of the IFP Sportsmanship Award, and broke down while describing Ian Medhurst’ s contributions to the Cup last year. Ian is currently undergoing treatment for a medical condition and we all wish him well. Mike announced Ian as the first recipient of the award and showed the plate he will receive. Then Scott Moore presented this year’ s award to Roberto Rospo of Italy. Multilingual Roberto helped everyone! He was the translator for various teams and always had a smile for each and every player. Team captains made the selection and there were many, many wonderful candidates. It is a testament to the sport that sportsmanship is present in all of the countries and the captains kept thinking of more and more examples.
Behind the scenes was a great deal of hard work. The Italians came through with flying colors and Mike Hess did another outstanding job organizing the event. Final cheers came with the announcement that the Bainbridge Cup will take place in Dusseldorf, Germany, in July 2019; Andreas Kopkau was there to accept the Bainbridge Cup paddle.
Finally, the Cup and the Open were wellsupported by vendors. Dave Kukleski of Gamma Sports and Rodney and Karen Grubbs of Pickleball Rocks flew in from the U. S. and set up displays in the entry hall along with a large, colorful shirt display of Kelme. Onix, Pickleball Central, Selkirk, Pro-lite, Paddletek and Pickleball Trips were also there to support the players and events.
Bravo Zelindo! Grazie Mike! Viel Gluck Andreas! •
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