$ 14M house here , a $ 10M house there … along miles of waterways . The beach , lots of trendy restaurants , boat rides , and the glitter of South Florida was right outside the window of the convention center .
The Blues Brothers , David Jordan and Tom Burkhart , reunited as tournament directors . Roger Workman , who headed up tech support , says , “ The success of the tournament is schedule , schedule , schedule . Plan upfront . Build a tournament right . What can go wrong will go wrong , so be ready .” David commented on what makes this tournament so special : “ NSGA does it right . They move the games around the country , so it incorporates everyone . We have an operations staff of 10 , including Tom , Roger and Jen Workman , Nancy Jordan , Ken Schoonover , Susan Burkhart , Cindy Moore , Laura Patterson , Sharon Richard , and Sanjay Bhattacharya .”
He continued , “ This year , 1,723 players entered , but 1,511 attended . COVID played a role in cancellations . I go crazy trying to keep up , but it is worth it . I see so many old friends from the time when pickleball was pickleball . People come here and they have fun . The NSGA is a mix of the old and the new in pickleball . Both are good .”
While David sat at the computer , player after player stopped by to thank him for a great tournament .
This year what really stood out was the goodness . People were so glad to see each other again after the COVID-19 pandemic limitations . The level of play was excellent , and players watched and cheered for each other . During one of the gold medal matches , a player received a call that a friend was lost . She had driven to the beach , eaten at a restaurant , became disoriented , and was lost . She walked three hours looking for her car and became dehydrated and frantic . She called her basketball team and they refused to look for her . Then she called a pickleball player — and that made all the difference .
Several players began to help — and Dee Pack , the head of Alabama ’ s Senior Games , stepped up . She knew how to trace someone using a phone and the search began . Three hours later , Dee found her , and with two more hours of searching she found her car . For me , this was the defining characteristic of the 2022 NSGA Nationals . Pickleball players look after and help each other . During the second week a similar incident happened in table tennis , and the search team led by Dee came through once again .
Dinkers , bangers , 2.0 players and rock stars all showed their character both on and off the court . There is a reason we all play pickleball . It is on to Pittsburgh in 2023 . •
Barbara and Bob Powers rode their motorcycles from northwest Arkansas to Ft . Lauderdale . Bob took the gold medal for Men ’ s Singles 80 .
Joyce Jones shows her medals for the 90-year-olds events to Tournament Director David Jordan and his wife , Nancy . The NSGA National Championships is an age event so older players are not left out .
Referee Daniella Niss presents the scorecard to the winning Men ’ s Doubles 50- 54 team : Dave Johnson and Steve Steakley from Nashville . They won 11-9 , 11-9 in a hard-hitting match over The Villages ’ Jeffrey McLain and Eric Wilson .
JULY / AUGUST 2022 | MAGAZINE 55