Pickleball Club finds sunshine, finally holds tourney

Patty watches husband Tom Garcia make a play during their Couples Tournament match at the Pickle Club Sweetheart’s Tournament recently. Photos provided by Canyon Lake Pickleball Club.

The Canyon Lake Pickleball Club was determined to get its Annual Sweetheart Tournament played despite the traditional February event getting rained out multiple times. Sunshine prevailed. More than 25 club members participated in the tournament on March 7 and afterward gathered for the club-supplied BBQ.

The opening tournament was a round robin mixed doubles style with all singles randomly switching partners every match. Everybody participated in five rounds of play and the men’s scores and women’s scores were tallied separately.

Kim Nethercott, who finished undefeated, took first place in the Women’s Singles Division, Dena Kuhns, also undefeated, finished second and Suzie Cook took third place.

In Men’s Singles, the winner was Tom Garcia, who finished undefeated, Mike Patton was second and Hank Robles was third.

The prize money (which were gift cards to the Canyon Lake POA Lodge which were donated by the club) went to the top three places. Since the women’s event ended in a tie for first, Kim and Dena settled it by playing a best-out-of-three matches of “rock, paper, scissors.” These tie-breaking rock/paper/scissor rounds were just as close and exciting as the pickleball matches, going into several extra rounds to break the tie – ultimately with Kim coming out on top in a close 2-1 advantage.

The afternoon finale included eight married couples competing in a round robin style tournament. In this tournament the couples kept their partners for all four matches.

The top three couples were awarded gift cards to the Canyon Lake POA Country Club (which were donated by the club). The top three couples finished undefeated, but they decided instead of the “rock/paper/scissors” contest to break the tie, the tie would be broken based on how many points their opponents scored against each couple. Hence, Les and Dena Kuhns finished in first place, Jon and Kimberly Keigwin took second place and Bill and Carolyn Van Vleet ended in third place.

The BBQ provided by the club was a perfect way to finish up the afternoon for this social event and was enhanced with the view of the sun setting on the East Bay. The Pickleball Club holds many social events throughout the year and invites all community members down to the courts to watch, learn or play pickleball with its members. Club dues are only $30 for a three-year membership.

For more information, go to the Canyon Lake POA website or pick up an application at the pickleball courts.