Club teaches pickleball to Canyon Lake youth

BY Dawn Rankins

More than 20 Canyon Lake youths showed up for the Canyon Lake Pickleball Club’s winter junior clinic and tournaments Friday and Saturday. Youngsters ages 9 to 17 hit the courts ready to learn and play.

The juniors were put into two categories, ages 9 to 10 and ages 11 to 17. The two-day event began on Friday with lessons and wrapped up on Saturday with a round-robin-style tournament.

Plenty of healthy snacks were provided by the club along with dozens of cupcakes that Nothing Bundt Cake in Menifee donated.

Steve Libring, the club’s secretary, said those in the Pickleball Club were really excited about the junior clinic and even more enthralled in the amazing response.

“This is something we really want to do for our children…getting them involved in a family sport at an early age,” Steve said. “We’re hoping to continue to get even more juniors involved and grow that age group in the club. With more juniors, we can have more tournaments and clinics and be able to establish a well-rounded junior program.”

Some highlights from the two-day event included a Bounce the Ball on the Paddle Contest, raffle prizes for those who were lucky to have had their tickets drawn and the tournament where players partnered with other players and switched partners every round. The winners were determined by who won the most matches.

Winners in the 9 to 10-year-old group were Devon Wagoner, 10, who took first place, Ruby Frakes, 10, second place and Della Hongthong, 10, and Preston Galli, 9, tied for third place.

Morgan Wagoner, 16, participated in the Bounce the Ball on the Paddle Contest and won going away. She was the final contestant and passed second place Logan Lewis’ 710 straight hits before missing and kept on hitting without missing. She never did miss and the judges stopped her at 1,146 and declared her the winner. Photo provided by Steve Libring.

In the 11 to 17-year-old group there was a three-way tie for first place going into the last round. Each of the three were undefeated, but had not yet played each other.

First to play against each other were Logan Lewis and Morgan Wagoner with Morgan prevailing. Morgan then went on to play Nick DiCrescenzo and won in the finals to remain undefeated.

First place went to Morgan, 16, second place went to Nick, 15, and third place went to Logan, 13.

Steve said the Bounce the Ball on the Paddle Contest was exciting and came with some pretty spectacular results by youth who hadn’t played pickleball before the clinic. They were just learning the sport, getting the feel for the paddle and the wiffleball and getting used to the wind. The audience watched closely.

Morgan hit 1,146 straight hits without a miss. Steve said the judges finally had to stop her or she may have gone on all night.

First place in the younger group went to Devon with 400 hits. Second place went to Della Hongthong, 10, with 77 consecutive hits and third place went to Dominic DiCrescenzo, 10, with 41 hits.

Amy Tran, 11, of the older group was first to try in her age group and did 509 straight hits without a miss, setting the bar high for all those who followed, Steve said. Nine other juniors followed her and attempted to top Amy’s 509 hits, but failed. The final two contestants, though, hit 710 balls and 1,146 balls, respectively, without missing.

Amy finished in third place, Logan with his 710 hits came in second place and Morgan, of course, finished in first place.

The kids had a great time, learning and playing pickleball, Steve said.

Canyon Lake Pickleball Club membership is open to anyone in the community and the dues are only $30.00 per adult for a three-year membership. Children of the parents in the club are free and can participate in events such as potlucks, BBQs, swim parties and other activities.

For questions and to learn more about the Canyon Lake Pickleball Club contact Steve at steve.libring@gmail.com. Steve said a free introductory lesson on skills, rules, game play, and practice is available to those in Canyon Lake who haven’t played pickleball and want to see if the sport appeals to them.