Junior pickleball clinic compete after lessons

(Editor’s Note: Because of a layout error last week, more than half of this story was cut off and did not run in The Friday Flyer. The story is re-published here in its entirety.)

Almost 20 youths ranging in age from nine to 17 heeded the invitation to learn more about pickleball and stormed the Canyon Lake Pickleball Courts at the Canyon Lake Pickleball Club’s first junior clinic of the year.

“It was a perfect day weatherwise to play,” the club’s Steve Libring said. “The parents even got into action. The turnout was great. All four courts were full. We had 32 new people who learned pickleball, a game for the entire family.”

The clinic held challenges and competition as part of the method to teach the participants how to play the game.

“The clinic not only taught the basic skills and rules of the game, but it also taught paddle control,” Steve said. “There was a challenge to see which juniors could bounce the ball on the paddle the most times without dropping it.”

Five of the participants in the challenge reached 150 consecutive hits.

“We had to stop them as we learned from last year,” Steve said. “Last year‘s champ hit 1,148 hits before we could see she wasn’t going to miss.”

A sudden death speed challenge with winners in two divisions were Brayden Engwicht, 11, for the younger division and Natalia Alvarado, 15, for the older division.

Upon the completion of the lessons and challenges, the juniors were paired up for a mini tournament and played three rounds to see who could accumulate the most points.

Results of the tournaments for the younger division, ages nine to 11 were Ryker Carter, 9, and Clayton Guywith, 10, who both had a perfect score and went undefeated. A one-on-one match was played to break the tie with Ryker finishing first and Clayton finishing second. Third place finished with ties going to Conner Meyer, 10, and Lorenzo Vallejo, 9, who finished right below the two leaders, just two points behind.

Older division, ages 11 to 17, winners were Geo Kanso who took top honors, finishing undefeated with a perfect score. Kendall Elliott, 11, and Cali Hillebrand, 11, tied for second place, scoring just two points less than the first place winner.

First place winners in each division won a new donated Head Pickleball Paddle, with the other winners taking home gift cards from Nothing Bundt Cake.

There was a general raffle for all the participants.

Big winners were Roger Alvarado and Dominic Gambina who also took home a new Head Pickleball Paddle and six other youths took home Nothing Bundt Cake gift cards.

“Not to be left out, the parents joined in on the fun during the day and received free lessons,” Steve said. “They were entered into a drawing for a pickleball paddle. Val Gamina’s lucky number was chosen for the parents‘ drawing.”

“I’m simply amazed at how one three-hour clinic can take young children from never lifting a pickleball paddle to playing a competitive tournament with their friends,” Paul Hawker, Canyon Lake Pickleball Club president said. “I’m proud of these kids and how quickly they learned. It’s great to see the parents get involved, too.”

The Canyon Lake Pickleball Club sponsors many community events like junior clinics, free lessons to those adults wanting to learn to play and Fiesta Hopper Day at Eastport.

Members of the Pickleball Club participate in additional tournaments for all skill levels, social nights each month, and much more.

For more information, contact Steve at steve.libring@gmail.com.