Robson Ranch Arizona Pickleball Club

Palm Creek Medal Winners From Robson Ranch

The 14th annual Palm Creek Pickleball Tournament was held March 2, 2017 through March 5, 2017.  While walking through the crowd each day of the tournament, it was obvious that a number of Robson Ranchers, both players and observers, were there to support our local club players.  The Robson Ranch Pickleball Club was well represented both in the number of our players participating in the tournament as well as the number of players winning medals.  According to my count (which might be a little suspect) there were approximately 151 medals awarded during the event.  Of those 151 medals, Robson Ranch persons took over 10% of them.  The medal winners were as follows:

Men’s Doubles		Gold	Silver	Bronze
Skill/Age	3.0/50+	R. C. Weidner Gary Christenson
	3.0/65+		Bear Bloom Larry Suskevich
	3.0/70+	Don Gibson Mike Pennington
	3.5/50+	Ron Hunt Lloyd Muth
	4.0/65+	Jeff Hamrlik Dave Wong
Mixed Doubles		Gold	Silver	Bronze
Skill/Age	3.0/65+		Pat Pennington Larry Suskevich
	4.0/65+		Sue Waibel Dave Wong
	4.0/70+		Lynne Wolf Wayne Champagne
	4.5/65+		Binki Thalheimer Larry Kraus
Women’s Doubles		Gold	Silver	Bronze
Skill/Age	3.0/70+	Jean DeChristopher Judy Gottsch
	4.0/65+, 70+ Overall		Sue Waibel Fay Bruns	Doris Betuel Bernie Bruner
	4.0/65+. 70+ Group 65+		Doris Betuel Bernie Bruner
	4.0/65+. 70+ Group 70+	Sue Waibel Fay Bruns
	4.5/50+		Dianne Zimmerman Shelia Parkinson

2017 Robson Ranch Pickleball Club 
Internal Tournament

The Robson Ranch Pickleball Club held our fourth annual internal tournament on February 13^th and 14^th. While intended to be primarily a social event the level of competition continues to improve thanks to the participant’s play, an increasing number of resident referees and the volunteer’s support. 

The tournament planning and decision making was provided by the Resident Pickleball Committee comprised of Chuck Bonesteel, Mary Burton, Wayne Champagne, Mickie Storckman and Gerard Wittman.  Planning, organizing and work started in November of 2016 and continued until the tournament’s end.  This committee was supported by a group of team leads in the following areas: announcing, Gerard Wittman; court supplies, Steve Falek; check-in and registration, Ron Graf/Sandi Feller, first aid, Mary Burton and the Eloy Fire Department; food, Pam Phillian; and referees and line judges, Steve Arthur.  A number of volunteers who are not identified herein due to a fear of omitting someone supported these team leads.  The Pickleball Club would also like to acknowledge the Robson Ranch Singers for their participation in the opening ceremonies.  Finally, the club would be remiss if we failed to thank the entire ranch community for allowing us to tie up half of the Sports Club parking lot during our two-day tournament.  A HUGE thank you goes out to everyone. 

The tournament was double elimination.  Competition categories were Women’s Doubles, Men’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles.  The skill levels were 2.0/2.5, 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0 plus with medals awarded to the teams finishing first, second and third place in each category/skill level.  The matches this year seemed to be even more competitive with a large number of them going to three games in determining the winners.

There were 117 individual players comprised of 65 men and 52 women.  55 of those players did not play in last year’s tournament.  Medal winners totaled 72 with 24 Gold, 24 Silver and 24 Bronze medals awarded.  10 women, 9 men, and 6 mixed double medal recipients were repeat winners from last year.  26 medal winners did not play in last year’s resident tournament.  8 women and 5 men won two medals each. 

The opening ceremonies held on the 13^th included the Robson Ranch Singers performing a wonderful

a cappella rendition of the United States and Canadian national anthems.  This was followed by the Women’s and Men’s Doubles events.  There were 24 women’s doubles teams and 27 men’s doubles teams.  After a total of 39 and 45 matches respectively, the Women’s and Men’s Doubles Team medal winners were:

Skill Level	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Women’s Doubles
2.0/2.5	Becky Barrett Sue Roneki	Carol Knapp Nellie Cronewett	Linda Farestad Jo Parkin
3.0	Brenda Kline Susan Phillips	Sherry Riebli Gail Mallen	Maureen Weidner Jackie Christenson
3.5	Sue Sherwood Dennice Smith	Jan Kinley Jody Muth	Sharon Vaage Dianne Dunsford
4.0 Plus	Brenda Amans Donna Duran	Laurell Graf Jeannine McKinna	Sue Waibel Barb Hager
Men’s Doubles
2.0/2.5	Dan Hennessey Jim Uhrich	Lorne Roneki Joe Ward	Jim Parkin Mike Doyle
3.0	Win Oppel Gary Christenson	Bill Sturgeon Bob Carlson	Mike Pennington Don Gibson
3.5	Ron Dunsford Richard Cronk	Jon Nees Tom Burnside	Michael Scoggins Mike Casey
4.0 Plus	Jeff Hamrlik Jeff Jones	Lloyd Muth Ron Hunt	Mike Campbell Dave Reese

On the second day, the competition was entirely Mixed Doubles in each of the previously mentioned skill levels.  There were 42 mixed doubles teams.  These teams played 76 competitive matches to determine the medal winners in each skill level.  The winning teams were:

Mixed Doubles
	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2.0/2.5	Becky Barrett Jim Uhrich	Jon Ward Christina Campbell	Linda Farestad Muns Farestad
3.0	Lila Nees Larry Suskevich	Susan Phillips Mike Pennington	Dongmei Lu Mike Scroggins
3.5	Jody Muth Greg Schneider	Debbie Shipman Brian Shipman	Sharon Vaage Tom McKinney
4.0 Plus	Jeannine McKinna Larry Dietrick	Donna Duran Jim Duran	Brenda Amans Jeff Hamrlik

The club looks forward to an even better and larger participation level next year.  Should you want to take part in this fun event and get bit by the pickleball bug, you can get started for next year.  Classes occur each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10 AM teaching the game.  You then play with a group of people having your same skill level, while you continue to improve.  This year we had a number of people who won medals last year at a lower level move up and win medals at the higher levels.

PHOTOS will be posted soon under Pickleball Pictures in the menu listing to the right.