Boise Area Pickleball News

Congratulations to BAPA’s own Sonya Kincheloe for taking 3 Gold Medals home last week from the Thousand Trails RV Tournament in Bend, Oregon.  It was a skill level event and had 170 participants!!!  Sonya and Stan Sluder (another BAPA member) took Gold in the Mixed Doubles 3.5 event.  Sonya and her female partner (Liz Hatfield) took Gold in the Women’s Doubles 3.5 event and then Sonya took Gold in the Single’s event…

Way to represent…

Dear Pickleball Enthusiasts: (From Bill Hart)

I became addicted to Pickleball the moment  I learned it at an RV park in Gold Canyon, AZ,  during the winter of 2013. I felt it was only a natural transition to establish a pickleball court here in Stanley, Idaho to allow the residents and visitors to this small mountain community the opportunity to experience this wonderful, fun new sport. I contacted the local school, which has an outdoor basketball court to see about converting it to a temporary pickleball court to be used during the summer months. I was given permission, as long as I repaired the cracks to the concrete surface.

I ordered a portable net system from the USAPA and I applied for one of their grants and was awarded a stipend to help offset some of the costs of setting up a court. I cleaned the surface of all of the debris and applied a concrete repair product to fill in all of the cracks and holes. From there, I applied tape to mark the lines and now I am offering free lessons to anyone who wants to become just as addicted as I am.

So now, nestled beneath the beautiful Sawtooh Mountains in central Idaho, in the community of Stanley at just under 7,000 feet you can have a new Pickleball experience. I invite all Pickleball addicts to come experience this “Rocky Mountain High” and enjoy playing in an outdoor venue with a scenic backdrop of mountain peaks towering over 10,000 in elevation.

Please pass this on to all fellow pickleballers you know that might be interested, maybe we could even organize a “Stanley Cup” tournament.

For further information or to schedule playing time, please contact:

Bill Hart Sawtooth Valley PickleBall Association
website: svpba.org      email: pickleball@svpba.org

PO Box 43 Stanley, ID 83278 208-991-2569

Outdoor court with the Sawtooth Mountains as a backdrop.

Musings from Pocatello.  Mitch & Linda struck gold at the Southeast Idaho Senior Games.
With a small contingency of players, due to the tournament being held on the 4th of July
weekend, the tournament director decided on a Round-Robin format, pitting all teams
against each other, regardless of age categories.  Mitch and Linda met the challenge ending
up at the top!                  

A strong contingency of BAPA members traveled to the Northern Idaho Senior Games
(aka Lewis-Clark Senior Games).  Three days of steady rain forced the Games to be played indoors at the Clarkston High School Gym.  On the first day of competition, Rudy Whittaker and Bob Calver teamed up to capture the Gold in Men’s Doubles.  Also capturing the Gold in the “Old Man’s” Division was the strong team of “Mitch” Mitchell and Jan Johnson.  Tournament Director, Doug McMillan, decided to have an exhibition match between the two Gold Medal teams.  Two games were played, with each team winning one, so our four “boys” are all champs with no one besting the other.

On the second day, Rhonda Reed teamed up with Bob  in Mixed Doubles.  They fought
valiantly to a second place tie but had to settle for a 3rd Place Medal due to receiving 4 fewer points than the 2nd place team after 12 games of competition for the entire tournament. Linda Mitchell teamed up with Rudy to become a ferocious tournament team.  They clearly separated themselves from the rest of the field and swept away the Gold Medal.

Congratulations to our 6 “warriors.”  Nicely done!

Well we just completed our June tournament.  We had 16 enthusiastic players.

1st place winners were:  Linda Mitchell & Dick Johnson

Linda Mitchell & Dick Johnson

2nd place winners:  Trish Carlson & Jim Crotty

Trish Carlson & Jim Crotty

3rd place winners:  Doug Carlson & Russ Bell

Doug Carlson & Russ Bell

We also sang Happy Birthday to our June Birthdays:

Russ Bell, Dick Johnson & Mitch Mitchell
June Birthdays!!

Thanks again to Pam & Jim Crotty and Kathy Roman for making the tournament a great one…  Anyone ready to volunteer to host the July tournament?  We will be having the July tournament outside at Sawtooth Middle School.

Margo Hunter and Lawana Johnson did a great job with the May tournament.  Thanks so much.  The winners are:

Gold:

Mitch Mitchell & Rudy Whittaker

Silver:

Linda Mitchell & Bob Calver

Bronze:

Dick Johnson & John Sweeting

Congratulations to our winners.  Next month’s tournament will be June 11th at Homecourt.  Jim & Pam Crotty will be hosting.  Thank you…

Today’s News Report from the Walla Walla Tournament:

After playing almost nonstop from 8:30 am – 4:30 pm, Rudy and Mitch
took the 2nd place medal after tying with the eventual tournament
winners and forcing the championship rubber match!  The skill level
was top class and our two guys showed that the soft game can be
the way to go in beating teams that stick to slamming the ball most
of the time.  Great teamwork and communication on Rudy and Mitch’s
part led to an exciting day of watching good quality PBall!  Congratulations!

Mitch Mitchell & Rudy Whittaker