As many of you may already know, I am a pickleball (PB) player. In the past, my husband, Alain, and I spent a great deal of time away playing tournaments.
2018 Tournament in Collingwood
The game has grown and so has access to great levels of play outside of tournaments. We get to play PB at a level that is both interesting and challenging for us almost any given week without the need to pack up for a few days, find dog sitters, accommodation, pre-arrange coolers and food, and experience crappy sleeps on less than ideal beds, not to mention the expense. Because of these and other factors, the shine has worn off the tournaments for me, at least for now. But many of our friends and fellow local players are still very active in the tournament scene.
Last month was the Myoflex 2024 Canadian Championships in Halifax and I wanted to acknowledge everyone in the PB community who made an adventure out of it, traveled to Halifax and participated in the Championships. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the following friends and local players who also managed to secure medals in the events. I’m sure I’ve overlooked names because I didn’t connect the name to the face, or I may not have known your last name. Please forgive me. The following are the people whose names I DID recognize from the medals list. It’s a combination of friends, local players and people we know from PB. Using my limited knowledge, I will underline the local (South-Central Ontario) names, and put the REALLY local people in green for your interest:
Men’s Doubles Categories:
Open
- Gold: Matthew Kawamoto and Ernesto Fajardo
- Silver: Brad Chapman and Haddow Thul
- Bronze (aka dirty Gold): Louis-Charles Amyot and Mark Gottfried
Men’s Singles:
Open, (15-45 age)
- Gold: Brad Chapman
- Silver: Louis-Charles Amyot
- Bronze: Haddow Thul
Women’s Doubles:
3.5, 60 – 69 age
- Gold Christine Kelly and Beth Spigelman
4.0+, 15-49 age
- Gold Carolina Hack and Emma Li
- Silver Antoaneta Toskova and Anne-Sophie Courteau
- Bronze Jennie Davis and Jessica Kawamoto
4.0+, 60-69 age
3. Bronze Marilyn (MJ) Joostema and Marilouise Millar
4.5, 15-54 age
- Gold Stephanie Kawamoto and Genya Stefanoff
3. Bronze Jill Lutz and Marita Winault
4.5, 55+ age
- Gold MJ Joostema and Maryloiuse Millar
5.0 Open
- Gold Christina Chin and Kim Layton
- Silver Candice Ernst and Jessica Kawamoto
- Bronze Carolina Hack and Emma Li
Women’s Singles:
4.0+, 50+ age
- Gold Amy Hiltz
- Silver Janyce Arsenault
- Bronze Manju Sekhri
4.5+, 15-49 age
- Gold Christina Chin
- Silver Antoaneta Toskova
- Bronze Anne-Sophie Courteau
Mixed Doubles:
3.0 50-54 age
- Gold: Oriana Oszip (Koodos, playing well under her age!!!) and Brian Cann
4.0 60-64 age
- Gold Alan Sargeant and Joan Pollard
- Silver Liz Croft and Mark Shaughnessy
4.5 15-49 age
2. Silver Amy Hiltz and Patrick Fleming
5.0+ Open, 15-49 age
- Gold Christina Chin and Haddow Thul
- Silver Kim Layton and Brad Chapman
- Bronze Anne-Sophie Courteau and Ernesto Fajardo
Round Robin Mixed:
4.0+, 15-29
- Gold Jessica Kawamoto and Matt Kawamoto
- Silver Anne-Sophie Courteau and Ernesto Fajardo
- Bronze Emma Li and Mathieu Morneau
4.0+, 30-39
- Gold Kim Layton and Brad Chapman
- Silver Stephanie Kawamoto and Mark De Abreu (Congratulations Newlyweds!! Married July 27, 2024)
- Bronze Carolina Hack and Chad Valcour
4.0+, 60-69 age
2. Silver Andrea Blackwell and Alan Sargeant
It was fun perusing the list of medalists to find so many familiar names. Congratulations to all participants and medalists at the Myoflex 2024 Canadian Championships.