It’s never easy splitting up the family unit on a pickleball trip, but despite Mama Bear not being with us, I thought we still had a great trip out west to Newport Beach for the APP event. It’s such an eclectic and vibrant community that I always enjoy visiting.
I took the kids with me so they could compete as well and Megan had to go off to battle for her Chicago Slice MLP team in Miami. As usual, she put up a beastly performance again, leading her team to more victories, clinching the top spot in the challenger league, with a #1 seed in the final playoffs in Orlando in a couple of weeks and most importantly, earning a promotion up to the premier league next season. We were a little nervous on Saturday because they needed a team win to secure their spot in Orlando, otherwise we were going to have to say goodbye again for her to go to the first playoff event in Dallas this week. She has been a rock since joining the team and is by all standards and records that matter, the top player in challenger male or female. We are obviously very proud of her as usual not just for her results, but because she always does what she needs to do and finds a way to battle and dig deep. You definitely want someone like her on your team and in your corner.
Speaking of digging deep, our kids had some very stiff competition this past weekend at the Newport APP as apparently a 3.5 in California is more like a 4.0 or better elsewhere. I remember it being tough in the past, but JR went up against some guys in the men’s doubles draw that were just simply too strong and overpowering him and his partner (shoutout to Matt Bridges for teaming up with him for these California events). They only scored a few points in their first few matches of round robin play and unfortunately did not make it thru, so he was obviously a bit disappointed. I was tempted at times to get out there with him and show some of these sandbaggers a lesson or two, but I know in a few years it won’t matter if they keep improving like they are. My coaching mentality remains the same as it’s always been: to focus on the controllables like attitude and effort and just keep aiming on the PROCESS of getting better each tournament, each day, each match.
So after a weekend of the kids being outmatched by much stronger adults, I was so proud of their last day on Sunday competing their butts off and beating a very good team in mixed doubles together and taking the bronze. I was such a proud dad and coach and told them how proud I was of them not because they won, but because they never gave up and fought till the end. They have also been working on being positive and supportive of each other out there and things more important than winning a pickleball match, like being a good partner and they did such a great job with that as well.
Stay tuned for the next blog to see how the weekend ended up for me!
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