by [email protected] | Jul 12, 2013 | Tournament and Clinic Highlights
Well, I didn’t exactly eat that popular Canadian food pairing, but I did get a good taste of what pickleball in Canada is all about.
My brother, Josh, my dad Rocket, and I all played in the 2013 Canada National Pickleball Championships this past week. We had an absolute blast. We flew in to Seattle a day ahead of time to get some practice in with “Yoda” (Mark Friedenberg) and Scott Lennan. What a treat! We got schooled quite a few times, and did a little teaching ourselves!
After an easy day of travel up to Abbotsford, British Columbia (just over the border), Josh and I took aim at the open men’s doubles division. We got out to a strong start, winning a couple of matches, and then we got steamrolled by the really good team of Denis Zhekhovskiy and Scott Lennan. We won another couple of matches in the losers bracket, then ran in to them again in the bronze medal match. We made this one a dogfight, but they came out on top to go to the gold medal match, before eventually falling to Billy Jacobson and Chris Miller. So we settled for bronze, but we were thrilled to be up on the medal stand, especially ahead of some other VERY good teams.
Day two of the tournament was men’s open singles for me. I played pretty well all day, and ended up finishing 4th out of the 19 registrants. Again, I was thrilled to be up that high at the finish, but we all think about those 1 or 2 points that could have gone the other way and changed a match. It would have been great to medal in both events I was in, but singles will just have to wait until next year!
I got to finish out the weekend by watching my brother and Christine Barksdale win gold in the mixed open doubles division! That was a lot of fun to watch! After watching several really high level points in the gold medal match, I leaned over to my dad and said, “Well, I’m glad I’m not out there for that. I woulda gave that point away 8 shots ago!”
All in all, we had a great time all weekend. The people were awesome, the play was very high level, and people loved our “Pickleball Rocks” shirts. Can’t ask for much more than that.
The only thing I would change, the next time I’m in Canada, is when the restaurant server asks if I want gravy with my fries, I will have to take them up on that.
Thanks Canada for a great tournament!
by [email protected] | Jun 26, 2013 | Tournament and Clinic Highlights
What a busy, yet fun summer for the Grubbs family. The Grubbs caravan rolled through Grand Rapids this last weekend for the 2013 Meijer State Games of Michigan. I had never been to this event before, but what a great tournament. We played at the MVP field house where there were 15 pickleball courts taped off on 5 basketball courts. What a great facility to host this big of a tournament! Over 250 players signed up to compete for the titles.
Friday night my wife Abby, Dad, AKA “Rocket”, and I all drove up to Grand Rapids to check out the facility and set up our vendor tables for the tournament.
Saturday play began at 8:00am. Abby and I were the only ones in the family playing on Saturday in the mixed doubles open division. Unfortunately Abby wasn’t feeling very well so our mixed doubles day was pretty short. We played two good teams in Marsha Koch / Tom Wells and Carolyn Ebbinghaus / Bart Ford, so we got to watch a lot of really good pickleball.
Sunday was the mens doubles. My brother Zack and I were registered in the OPEN doubles bracket. We knew we would have to play well to have a chance at a medal. Just our luck, we got to play last year’s Gold Medalist in Bart Ford and Jeff Christmann. What great players. Somehow we managed to eek out a win and move on. We ran up against another great team in Jim Hackenberg and Paul Colletta, but somehow managed to come up with the shots when we needed them. So Zack and I managed to keep on advancing until we got to the finals. Waiting for us in the finals was none other than the Rocket himself and his partner Jeff Siebert. They had a great run of their own. Rocket and Jeff had lost in the first round to the always great Paul Sprainitis and Pat McPhail, then clawed their way out of the losers bracket to make it back into the finals.
We have played Dad and Jeff 100’s of times back in our hometown of Brookville so we knew it was going to be a tough match. After a lot of back and forth rallys, Zack and I were able to pull out a hard fought win 11-8, 11-8. Great way to end a tournament.
It doesn’t get much better then that getting to play pickleball and hanging out with friends and family all weekend. SO YOU KNOW WHAT? LETS DO IT AGAIN NEXT WEEKEND!
Keep playing everyone,
Pickleball Rocks!
by [email protected] | May 26, 2013 | Tournament and Clinic Highlights
For the 5th year in a row we played the always-fun Terre Haute Classic. And once again it was an experience like no other tournament we’ve played. From the time you walk into Brittlebank Park, you are welcomed with warm friends, never ending food and plenty of high level pickleball.
If you are looking for non-stop pickleball, this may not be the tournament for you.
This is the only tournament I’ve ever played where they stop so everyone can have a round of homemade root beer floats.
This is the only tournament where they stop play so the Coon Holler Kids can play a few kickin’ bluegrass tunes to give everyone a short break to catch their breath.
This is the only tournament I’ve been to where women ask you to take pictures of their rears. 🙂 
This is the only tournament I know where someone runs around the courts (yes, literally runs and yells) while handing out prizes and gifts from the various sponsors.
This is the only tournament I know that ends two of the days with homemade ice cream for everyone. (turned and made right there at the courts).
This is not the only tournament I’ve seen with lots of food, but the food is just never-ending at Terre Haute.
Thanks to Deli and the whole team for another fun Terre Haute weekend. Haute 5!
by [email protected] | Feb 6, 2013 | Tournament and Clinic Highlights
- Second Annual Englewood Pickleball Tournament
Englewood, FL
Mar 29 2013
- Camp Non Stop – Austin Pickleball Movement
Austin, TX
Mar 30-Mar 31 2013 Deadline: Mar 18
- 2013 Southern Utah Pickleball Shootout
St. George, UT
Apr 4-Apr 6 2013
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 4) Pending
- East Naples Skill Level Tournament
Naples, Fl
Apr 5-Apr 7 2013
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 4)
- 2013 Texas State Senior Games
San Antonio, TX
Apr 5-Apr 7 2013
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 3) Pending
- Henrico Spring Pickleball Tournament
Henrico, VA
Apr 5-Apr 6 2013 Deadline: Mar 29
- Good Life Games/Pinellas Senior Games
Clearwater, FL
Apr 6 2013
- Hillsborough County Indoor Pickleball Championships
Tampa, FL
Apr 11-Apr 12 2013
- 1st Annual Western Slope Regional Tournament
Grand Junction, CO
Apr 13 2013
- Fusion Sport Center 1st Annual Spring Swing Open Tournament
Loves Park, IL
Apr 13-Apr 14 2013 Deadline: Mar 30
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 4)
- SunRiver St. George 6th Annual Spring Pickleball Tournament
St. George, UT
Apr 18-Apr 20 2013 Deadline: Apr 8
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 3)
- Dula Gym Indoor Pickleball Tournament
Las Vegas, NV
Apr 19 2013
- Cherokee County GA. Senior Games
Lake Arrowhead, GA
Apr 19 2013
- City Of Las Cruces Pickleball Doubles Tournament
Las Cruces, NM
Apr 20-Apr 21 2013
- 2013 Mesquite Senior Games
Sun City Mesquite, NV
Apr 22-Apr 24 2013
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 4)
- Timberhill Spring Fling
Corvallis, OR
Apr 26-Apr 28 2013 Deadline: Apr 20
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 4)
- Hot Springs Open Class Tournament
Hot Springs, AR
Apr 26-Apr 28 2013 Deadline: Apr 12
- Garnet Valley Gherkins Pickleball Tournament
Glen Mills, PA
Apr 26-Apr 28 2013
- Hilton Head Island Rec Center Tournament
Hilton Head Island, SC
Apr 26-Apr 27 2013 Deadline: Apr 16
- Manheim Township Pickleball Tournament
Lancaster, PA
Apr 28 2013 Deadline: Apr 22
- 1st Annual Western Slope Regional Tournament
Montrose, CO
May 4 2013
- Walla Walla YMCA Pickleball Tournament
Walla Walla, WA
May 4-May 5 2013 Deadline: Apr 20
- Virginia Senior Games Pickleball Tournament
Newport News, VA
May 16-May 17 2013
- 2013 Central Ohio Senior Games
Westerville, OH
May 17-May 18 2013 Deadline: May 8
- 2013 Greater Terre Haute Open Skill Tournament
Terre Haute, IN
May 17-May 19 2013
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 3)
- 1st Annual Western Slope Regional Tournament
Delta, CO
May 18 2013
- Pickleball Palooza Tournament
Kennewick, WA
May 18-May 20 2013 Deadline: May 14
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 4) Pending
- SeaTac Pickleball Tournament
SeaTac, WA
May 18-May 19 2013 Deadline: May 15
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 3) Pending
- 2nd Annual Mix It Up In May Doubles Outdoor Skill Level Tournament
Howell, MI
May 18-May 19 2013
- Iowa Senior Challenge
Des Moines, IA
May 19 2013
- Connecticut Masters Games Pickleball Tournament
Ridgefield, CT
May 22-May 23 2013
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 4)
- CA Senior Tournament Of Pasadena In Oceanside
Oceanside, CA
May 24-May 27 2013
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 3) Pending
- Brigham City Memorial Tournament
Brigham City, UT
May 25-May 27 2013
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 3) Pending
- Hot Springs Village Pickleball Celebration
Hot Springs Village, AR
May 25-May 26 2013
- 4th Annual Thousand Trails Memorial Day Weekend Pickleball Tournament
Gloucester, VA
May 26 2013
- Extreme Pickleball Tournament
Hurricane, UT
May 30-Jun 1 2013 Deadline: May 23
- Sonoma Wine Country Senior Games
Santa Rosa, CA
May 31-Jun 2 2013
- 2013 USAPA Mid-South Regional Tournament
Mandeville, LA
May 31-Jun 2 2013 Deadline: May 14
USAPA Sanctioned (Tier 3)
by [email protected] | Jan 2, 2013 | Tournament and Clinic Highlights
Happy New Year !
Here at Pickleball Rocks headquarters we are all getting excited for the first tournament of 2013. We will be heading down to Terre Haute, Indiana, to play in the 1st Annual Cheers to the New Year Open Tournament. The tournament will be held indoors at Indiana State University. Terre Haute tournaments are always fun to attend since this is where we played our first ever tournament.
We will be packing up and heading south with our two son’s Brandon (3 years old) and Jordan (4 months old) to meet up with GG (Grandma Grubbs) and Papa (The Rocket). The boys always look forward to spending the weekend with GG and getting spoiled.
My wife and I are excited to play together for the first time since having our 2nd son Jordan on August 31. Last time Abby played in a tournament she was about 6 months pregnant. Abby was an All American basketball player at Bethel College, so she loves to compete at anything!
Traveling around to different pickleball tournaments are like mini family vacations for us. We always have a great time hanging out as a family as well as hanging out with all of our pickleball friends. Brandon, our three year old, has been to more pickleball tournaments than most adults. When Brandon was just 5 months old I traveled up to Kalamazoo
Michigan for a tournament to play with the Rocket.
(The picture on the left was our Kalamazoo base camp for Brandon’s first tournament.) GG was there to help watch Brandon while I played, but it was so much fun to have all the grandparents coming up to my mom and offering to hold him.
Pickleball has been great for our family and we look forward to a bunch of mini vacations in 2013 traveling with our family and hanging out with our pickleball friends.
I look forward to letting everyone know how the tournament goes. So stay tuned!
May your new year be filled with good health and lots of pickleball!
And as always, Pickleball Rocks!
Josh Grubbs
by [email protected] | Sep 25, 2012 | Tournament and Clinic Highlights
With a fall nip in the air, we rolled into Terre Haute Thursday evening and immediately began preparations for three full days of great pickleball. Preparations means pasta!!!!! Always love to eat some lasagna or spaghetti the night before a tournament starts. Some people call it carb loading. I just call it a good excuse to get off the regular diet for a few days. Yummy!
The first thing you always notice when you pull up to the Brittlebank Park courts is the family atmosphere. Young and old alike are already on the courts playing or putting up the food tent in preparation for feeding us well for all three days. I would come to this tournament for the food alone. 🙂
But as good as the food is, the competition is even better. Top players from all over the midwest always show up in Terre Haute. One of the great features of this tournament is the ability to play indoors if the weather doesn’t cooperate. Indiana State University opens it’s doors for them anytime they need indoor court space. Fortunately we didn’t need a roof over us this weekend. Except for a little gusting wind challenge on day two, the weather was perfect.
To see a little bit of Terre Haute pickleball play, click here. Pickleball Rocks!
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