2008 Florida State Senior Championship Games

Freeman, Harris and Wright -The Villages Elite

by Donna Donald

On Saturday December 6th, the Florida State Senior Pickleball Championship Event, hosted by Lee County and the City of Cape Coral, was underway at Rutenberg Community Park in Ft. Myers, Florida. Madeline Castro, the event coordinator, welcomed the group, reviewed the rules, and accepted questions from participants before the games began. Florida residents from across the State, and RV’ers from as far away as Michigan and Ohio took part in the competition. The weather was perfect for playing and the multitude of spectators watched and cheered on their favorite players.

Sixty-nine men’s doubles games and 53 woman’s doubles games were completed and medals awarded, in a double-elimination tournament before the day ended.

On Sunday morning players arrived for the Mixed Doubles competition bundled in jackets and sweat pants. It was windy and cold after a night of rain, and the courts were empty except for a few puddles. Mother Nature delayed the games for about an hour while the wind blew the courts dry and the sun finally began to shine.

The Mixed Doubles competition featured Bill Freeman and Deb Harrison of The Villages, whose mixed double win gave them their fourth consecutive gold medal. This year, they won gold in the 60-64 age group after winning the last three years in the 55-59 age group. They only played four matches to take the gold, and held their opponents to no more than four points in eight games.

The pickleball competition came to an end on Sunday but not before Jim Wright of The Villages won three matches to take home his third overall gold medal and second consecutive men’s singles title in the 65-69 age group. He also took the gold in the Mixed doubles with partner Jean Kiker and in the Men’s Doubles with partner Pete McNamara.

Players want to send a special THANK YOU to the young men from Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) and to the Florida Chiropractic Association, one of the sponsors of the State Games. Pulled muscles and turned ankles required the attention of the Athletic Trainer from FGCU. Rich Donald was able to return to the games and capture the Bronze Medal with partner Al Goldberg (Sebring) but only after treatment, icing and taping of a pulled leg muscle. Barb Johnson (Ohio) required attention after spraining an ankle during play, and unfortunately, Nancy Myer (Ft. Myers) could not continue play with her partner Dick Greenfield, after a more severe ankle injury.

To support USAPA and our Atlantic South Region our RA, Dick(Greenie) Greenfield set up a membership table, easily visible with the Pickleball Banner and USAPA T-shirt. Flyers promoting our Atlantic South Regional BLOG on USAPA were printed with the USAPA Membership form on the reverse side and were available to all participants

The Florida Sports Foundation sanctions local games in Florida, which serve as qualifiers for the State Championships. Every Olympic year, the Florida Senior Games State Championships serves as a qualifier for the National Senior Games which are held every non-Olympic year.

Pickleball was more recently added to the list of sports played in the Senior Games, both locally and at the State level. However, it is not a program of the National Games, thus there are no qualifiers. We would love to see pickleball added to the program, and we hope that our Atlantic South Region leaders can look into making this happen. In the meantime, pickleball players from across the state continue to compete in both the local and State Games.

Click here to see more pictures of the Florida State Senior Championship Games