USA Pickleball recently held its fifth annual National Championships, the 2022 Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Palm Springs. This is the largest Pickleball tournament of its kind with almost 2300 amateur participants from 48 states. The tournament set a single day attendance record of over 5,500 on Championship Sunday, the last day of the event.
Local resident, Fred Hartzman, envisioned the first National event back in 2017 when he was the Tennis Club Director at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Fred is now the West Campus Director at The Valley Club and resides in Sun Valley. Fred recalls, “ Pickleball was just starting to get popular throughout the US. I had seen videos of pickleball pros and amateurs playing at the U.S. Open in Naples Florida. At that time, The US Open was the premier tournament in pickleball, with approximately 1500 participants. Working at a world class tennis venue such as Indian Wells, I knew we had the perfect venue to host a large pickleball tournament. The infrastructure was in place which enabled us to bring my vision of not only hosting the largest tournament but to elevate the sport of pickleball to the next level and bring attention to it on a world stage. Signing a five year contract with USA Picklebal in 2018 to host Nationals at Indian Wells was definitely a very proud moment for me. It’s been great to see this National event continue to be the premier tournament in the Country. “
The Wood River Valley Pickleball Alliance (WRPA) membership had 7 players qualify for this national event. The most ever from the area and the most arguably from any small town in the US. Over one dozen area residents also were part of the contingency that cheered the local players on for each of their matches during the 5 day event held November 5-13. “We are so fortunate to have such a great Pickleball community in the Wood River Valley and we are especially proud of these great, dedicated players that qualified for nationals at Indian Wells”, Lee Sponaugle, President of the WRPA.
Elaine Ingram, Hailey/ Valley Club resident, traveled to Atlanta GA to qualify with her women’s doubles partner Kitty Flaherty, Mercer Island, WA. They won a gold medal in the women’s doubles 60+ 3.0 level. Elaine was a former USTA team tennis 3.0 and 4.5 player at the distinct and national level.
Sue Hamilton, 36 year Ketchum resident, qualified in Spokane, WA for the national event with partner Larry Smith from Coeur d’alene, Idaho. They won 7 rounds and finished fourth out of 40 teams in Mixed Doubles 60+ 4.0 level. Sue was a former collegiate tennis player at the University of Idaho.
Sam Adicoff, 22 year Ketchum resident and former Executive Director of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, qualified in Spokane, Wa and the Coachella Grand Prix event with his mixed doubles partner, Debbie Benson from La Quinta, CA. They competed in Mixed Doubles 60+ 4.0 level.
Jill and Steve Beck, Steve went to grade school in Ketchum, honeymooned in Sun Valley 41 years ago with Jill and are now part time residents here, competed in Mixed doubles 60+ 4.0 level. Jill also played in 60+ 4.0 level women’s doubles with her partner Kathy Klitzner from Santa Anna, CA. Jill was a former collegiate tennis player at Cal Poly Pomona and UCLA and Steve was a former track star at UCLA.
Lisa and Lee Sponaugle, Ketchum residents, traveled to Flushing Meadows, NY, the home of the US Open to qualify for this national event. They lost in the third round to the eventual gold medal winners in the mixed doubles 50+ 4.5 level event. Lee Sponaugle, the current president of the Wood River Valley Pickleball Alliance, won a national champion gold medal in the men’s singles 55+ 4.0 level. Lisa was a former collegiate soccer player at George Washington University and Lee was a former collegiate tennis player at Penn State University.
In other Pickleball tournament news from around the world, November 20th at Tres Palapas pickleball resort in Baja Mexico saw Patti Lousen and her partner Lisa Berry win 2nd place in Women’s Open division. In a tough match that went to three games, the team from Cabo San Lucas prevailed. Nonetheless, Patti and Lisa came home with a nice cash prize for second place.
Patti and partner Tom Bowman also placed third in the 50+ 4.0 mixed doubles in the same tournament.
