From the April event in Naples, 30 Villages residents took home 63 medals.
The U.S. Open Pickleball Championships drew the pickleball world to Naples for a week in late April.
Thousands of participants and fans flocked from all over the country, either in person or via livestream on the internet or television, for a week of action.
Residents of The Villages demonstrated their outstanding skills in the midst of all the publicity.
In the weeklong competition held April 17-24, the Villages won 63 medals from 30 teams.
Deb Harrison and Ted Meyer were two of the 30 medalists, each earning four medals over the course of the week. Meyer, of the Village of Pinellas, had an incredible weekend, winning gold medals in four different competitions.
Meyer exclaimed, “It feels amazing, but it was unexpected. I had a feeling we’d do well. “
Meyer had previously won four medals at the tournament, but none of them were gold. Meyer secured all four gold medals in doubles competitions, two in men’s and two in mixed doubles. Gregg Brents won the age 70 and over bracket and Gary M. Miller won the skill/age 5.0/65+ bracket in the men’s doubles. Meyer won his two gold medals in mixed competition with Harrison. Harrison and Meyer took gold in the mixed doubles for people aged 70 and up, as well as the mixed doubles skill/age 5.0/65 and up.
Meyer and Harrison, representing the Village of Briar Meadow, paired up once again as they had in previous US Opens. They said that their persistence is one of the qualities that distinguishes them as a great team.
“Consistency. Getting the ball to bounce. Patience and getting the ball to bounce. There’s nothing remarkable about it; it’s just a fine, strong pickleball,” Harrison remarked. “Ted is one of the most reliable players on the team.”
The team’s greatest achievement was winning gold over the team that defeated them in the 2019 competition. In the 5.0/60+ competition in 2019, Yvonne and Jim Hackenberg took gold, while Harrison and Meyer took silver.
The Harrison-Meyer pair defeated their opponents this year, but not without a fight. The round-robin format was used to decide the champion in the 5.0/65+ division. The Villages residents divided their two games against the Hackenbergs. To win the gold, Harrison and Meyer needed to defeat their final opponent and limit them to less than 7 points in order to win the point differential tiebreaker.
“Having a clue we had to keep them under seven was very difficult,” Meyer said. “We had them at three for a long time and couldn’t seem to get rid of them. We eventually did it after about 20 minutes of back-and-forth and held them at three. “
Meyer defeated an old foe on many occasions during the event. Meyer and Miller beat Tyler Sheffield and Larry Moon in the men’s doubles skill/age 5.0/65+ division, a team Meyer said he has a huge amount of respect for and has been an outstanding team for a long time.
Meyer’s performance was limited to doubles, but Harrison demonstrated her skill in singles.
She earned a bronze medal in the singles skill/age 4.5/5.0/70+ event. Singles isn’t Harrison’s usual game, so winning any medal was impressive, she said.
One of the most difficult aspects of Harrison’s singles games was having to play the entire court with her 4-foot-11-inch frame. Singles pickleball was much more like tennis for her than doubles pickleball.
Harrison’s other gold came in the skill/age 4.0/5.0/70+ women’s doubles with Priscilla Chambers, in contrast to her two golds with Meyer.
Meyer and Harrison both enjoy pitting their pickleball abilities against players from all over the country. The Villages’ pickleball players are making them proud by playing and serving the group so well against such fierce competition.
Harrison said, “I’m very proud to be in The Villages. A large number of people competed in the tournament and won medals.”
“It was great fun to cheer for all of our mates. People from The Villages could be seen playing from court to court to court.”
Winners Of Medals From The Villages
Gary M. Miller
Andrea Bobby
Bill Jacoby
Joan Azeka
Sandra Civitarese
Paul Cash
Maureen Plainfield
Matt Rumpsa
Steve Butler
Paul Hudanich
Sharon Miller
Deb Harrison
Debra Esch
Ron Rowe
Todd McLain
Jana Spano
Coleen Wells
Jayme Kruse Cordie
Eric Wilson
Gayle Law
Debi Yandell
Cass Rollins
Doug Keazer
Ted Meyer
Gary L. Miller
Steve Campbell
Judy Michel
Randy Esch
Lydia Willis
– Attributed Source, The Villages Daily Sun
