88 compete in Bentwood Bash Pickleball Tournament
Conexion San Angelo newsroom, Jim Sánchez
SAN ANGELO–John Vasquez was one of 88 competitorswho stepped onto a smaller court that measures 44 feet long (inclusive of lines) and 20 feet ... known as a pickleball court to compete in the Bentwood Bash held by the Bentwood Country Club on Saturday, May 12, 2023.Allie Rike, Bentwood’s assistant tennis professional and pickleball professional, coordinated the 1st annual, Bash while Courtney Nagle, director of tennis awarded the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place medals.
Vasquez, a former tennis player who competed in the Men’s Singles finals, defeated Jonathan Runion 2-0 to win his 1st place medal. What John liked about this type of sport is individuals tend to pick it up a lot quicker, and there is less ground to cover.
The difference between pickleball and tennis just to list five are as follows:
• A pickleball net is lower than a tennis net.
• The serving player/team gets one point for each score.
• You must win by at least two points in pickleball.
• Instead of racquets, pickleball uses paddles.
• Pickleball uses a hollow plastic, waffle ball.
The pickleball court’s dimension size was designed to accommodate for the pickleball’s speed as the plastic object tends to be slower and drops quickly. What Rikeliked about this sport is it’s easier on the joints whichallows an older player to be competitive again.
Allie was “super excited” to host this pickleball tournament as players traveled from Lubbock, Texas, Pflugerville, Texas, and as far as Kansas City, Kansas to participate in the first annual, BB held Saturday, May 12-14, 2023.
While this is Bentwood’s first venture into this up-and-coming “new kid on the block” sport, Rike believes it will eventually become popular locally. “I just played in the US Open Pickleball Tournament in Naples, Florida where 9,000 were in attendance to watch 3,000 competitors from among 38 countries.”
For a complete list on the men’s singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles, women’s singles, and women’s doubles matchups and updated scores, go to:
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