Weyburn pickleball player Deana Mainil came home with a silver medal, after playing at the Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships, an 11-day tournament with 2,493 players registered held at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California.
The tournament is played on 49 courts. Mainil played on Nov. 3 in the Women’s Doubles event at a skill level of 3.5 in the 19-49 age division. There were 18 teams in her division, and Mainil played with partner Pam Clark from Regina Beach.
Each match is the best-of-three games to 11, winning by a score of two points.
Mainil and Clark’s first match against Cassie Williams of Edmonton and Judi Narduzzi of Vancouver, and they won by scores of 11-1 and 11-1.
Their second match was against Kym Forgrave and Roxie Augustine from Colorado, where they won by scores of 11-8 and 11-9.
In their third match, the two women went up against Nan Ingersoll and Cori Church from California, and they won 11-4 and 11-2.
Then in their fourth match, against Julie Haddock and Camille Westover from Texas, Mainil and Clark lost 9-11 and 7-11. This knocked them down to the B side where we played their fifth match, going up against Jennifer Schuller and April Muyalde of California, and they won by scores of 11-8 and 11-6.
The Canadian pair then advanced to the gold medal match where they came up against the only team who beat them earlier, Julie Haddock and Camille Westover, and they won with scores of 11-8 and 11-6.
As this team had beat them previously, they had to play one more game up to 15 against them in the Championship Match. In the Championship Match, they lost by a score of 11-15 letting that gold medal just slip away from them, and brought home a silver medal.
“It was an unbelievable experience,” said Mainil, explaining how she was able to make it into this top-level competition.
“Most of the teams at U.S. Nationals had to get there by getting a gold at a qualifying U.S. tournament. If there were still open spots in some divisions, then you could enter a lottery to try to get in. I tried to get into singles through the lottery but wasn’t able to. I was able to play in Women’s Doubles because my partner Pam had won gold in that category at a qualifying tournament in Utah earlier this year. I was fortunate that she asked me to partner with her,” said Mainil.
As Clark is 48 years old, the pair had to play in the under-50 category even though Mainil is 52, as competitors always have to play in the age bracket of the youngest partner as it is considered more difficult.
“We definitely had the best cheering squad with 22 people from Regina Pickleball cheering on each other when we played,” said Mainil.
“Getting to the tournament site on Friday late afternoon, before the tournament officially began, was a lot of fun meeting up with a bunch of Regina Pickleball people and watching a bunch of the top pro players having fun matches,” she added.
This event handed out the largest cash prize in the history of the sport at $80,000. This money is divided between the Pro and Senior Pro Divisions. “I am excited to continue watching the online streaming of friends still playing there during this week,” added Mainil.
The next big tournament that Mainil currently has on her radar to participate in is the first-ever Western Canadian Pickleball Championships, which will be hosted by Regina Pickleball in July of 2020 at the International Trade Center in Regina.
