NPL Combine #1 Blog by Kim Jagd / Photos by Andrew Patron
The feels of an NPL event like a combine, party, charity event or competition just run differently! It is really hard to encapsulate into a short blog, but I can tell you it is completely the opposite of any current political or news story line these days. There isn’t any divisiveness, greed or lying! It’s real people, 50 and over, enjoying life through this vehicle called Pickleball, specifically, NPL Pickleball. It just has a different vibe.
The NPL combine in Coconut Creek, Fl at the Diadem Pickleball center ran without a hitch and was well thought out to the last detail by CEO Paul Bamundo, his right-hand man Sam Mogilner, Commissioner Stu Upson and Charlie Muller (Operations) and Tom DiCaprio selling some hot new NPL logo’d gear.
Despite difficult travels for Ryan Wills (Team Manager) and I, Friday afternoon proved to be a fun day of practice, play and socializing for Scorpions Co-Owner, Don Zuker. Don actually got in a few great rec games with the likes of Rick Witsken and JW Johnson. What a treat! Traveling east and getting up early isn’t the easiest for those of us from the west coast, but Ryan wanted to make sure we were in the gym first (kudos Andy Banachowski, Ryan was paying attention when he coached for you!) to see who the most eager players were and how they went about prepping their bodies for a long weekend of play.
The 124 players were divided by gender into pods of 8 and played once with each player, 1 game to 11. There was a Saturday am session and pm session. Then, the top 3 players from those session were moved into power pods for Sunday afternoon play. 2 pods of 8 women and 2 pods of 8 men would battle to be the best in their pool and ultimately win the automatic draft spots. The competition was great all weekend in all of the pods. Again the real story is: the smiles, camaraderie and memories that these players shared and created that was so incredible. One competitor said, “The combine really demonstrated how well the NPL fosters a fantastic sense of community and teamwork” and another said, “I really enjoyed the electrified atmosphere, competition and the amazing people that are drawn to this amazing sport”. The four winners of the power pods were Jim Bronson, Shay Coker, Karin Ptaszek-Kochis and Natasha Linton. Congratulations!
NPL Founders (and players) Rick Witsken, Beth Bellamy and Michael Chen were not only present but truly made every athlete feel special for attending the combine and for being willing to put their skills on display for the chance to be seen and drafted by the 12 ownership groups. Big props to the participants.
Personally, for Ryan and I this weekend brought back lots of memories in convention centers watching talented 13-17 club volleyball players pursue their dreams of becoming members of collegiate volleyball programs. Armed with our large 3 ring binders it was reminiscent of the 1990’s style recruiting. For combine #2 in Grapevine, Tx our staff will jump into the current millennium and be evaluating electronically on our phones. YAY! And for our newly developed staff it was a great kickoff weekend for Ryan, Don and I.
Shout out to NPL star Scott Fliegelman and to NPL hopeful Michael O’Neal, as Michael shares his NPL Combine experience in the latest 4.0 to Pro podcast!