Local club is winner at pickleball tourney

Sage Meadow Pickleball Club won two silver medals at the Bend Pickleball Tournament held on Sunday, August 4, at Juniper Park in Bend.

The winners for Sage Meadow were in the men's 3.0 level doubles on Friday and 3.0 mixed doubles held on Sunday. Doug Bermel and Jim Hamilton came away with the silver medal. It was a double-elimination tournament. Doug and Jim lost a match early on in the competition, but fought their way back over a period of 15 exhausting sets (three games per set) to get to the final match. Doug says that heat, exhaustion, and hunger took over at that point and they lost the finals match.

"To achieve what they did in their first tournament ever was a statement of Doug and Jim's skills and fortitude," said local pickleball booster Al Boyette.

In the mixed doubles on Sunday, Jim and Barbara Hamilton put on a similar fight, and finally won the silver in 10 sets. It was even hotter on Sunday and Jim and Barbara only got short breaks between matches before taking on another opponent. That's when their fellow Sage Meadow players stepped into action, with neck massages, ice packs, and lots of encouragement for Jim and Barbara, who stated "there was no way I could have lasted in that heat if my friends hadn't helped me. Those ice packs were wonderful. They really were a big help."

Sage Meadow had 14 players participating in the tournament, which consisted of approximately 200 players from Oregon, California, and other western states.