by [email protected] | Jun 26, 2013 | Tournament and Clinic Highlights
What a busy, yet fun summer for the Grubbs family. The Grubbs caravan rolled through Grand Rapids this last weekend for the 2013 Meijer State Games of Michigan. I had never been to this event before, but what a great tournament. We played at the MVP field house where there were 15 pickleball courts taped off on 5 basketball courts. What a great facility to host this big of a tournament! Over 250 players signed up to compete for the titles.
Friday night my wife Abby, Dad, AKA “Rocket”, and I all drove up to Grand Rapids to check out the facility and set up our vendor tables for the tournament.
Saturday play began at 8:00am. Abby and I were the only ones in the family playing on Saturday in the mixed doubles open division. Unfortunately Abby wasn’t feeling very well so our mixed doubles day was pretty short. We played two good teams in Marsha Koch / Tom Wells and Carolyn Ebbinghaus / Bart Ford, so we got to watch a lot of really good pickleball.
Sunday was the mens doubles. My brother Zack and I were registered in the OPEN doubles bracket. We knew we would have to play well to have a chance at a medal. Just our luck, we got to play last year’s Gold Medalist in Bart Ford and Jeff Christmann. What great players. Somehow we managed to eek out a win and move on. We ran up against another great team in Jim Hackenberg and Paul Colletta, but somehow managed to come up with the shots when we needed them. So Zack and I managed to keep on advancing until we got to the finals. Waiting for us in the finals was none other than the Rocket himself and his partner Jeff Siebert. They had a great run of their own. Rocket and Jeff had lost in the first round to the always great Paul Sprainitis and Pat McPhail, then clawed their way out of the losers bracket to make it back into the finals.
We have played Dad and Jeff 100’s of times back in our hometown of Brookville so we knew it was going to be a tough match. After a lot of back and forth rallys, Zack and I were able to pull out a hard fought win 11-8, 11-8. Great way to end a tournament.
It doesn’t get much better then that getting to play pickleball and hanging out with friends and family all weekend. SO YOU KNOW WHAT? LETS DO IT AGAIN NEXT WEEKEND!
Keep playing everyone,
Pickleball Rocks!
by [email protected] | May 26, 2013 | Tournament and Clinic Highlights
For the 5th year in a row we played the always-fun Terre Haute Classic. And once again it was an experience like no other tournament we’ve played. From the time you walk into Brittlebank Park, you are welcomed with warm friends, never ending food and plenty of high level pickleball.
If you are looking for non-stop pickleball, this may not be the tournament for you.
This is the only tournament I’ve ever played where they stop so everyone can have a round of homemade root beer floats.
This is the only tournament where they stop play so the Coon Holler Kids can play a few kickin’ bluegrass tunes to give everyone a short break to catch their breath.
This is the only tournament I’ve been to where women ask you to take pictures of their rears. 🙂 
This is the only tournament I know where someone runs around the courts (yes, literally runs and yells) while handing out prizes and gifts from the various sponsors.
This is the only tournament I know that ends two of the days with homemade ice cream for everyone. (turned and made right there at the courts).
This is not the only tournament I’ve seen with lots of food, but the food is just never-ending at Terre Haute.
Thanks to Deli and the whole team for another fun Terre Haute weekend. Haute 5!
by [email protected] | Feb 7, 2013 | Rockets Ramblings
As we all know, Pickleball Rocks.
But some people may not know how much pickleball means to us personally.
The Grubbs family has always been a sports family.
For years, tennis was our sport. My wife Karen and I both played tennis recreationally while our two boys were small. Later I played USTA tournaments, rising as high as a 4.5 rating before retiring to watch sons Josh and Zack play in college. For the next 5 years, Karen and I rarely missed a college match.
Tennis gave us a reason to be together on a regular basis. And we enjoyed every minute of those times.
When the boys college tennis careers ended, pickleball suddenly came into our lives through an introduction by some good friends.
We immediately knew we had found our new family sport.
Soon we joined the USAPA and began playing and
spreading the good word of pickleball through a simple website called
AllAboutPickleball.com.
Tournaments became, and continue today to be, a full family road trip with many times Karen and me and both sons and their wives playing with 2 grandsons in tow.
Pickleball gives us our reason to get together on a regular basis, so the good times are still in full force and we love every minute of it.
From our meager beginning, All About Pickleball has grown into a full family affair with several businesses now, including
PickleballRocks.com, our national pickleball blogging news website,
PickleballVideoNetwork.com where we bring you the very best in high interest, fun and educational pickleball videos, and our latest,
PickleballShopping.com with the very best selection of cool “Pickleball Rocks” logo
dri-fit shirts for ladies and gents, hats, coolers, cooling towels, and other assorted pickleball gifts.
Yes, pickleball has been very good to us and we are truly thankful for pickleball and everyone who promotes it.
Recently our family had our yearly planning and goal setting meeting to discuss what our plans are for pickleball this year. Someone, and I don’t remember who, came up with the idea of somehow giving back because pickleball has been so very good to our family.
So the decision has been made that for this year, from every sale we make from any of our pickleball related businesses, we will donate one dollar of that sale to the USAPA to help grow the sport of pickleball.
We wish we could do more because the sport has certainly been a blessing to the Grubbs family.
But for this year, the one dollar donation will be our policy. We want to thank everyone in advance who makes any purchase, big or small, from us. That includes pickleball paddles, our very popular “Pickleball Rocks” dri fit shirts, portable chairs, cooling towels, etc.
Yes, anything you buy from us will put a dollar in the pot to help grow pickleball. In doing so, you too will be giving back to our great sport.
We hope you have a blessed 2013 filled with love, good health and lots of pickleball.
– Rocket and the whole Grubbs Family
by [email protected] | Jan 10, 2013 | Rockets Ramblings
Just a quick word of welcome to our newest members of our Facebook Pickleball Nation. Please keep us posted on your pickleball progress and adventures.
Welcome Newest Pickleball Nation Members:
Joe LaSpina, Michelle Napoletano, Barbara Newman Bonsignore and Paul Medici.
by [email protected] | Dec 11, 2012 | Rockets Ramblings
The press release went out today.
We are proud to announce our new sponsorship of Prem Carnot and PickleballHelp.com.
Prem, like ourselves, is passionate about the game of pickleball. He has been a fanatical player and tournament winner for years. Lately, Prem has been passing on his experience and vast knowledge of the game to others, through live lessons and clinics in the San Diego area.
Now he has taken his unique ability to help others with their game to a new level with the launching of PickleballHelp.com.
As everyone knows, our mission at PickleballRocks.com and AllAboutPickleball.com is to grow the sport of pickleball in any way we can. Obviously if players feel like they are continually improving, they will be even more inclined to stick with it and of course tell others. This ability to help players get better is what Prem Carnot brings to the national pickleball community.
PickleballHelp.com allows any player, anywhere, to be able to get top level help, advice and guidance from one of the most recognizable names in the sport. Prem Carnot and his wife Wendy have played all over the country and tirelessly promote pickleball everywhere they go.
Besides our long time USAPA sponsorship, this is our most exciting sponsorship ever. At Pickleball Rocks, we recognized, as with any sport, it can be frustrating when you try to play but things don’t go your way. Prem Carnot is going to help eliminate that frustration for both new and old pickleball players. Like every good teaching pro, Prem has the ability to look at your game and help make you better in a hurry.
We love Prem’s passion for the game and are happy to promote and recommend Prem Carnot’s pickleball coaching to everyone.
In return Prem and PickleballHelp.com will be a new promotional outlet for pickleball paddles, shirts, jackets and gifts from our sister company PickleballChristmas.com”
To learn more about receiving personalized pickleball coaching and help, visit Prem at PickleballHelp.com
And as alway, PICKLEBALL ROCKS!
-Rocket
