SUN CITY GRAND PICKLEBALLERS “ROCK” ST

The 2004 Huntsman World Senior Games, an annual event, was held October 4-16 in St. George, Utah. This was the 18^th year of Huntsman competition and the event attracted over 7,800 participants from fifty-one countries. The tournament includes a variety of sports for seniors (fifty-five and over) including basketball, bowling, cycling, golf, racquetball, softball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track & field, volleyball, and, of course, pickleball.

Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports on the Huntsman menu, based on the fact that it was offered for the first time last year and drew 48 entries. This year’s number was 138! Pickleball is a cross between tennis and racquetball and is played on a badminton-sized court with a 34-inch high net, a composite or graphite paddle, and a hard plastic ball. Invented by a Washington State legislator named Joel Pritchard, the game is more fun than choking a doberman or feeding an alligator!

Eighteen “athletes” (at least the name tags said we were athletes), men and women, from Sun City Grand in Surprise, Arizona (the club currently has 461 members) entered the pickleball contests, and 12 of the members went away with 20 medals–14 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze. The winners were Pat Kane, Art Johnson, Don Weisheit, Spike Christensen, Barry Ford, Dick Lewis, Bud Thorson, Ron Zettek, Candice Meisner, Donna Weisheit, Dick Wagner, and Rock Borracchini.

One of the more inspiring tales to emerge from the week of competition was the story of Rock Borracchini. The yarn begins on a dark day on April 6 of this year when Rock was in her golf cart returning from a short walk with her dog when she was distracted and her cart went over the curb and hit a lamppost head on. Rock was thrown through the window and suffered severe wounds, including a broken collarbone, a deep gash on the face, a broken cheekbone, and a hard blow to the head that left a blood clot that was compressing 2/3rds of her brain. She was air lifted to the trauma unit at John C. Lincoln in Scottsdale. When she arrived the medical team held out little hope for her survival and called her parents with the dismal news. Rock underwent five hours of surgery. When it was over she was conscious, but the doctors knew that if she survived she would need months or even years of therapy, including speech therapy.

On the second day of her hospitalization Mark Friedenberg, a good friend of Rock (and one of the top ranked pickleball players in Washington State), called her at the hospital. Hoping to inspire her, he promised to play with her in the next major tournament (which happened to be the Huntsman). As Mark related it to me, he “wanted to give her another incentive to get well, and get back and play pickleball.” Rock credits her rapid recovery to her family and friends, especially Mark.

And so on Friday, October 15, she was, after only two weeks of practice, competing with her friend Mark in the mixed doubles contest. They were fighting for the gold. Mark and Rock started slow, getting six points behind before they started to rally. Rock got her confidence back and slowly began burning the opposition. A great struggle, which, when over, resulted in a gold medal for the mixed doubles team of Mark and Rock. How did Rock do it? She said that she was not through with the things that bring joy and satisfaction to her, including participating in several sports. And as Rock notes, perhaps in deference to her interviewer, “nobody says because you age you have to be old.” Good advice. I guess its time to get ready for next year.

Dirk Raat is a Surprise resident and a member of the Sun

City Grand Pickleball Club. He was one of those Huntsman participants who did not win a medal.