Sportime Port Washington Hosts Gold Tournament
Sportime Port Washington brought doubles teams together to compete across three different divisions in the Sportime Gold Tournament, the latest installment in its array of pickleball events.
The players were broken into three divisions, Men’s 50+, Women’s 50+ and Men’s 60+, and played multiple round-robin matches in group play that fed into the tournament’s knockout rounds.
“The tournament was a great success. This was the first time I had run an event with three different tournaments going on at the same time, but my staff made sure that players were constantly on the courts and not just sitting around, as happens at many tournaments,” said David Radisch, Sportime’s Pickleball Director. “The teams all came to win, there were some great battles and many close games. Amazingly, all three tournaments ended within 20 minutes of each other. We had teams come from as far as Port Jefferson, and all had a great time.”
In the finals of the Men’s 50+ division, David Seidner & Andrew Goodstadt outdueled Craig Faller & David Stone to capture the Gold Medal and win their division.
The pairing of David Kessler & David Cooper won the third-place match to earn the Bronze Medal.
In the Women’s 50+ division, Heidi Hothan & Caryn Kaplan came together to win, as Kaplan was competing in her first pickleball tournament, and defeated Susan Krawczyk & Doreen Adesso.
“We practiced on Tuesday together, and we’ve known each other for a long time and are friends so we are able to bring that to the court,” said Hothan.
Kaplan added:
“We played our game and stayed focused. We have a lefty and a righty playing so that helps us work well together. We had a system and we stuck to it.”
In the third-place match, Lonnie Yup & Rosemary Gardner won to take home the Bronze Medal.
The duo of Tony Sacco & Chris Olsen settled down as the tournament went on to walk away victorious in the Men’s 60+ category and claim the Gold Medal with a victory over Michael Breit & Michael Dieber in the championship match.
“In the beginning we were maybe a bit too pumped up for some of our matches, and once we were able to settle down we were fine, and didn’t go for too much with our shots,” said Olsen.
Sacco added:
“We play together in the morning programs but this is our first tournament together. There were some really good teams here, but we complement each other well. He has a certain game and I have a certain game, and it meshes well together, and we just do whatever works.”
Both players praised the event overall, with Sacco saying:
“It was great. The facility and courts were amazing, and it ran smoothly. I definitely would come back again.”
Full Results:
Men’s 50 – 59
→Gold: David Seidner / Andrew Goodstadt
→Silver: Craig Faller / David Stone
→Bronze: David Kessler / David Cooper
Men’s 60+
→Gold: Tony Sacco / Chris Olsen
→Silver: Michael Breit / Michael Dieber
→Bronze: Josh Levy / Ira Rosmarin
Women’s 50-59
→Gold: Heidi Hothan / Caryn Kaplan
→Silver: Susan Krawczyk / Doreen Adesso
→Bronze: Lonnie Yip / Rosemary Gardner
