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A Santa Rosa teenager made a big impression in the sport of pickleball this fall as he and his partner gave the worldâs No. 1 menâs team all they could handle in a Las Vegas tournament.
Will MacKinnon, 17, played both singles and doubles at the PPA Rate Vegas Cup in the final week of October, partnering with Luc Pham of Los Angeles for a stirring run to the quarterfinal round in doubles play.
The Vegas Cup is the highest-level professional event in the sport, organized by the Professional Pickleball Association.
After making it through qualifying rounds, the duo toppled the tourneyâs No. 9 seeds in the round of 16, then faced off against world No. 1 team Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio. Johns has been the sportâs top player over the past several years, but MacKinnon and Pham were not intimidated â they battled hard in an eventual 7-11, 6-11 loss, according to Willâs father and coach, Adam MacKinnon.
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âWill had several cross-court winners against Ben that had the worldâs best player floundering, including two that he couldnât even get a paddle on,â the elder MacKinnon noted.
The younger MacKinnon, a senior at Summerfield Waldorf in Santa Rosa, aims to become a professional pickleball player and is planning a gap year after high school. He has started a fundraising campaign to support his quest to become a top competitor in the sport at https://willtowin-campaign.betterworld.org/
âTurkey Shootâ tournament returns to Santa Rosa
Santa Rosaâs Parkpoint Athletic Club is once again planning its annual pre-Thanksgiving handball tournament, set for later this month.
Now known as the Wine Country Turkey Shoot, the tournament has taken place on the weekend before Thanksgiving for more than 40 years.
The three-day competition begins Friday, Nov. 21 with a new twist, according to organizers â that day will serve as an official pre-qualifier for the World Players of Handball series, and the winner will receive a flight to one of eight qualifying events to try and continue climbing the WPH ladder.
Three of the top players slated to take part have recently been ranked in the top 15 in the country, tournament co-director Lou Barberini noted.
The top seed will be Erik Torres, who has won the Turkey Shoot the past few years. Coleman McGrath, No. 18 in the U.S., will be making his Turkey Shoot debut, and Loren Collado, No. 32, who lost to Torres in last yearâs final, will also be returning.
Last yearâs winner in the menâs age 50-plus division at the Parkpoint event and the top seed in that age group, Dean Crispen, is also slated to return. Crispen, a former national champion, was named the San Francisco fire chief earlier this year.
Two of the nationâs top womenâs players, Tracy Davis and Danielle Daskalakis, will face off in an exhibition match as part of the weekendâs events.
Davis is a multiple-time national champion formerly sponsored by the New York Athletic Club. Daskalakis, currently sponsored by the New York club, holds the national No. 9 ranking.
For more information, see parkpointhealthclub.com.