On the Gold Coast last weekend, pickleball did what too many professional calendars still treat as optional — and this time the medals have names on them.
The Pan Pacific Masters Games put 301 players on outdoor hard courts at Pimpama Sports Hub, from Friday 6 to Monday 9 November, in age groups from 35+ through 80+. Pickleball Australia hosted it as a Tier 1 tournament. The winners’ circle lists 52 events. That is a seniors championship that filled the age bands it advertised, including the ones most tours never bother to stage.
The 80+ results are the sentence that should have been available all along. Richard Caldararo took the 80+ men’s skinny singles title, with Brian Humphrys silver. In 80+ mixed, Beverly Sanfordhill Sr and Greg King took gold, Jilly Blyth and Brian Warren silver. King had already won the combined 70+ and 80+ men’s skinny, 15–6, 16–14 over Robert Meers. An 80+ gold on the same site as a 35+ draw is a statement about who the game is for.
Gary Goodwin had the sort of 70+ weekend that would lead a professional recap if the players were twenty years younger. He won 70+ men’s singles, 70+ men’s doubles with Murray Speden — 10–12, 11–4, 11–4 after dropping the first game to Adheesh Piel and Arthur Little — and 70+ mixed with Diane Akers, 10–12, 11–8, 11–6 over Sue Brooks and Robert Miller. Three golds. Same age band. Winnie Green took 70+ women’s singles, 11–9, 11–2. Narelle Croker won the combined 70+ and 80+ women’s skinny, 15–9, 15–6.
Janet Kang was busy in a different register. She and Abigail Thomas won the combined 35+ and 50+ women’s doubles at 3.5 and above, 11–5, 11–8 over Diana Van Dooren and Hannah Handreck, then added the split-age women’s doubles title with Connie Murray, 11–5, 12–10 over Handreck and Elizabeth Reddick. Handreck took her own gold in 35+ women’s skinny singles, 15–11, 15–12 against Kang. A proper argument among the same players, not a set of unconnected club finals.
Jennifer Rogers won the combined 35+ and 50+ women’s singles at 3.5 and above, 11–8, 12–10 against Tania Skewes, and, with Vicki Rogers, the 50+ women’s doubles at 3.5 and above — that second title from the pool. Julie Beavis took the 35+ women’s singles at 3.5 and above, then mixed gold with Daniel Lindquist at 4.0 and above, 11–4, 7–11, 11–9 over RebeKah Green and Wesley Caulkett I.
In the younger combined men’s bands, Luke Ferguson and William Gallagher came from 4–11 down to win the 3.5–3.99 doubles, 11–3, 11–4 in the last two games, and Gallagher added the combined 35+ and 50+ men’s skinny title, 15–6, 15–9 over John Minnaar. Ferguson also won 35+ men’s singles at 3.49 and under. Brad Kluss and Trevor Crowley took the 4.0 and above men’s doubles, 11–8, 11–7; Kluss then won split-age men’s doubles with Mitchell Brazier, 11–9, 11–7. Caulkett I won the combined 35+ and 50+ men’s singles at 4.0 and above.
The 60+ brackets were just as populated. David and Danielle Sands won 60+ mixed at 3.5–3.99, 11–8, 11–8; David had already taken 60+ men’s doubles in that skill band with Rodney Freeman. Paul Riley won 60+ men’s singles at 3.5 and above. Annlouise Love and Terry Jansen came from 2–11 down to win 60+ mixed at 4.0 and above, 11–1, 11–8. Connie Murray added 60+ women’s skinny at 3.49 and under.
The results cover 52 events. Some brackets were merged; some golds were decided in the pool. The point is the spread: singles and skinny singles, gender doubles, mixed, and split-age, from 3.49 and under through 4.0 and above, and from 35+ to 80+.
Four days, 301 players, a Tier 1 sanction, and medals that now have names. The professional calendar can keep treating this as optional. Pimpama did not.
Chris Beaumont
Founder and Editor-in-ChiefChris Beaumont is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of World Pickleball Magazine, published by World Pickleball Media Ltd. He follows the global game closely, reporting on news, developments, stories and tournaments from all five continents. He also hosts the World Pickleball…
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