GUAM’S pickleball association president and members flew to Saipan to show support for the inaugural event of the Pickleball Federation of the NMI on Saturday at the newly striped American Memorial Park.
The president of the Pickleball Guam Association and USA Pickleball ambassador of Guam, Ronni Connelly, along with members Derick Alcorn, Tomi Castillo, William Josler and Albert Manansala joined the Saipan tournament.
Connelly is also a gold medalist in her division when she competed in the Hawaii International Pacific Rim Pickleball Tournament which had over 500 participants.
“It’s good that we are here with Nelson Krum [Paradise Dental general dentist and founder of the Pickleball Federation of the NMI],” Connelly said. “He’s been very supportive with pickleball in Guam and so five of us came here to support him.”
Connelly added, “The turnout of this event was great — it was so fun. I think that’s the thing about pickleball, it’s easy and everyone can have fun. It doesn’t have to be competitive; you could just come out with your family and the learning curve is fast so by the time you know it, the whole family is out playing pickleball.”
Albert Manansala, who topped the recent pickleball tournament on Guam, said: “We’re here to support the pickleball federation. Nelson is a really good friend of ours who came down to Guam during our tournament and our president Ronni said we should come to Saipan and support its federation.”
Manansala described pickleball as a mix of table tennis and chess. “It’s a really good mind game. It’s fast-paced and it’s really good for your health. It’s not hard to pick up; if you have a tennis or ping pong background, you could play pickleball.”
Guam’s Albert Manansala preps for the serve.
Pickleball Guam Association president Ronni Connelly connects the backhand return.
Guam’s Tomi Castillo reaches for the save.
