Pickleball double gold for Port Stephens legends John Grace and Santah Upneck-Nel

PORT Stephens Pickleball Club is riding a wave of success on the northern NSW circuit.

The fledgling club has just returned from the prestigious Barrington Coast Doubles tournament in Taree with an extraordinary 32 medals.

Hosted by Hallidays Point Pickleball Club, the popular event attracted some of the state’s finest players, with the large Port Stephens contingent bringing home an impressive nine gold medals.

Club president John Grace and female player Santah Upneck-Nel each achieved double gold success.

In a tremendous club effort, the Port Stephens team also captured six silver medals and 17 bronze to underline their depth of talent.

The Barrington Coast Doubles event has become something of a tradition for the club and this year’s turnout was bigger than ever — including a large number of players competing in their first-ever tournament.

Several of those first-timers made it all the way to the podium in their debut outing.

Club stalwart Grace won gold in the 65+ Men’s doubles partnering Leigh Thatcher, then backed it up with a second gold in the 70+ mixed doubles alongside June Southwell.

An in-form Upneck-Nel matched that effort – winning the 19+ women’s doubles with Nicole Goggin before bagging a second gold in the 19+ mixed doubles partnering Sean Andrews.

The strength in depth ran deep, too — Goggin, Andrews, Lachlan Gardiner, Steven Wilson, Richard Lake, Cherrie McDougall and Janet Paton all backed up for a second medal across the weekend, taking the club’s tally of multiple medallists to nine.

Port Stephens’ depth was most obvious in the 19+ mixed doubles (3.49 DUPR and under) bracket, where three PSPC pairs swept all three medal positions — gold, silver and bronze.

President Grace said the club’s composure and discipline on court didn’t go unnoticed by officials either.

“The tournament was a huge success for Port Stephens players and all the medals were a fine achievement and well deserved,” he told News Of The Area.

“As president of this great club, I loved seeing the camaraderie of our group supporting each other in games being played, which was difficult at times as there were so many PSPC shirts playing on multiple courts at the same time,” John said.

Ballina referee Brian Alston praised the Port Stephens players on how they play the game and was pleased to see lots of dinking rallies.

In the Men’s Doubles, William Gallagher and Stephen Stojanovski won Open gold while silver medallists included Gardiner and Xavier Kouros (19+DUPR 3.49 under) and bronze medalists Andrews and Craig Currie (19+ DUPR 3.5 and above); Steven Wilson and Josef Vostinar 65+ (DUPR 3.49 and under); John McDonald and Richard Lake 65+ (DUPR 3.5 and above) and Manny Mifsud-Ellul and Norman Ray 70+ (DUPR 3.49 and under).

The medals continued in Women’s Doubles with Eva Qiang Xu and Jennifer McCarthy earning silver in the 55+ (DUPR 3.49 and under); Barbara Blane and Janet Paton 70+ (DUPR 3.49 and under).

Bronze medallists included Trudie Paton and Rachel Wherrett — 19+ (DUPR 3.5 and above); Jo Laming and Linda Blythe — 55+ (DUPR 3.49 and under); Jane Bellman and Cherrie McDougall —  65+ (DUPR 3.49 and under) and Christine Johnson and Cheryl Sanderson  70+ (DUPR 3.49 and under).

In the Mixed Doubles, Debbie Black and Steven Wilson snared gold in the 55+ (DUPR 3.49 and under) with Nicole Goggin and Lachlan Gardiner grabbing silver, 19+ (DUPR 3.49 and under) and bronze for Cherrie McDougall and Tom Kuehn — 19+ (DUPR 3.49 and under) and Janet Paton and Richard Lake  70+ (DUPR 3.49 and under).

By Chris KARAS