For Chippewa Valley residents, pickleball is an activity where your serve improves with experience. This was evident at the inaugural Wisconsin Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Challenger tournament, where participants and “world-class seniors” showed their skills on the court.

Over the weekend of July 24-27, the Wisconsin PPA Challenger was held at the Lake Hallie Pickleball Complex – the largest in the state – at Gower Park (11510 17th Ave., Lake Hallie) and Northstar Middle School (2711 Abbe Hill Dr., Eau Claire).

Competitors and spectators braved the summer heat at the bracket-style pickleball tournament, divided into categories including Pro, Senior Pro, Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles, Mixed Doubles, and Men's Singles.

The Wisconsin PPA Challenger Series featured a substantial $15,000 prize, divided amongst the winning circle categories. Payouts are awarded to first, second, and third place recipients in each event after the tournament’s completion.

This series offers beginning players a supportive path to become an aspiring pickleball professional on the Carvana PPA Tour, according to media releases leading up to the weekend-long event.

An additional $20,000 prize — donated on behalf of Markquart Motors — will be divided to first, second, and third-place winners of the Senior Open categories. This quickly became the largest prize pool in any PPA senior touring division event; first, second and third place winners in each event received a payout following the tournament.

An increasingly popular sport in the Valley and nation, the tournament fostered camaraderie, with players sharing laughs as they threw overhand 'smashes' and even experienced the occasional 'pickle' — losing a game without scoring any points.

Congratulations to the prize winners and all who competed during this weekend's Wisconsin PPA Challenger tournament!

PRO Division

Mens Doubles Pro Main Draw - Gold
Juan Benitez Gold & Mohaned Alhouni

Mens Singles Pro Main Draw - Gold
Connor Mogle

Womens Doubles Pro Main Draw - Gold
Chloe Igleski & Arielle Butler

Womens Singles Pro Main Draw - Gold
Lauren Hidalgo-Smith

Mixed Doubles Pro Main Draw - Gold
Zoey Weil Gold & Adam Harvey

Senior Pro Division

Men's Doubles Senior Pro - Gold
Dave Weinbach & Rick Witsken

Men's Doubles Division

Mens Doubles Skill: (3.0 To 3.5) Age: (50 And Above) - Gold
Rick Lehman & Bryan Bradley

Mens Doubles Skill: (3.0 To 4.0) Age: (8 To 49) - Gold
Chee Yang & Sitha Thor

Mens Doubles Skill: (4.0) Age: (50 And Above) - Gold
Waclaw Hojnoski & David Markquart

Mens Doubles Skill: (4.5) Age: (8 To 49) - Gold
Eric Rhiel Gold & Luke Maldonado

Mens Doubles Skill: (5.0) Age: (8 To 49) - Gold
Matt Walker Gold & Justin Dering

Mens Singles Division

Mens Singles Skill: (3.0 To 4.0) Age: (50 And Above) - Gold
Dan Peerenboom

Mens Singles Skill: (3.5 To 4.0) Age: (8 To 49) - Gold
Matt Joswick

Mens Singles Skill: (4.5 And Above) Age: (8 To 49) - Gold
Jonathan Merchan

Womens Doubles Division

Womens Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (50 And Above) - Gold
Sue Abrams & Jennifer Bednarek

Womens Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (8 To 49) - Gold
Spela Sluga & Araksya Hovsepyan

Womens Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (50 And Above) - Gold
Amy Mielke & Debra Lyrek

Womens Doubles Skill: (4.0 And Above) Age: (8 And Above) - Gold
Kelsey Kemper & Lauren Willkom

Mixed Doubles Division

Mixed Doubles Skill: (3.0 To 3.5) Age: (50 And Above) - Gold
Terry Winter & John Drawbert

Mixed Doubles Skill: (3.0 To 3.5) Age: (8 To 49) - Gold
Missy Meixner & Matt Meixner

Mixed Doubles Skill: (4.0) Age: (8 And Above) - Gold
Sheng Chang & Dae Woong Lee

Mixed Doubles Skill: (4.5 And Above) Age: (8 To 49) - Gold
Kaitlin Tran & Mike Matheson