-Shirley Eager 2/6/22

Even though the number of entries was less than when last held in 2020, the enthusiasm and superior play from the 72 shufflers who competed in the Any Doubles Tournament was outstanding. When a decision was made that the annual host of this tournament was not able to hold the tournament at their facilities at Royal Palms in Cathedral City, the Ramon Park Shuffleboard Club offered their facilities in Palm Springs as long as they were not responsible for getting the referees and scorekeepers and they would have help with the boards – not a problem! With representation from 8 of the 9 shuffleboard clubs entered in the tournament, volunteers to “man” the duties of refereeing, scorekeeping and cleaning and waxing the boards went off like clockwork. Ramon Park had just hosted the annual Rookie Tournament a few weeks earlier so their shufflers were now able to focus their help on the food served each day. Everyone was excited when Ramon announced they would be serving their “world-famous” Ramon burgers and the smell of burgers cooking and onions browning during the morning play reminded everyone of what we had missed this past year when Covid had interrupted our shuffleboard season. Mother Nature once again tried to wreck havoc with the tournament by allowing the Santa Ana winds to blow all of the second day of the tournament. With wind wax applied to the boards due to the 40 to 50 mph gusts, many shufflers were having trouble getting their discs to the lag line. One shuffler was heard to say she didn’t worry about going in the kitchen because she couldn’t even get her disc to the lag line.

The Singles Tournament held in December and this Any Doubles Tournament are tournaments that qualify shufflers who were not already on the eligibility list for the annual Tournament of Champions to be hosted by the Desert Crest Shuffleboard Club in Desert Hot Springs Feb. 28, March 1 & 2. To qualify for the TOC, a shuffler must place in the top 4 in either the Championship or Consolation Divisions. By doing so, you’re awarded with a 5-year invitation to the TOC.

Winners of the Championship Division were (left to right): Champion – Wendy & Elvin Unger, Indian Wells; 2^nd – Terry & Marilyn Boyd, Tramview; 3^rd – Gideon & Joyce Carriere, Indian Wells; and 4^th – Garth Dickson & Ray May, Tramview.

Consolation Division Winners were (left to right): Champion – Tracy Ferguson & Hal Coleman, Ramon Park; 2^nd – Val McDougall & Murray Milne, Desert Crest; 3^rd – Louise Bryant & Dave Bolton, Indian Wells; and 4^th – Jean Anderson & Coley Aldrich, Tri Palms.