Like a lot of pickleball players, Andy Silverstein got hooked from the first time he played the game.
Silverstein, a 2010 graduate of Dos Pueblos and a former tennis player for the Chargers, comes from a tennis-playing family, but he admits he really didn’t have a strong affection for the sport.
“I never was in love with tennis, not like I’m love with pickleball,” he said during a break in the action in the 5.0-level mixed doubles competition at the Kenny Loggins Pickleball in the Danger Zone/American Riviera Classic on Friday at the Santa Barbara Municipal Courts. “I’ve touched a tennis racket probably 10 times since I was 18. Then I discovered pickleball four years ago (during) COVID, when everyone discovered it. My parents discovered it first and introduced me, and probably from the first time I played, I was like, ‘OK, this is clearly something that I’m good at and is very fun.’
“For most people, once they step on a pickleball court, it’s hard not to smile and have a good time.”
The Silverstein family had a great time in the mixed doubles competition on the opening day of the three-day tournament. Andy and his partner Bryanna Ojeda of Carpinteria won the 5.0 title (the highest level of competition at the tournament) and his parents, Mark and Chris Silverstein, captured the 3.5 age 63-above division gold.
Andy Silverstein started playing pickleball when he was living in Boston. He played just once a week because the courts were an hour’s drive away. When he moved back to the Santa Barbara area and discovered the action at Muni, he started playing five, six days a week and raised the level of his game.
He cut back on his playing time after his wife, Vanessa, had a baby 11 months ago. His parents were hanging out with the baby as he and Ojeda warmed up for the match against defending champions Jason Saltoun-Ebin of Santa Barbara and Aline Morales of Mexico.
Silverstein and Ojeda used their tremendous quickness and good shotmaking to win the gold-medal final, 11-0, 11-5.
“I grew up playing a lot of ping pong, and pickleball is kind of a mix,” said Silverstein. “There’s some other paddle sports that it mixes with, but I’m a unique pickleball player in just the way I play. I have the tennis strokes that you see from a lot of people here, but I’m a little funky in that I bring a lot of ping pong into it. I think that’s why I feel in love with pickleball because you get to use a lot of fun things from tennis, but it’s just a little quicker and requires some of the fast hand action that ping pong has. So, for me, it’s the perfect mix.”
Aline Morales
Morales was the talk of the tournament last year as she won gold medals in high-level mixed doubles and women’s doubles at the age of 13.
She had so much fun that she and her parents made a return visit from Zihuatanejo; it also gives them the chance to visit family that lives in town.
“It’s a really fun tournament and I hope to come back next year and keep coming back,” she said.
Now 14, Morales got interested in playing pickleball at the age of 8 after watching professional matches on YouTube.
“I saw the game and I liked it, so I said to my dad, ‘Can you please take me?’ And he said, okay.”
Her father, Victor, took her to a basketball court, where a group of Canadians were playing.
She said she will be going to Park City, Utah later this year, to train and will be playing in PPA junior tournaments and some pro qualifiers in the U.S.
She hooked up with Saltoun-Elbin for the American Riviera Classic after the two separately entered as singles.
“Last year, I got a request, from him and I said, Okay. We didn’t meet until the day we played,” she said. “Then this year, he sent me a message: ‘Hey, I saw you’re coming to Santa, Barbara, do you want to play again?’ And I said, of course.”
Said Saltoun: “It’s really weird, in pickleball tournaments, you can sign up by yourself without a partner. So, she had signed up by herself and I had signed up by myself. And before the tournament started, I think there was three or four women in there who also had signed up by themselves. I emailed all of them and said, ‘Hey, I’m looking for a partner if you want to play. She’s the only one who wrote back.
“I had no idea what was going to happen. I thought in the back of my mind this could be something really special or it could be a total bust, but if someone’s gonna come here from Mexico to play that level of pickleball, there’s a chance that there could be something really special. And she is the definition of really special.”
The left-handed Morales is a calm and cool customer on the court. She played with tremendous poise in a hard-fought 15-13 round-robin win against Jill Roberts and Timothy Roberts, the eventual bronze medalists. Her incredibly soft hands slowed hard-driven attacks and she skillfully moved the ball around to set up her partner for winners.
Morales said she comes from a family of musicians. She doesn’t play a musical instrument but she likes to sing. Her favorite artist is Taylor Swift.
Jason Saltoun-Elbin
Like Silverstein, Saltoun-Elbin got into pickleball during the pandemic.
“I tell people I’m a long-time tennis player in town and my same tennis group kept getting smaller and smaller,” said Saltoun-Elbin, formerly the tennis coach at Cate School. “I’m like, ‘Where did everyone go?’ And, after a year, someone’s like, ‘Oh, we’re playing pickleball, come join us.’
“I mean, it’s kind of true. It’s like, ‘I don’t know where my tennis rackets are anymore.’ That’s how addicting it is.”
Saltoun-Elbin is impressed how people like local USA Pickleball Ambassador Richard Salzberg and others have created a culture in the community.
“You meet people like Richard out there (at the Municipal Courts), and you see their passion and enthusiasm for it, and then you just see how crazy big the tournaments are getting, and not just the tournaments. I mean, it’s busy here every morning. And, you know, compared to tennis, where it’s a lot of arranging and you really need to work hard at it, they’ve done an amazing job of building a culture here of ‘come down and play pickleball, come meet people, have fun.’”
He said discovering the sport has been a life changer.
“There’s no question about it. To be able to, in your mid to late 40s, find a new sport and feel like you can get better every day at it and be very good at it, it’s really unusual.”
Saltoun-Elbin has been impressed at how Morales handles herself in the highly competitive atmosphere of a tournament.
“She doesn’t act like a kid,” he said. “She’s the calm and cool and collected one out there. I’ve never seen her get down. In our first game, we were down like 8-1 and there was never anything negative. She had this great positive attitude and we ended up coming back and winning it.
“It’s a very unusual maturity to go along with almost like a once-in-a-generation-type athleticism.”
Barb Kloos
Barb Kloos is an invaluable member of the team that put together the Kenny Loggins Pickleball/American Riviera Classic.
Her organizing and people skills have made the event memorable for all those who participate and for the spectators.
“I love doing it. I love creating really nice experiences for people, yeah, and I love pickleball. I think the pickleball community is a really positive and has just really created a lot of really wonderful friendships and just relationships for people,” she said.
The tournament has generated tremendous response from the pickleball community. There are more than 400 players competing over the three days of competition.
“Usually, tournaments don’t fill up until like two weeks before, and six weeks before this tournament we were full, so there’s just been a lot of excitement about it,” said Kloos. And then the celebrity component, Kenny and Lisa (Loggins) have been really excited about it.”
Saturday’s Kenny Loggins’ Pickleball in the Danger Zone celebrity fund-raising event for the Unity Shoppe will feature eight celebrities and six professional players.
“It all came together because about a little over a year ago, when Kenny had his last concert, he had told Richard (Salzberg, Santa Barbara’s USA Pickleball Ambassador) that he wanted to do a pickleball tournament,” said Kloos. “Richard and I have done tournaments together here, and so he asked me if I would be involved.
“So, it started out as an idea, and then it kind of grew, and then it kind of exploded, and it is what it is today. And we’ve got eight celebrities coming and six pros, and everybody’s pretty excited.”
It didn’t hurt that Joola paddles gave out 400 paddles to every player and Blenders Sunglasses provided 100 pairs of sunglasses for every gold medal winner.
Mixed Doubles Results
Level 3.0
(Age 32-56)
Gold
Darcie McKnight/Mark Scher
Silver
Summer Battle/Alex Guillen
Bronze
Mailynda Le/Rob Schiff
(Age 57-64)
Gold
Melissa Costello/Stephen May
Silver
Amy Jennings/CJ Jennings
Bronze
Niki Sawyer/Tom Habrock
(Age 64-above)
Gold
Bridget Jones/Randy Jones
Silver
Sandra Miller/John McGuigan
Bronze
Eileen Crossley/Erick Trigueros
3.5
(age 51-56)
Gold
Lisa Loggins/Armen Majkus
Silver
Christine Chan/Michael Lyons
Bronze
Lisa Streett/Hugh Margerum
(Age 57-62)
Gold
Arlene Ozaki/Kevin Kunisaki
Silver
Frann Wageneck/Joel Banez
Bronze
Bonnie Ocello/Kevin Ocello
(Age 63-over)
Gold
Chris Silverstein/Mark Silverstein
Silver
Carmen Lamp/Scott Lamp
Bronze
Nancy Moondust Kaplan/Michael Jianuzzi
4.0 (age 5-51)
Gold
Kelli Brill/Brad Luton
Silver
Kym Paszkeicz/Davide Lomellini
Bronze
Tristin Tracy/Jason Barbaria
(52-61)
Gold
Natasha Chen/Edgar Chen
Silver
Teresa Selzer/Kent Pierce
Bronze
Lisa Oki/Richard Eppolito
(62-69)
Gold
Katie Clause/Jerry Jacob
Silver
Leslie Thomas/Joseph Lambert
Bronze
Gigi Van Zanten/David Bader
(70 over)
Gold
Diann Davisson/Brian Zagala
Silver
Cathleen (Cathy) Kaufman/Reuben Ruiz
Bronze
Patricia Pinkin/Scott Burns
4.5
(All ages)
Gold
Jill Sharkey/Jake Lounsbury
Silver
Sarah-Jayne Bedford/Tyrone Wells
Bronze
GraceAnn Graumann/Kelly Vandever
5.0
(All ages)
Gold
Bryanna Ojeda/Andy Silverstein
Silver
Aline Morales/Jason Saltoun-Ebin
Bronze
Jill Roberts/Timothy Roberts
