SFES Tournament a Huge Success

While it was brutally cold on Sunday, February 8, the camaraderie of the 32 pickleball teams entered into the 2nd Annual SFES Pickleball Tournament at the indoor Suffield Pickleball facility on Kenny Roberts Drive warmed everyone up. The tournament and accompanying raffles raised about $5,000 for the Suffield Foundation for Excellent Schools grant coffers.

SFES President Keith Woods was lavish in his praise for Windsor Federal Bank, which was the overall sponsor, as well as to XGT Fitness, Resilience Physical Fitness, Suffield Village Market, Suffield Village Dental and Advanced Wheels, each of whom sponsored one of the five playing courts.

The format guaranteed each team a minimum of five games. In all but the beginner division, semifinals and finals were held to determine the winners and runners up. Partway through the morning, video of the teams playing went live on Facebook. Raffle sales were brisk online and throughout the five hours with people hoping to win one of the three fabulous, grouped prizes. In addition to tournament play, a brief skills clinic was held for the beginner teams, and a skills competition was held at the end of the day with the opportunity to win raffle tickets.

The Sporty raffle was won by Kelly Alexander and consisted of memberships to XGT Fitness complete with yoga mat and tote bag, and Suffield Pickleball, two tickets to a UConn Women’s basketball game donated by Alexa Woods, a golf foursome at Suffield Country Club and an American Hockey League merchandise pack.

The Taste of Suffield raffle consisted of gift certificates to Tosca, Zantos, Three Figs, Suffield Pizza and Café Barista and included a private cooking class for four with Daniel Mahoney. Trish Danielson was the lucky winner of this gastronomic prize.

The Elegance Package raffle was won by Robert Klesczewski and consisted of a photo session with RF Photography owned by Rob Faber, and gift certificates to Cara Mia Medical Spa, Norris Barber Lounge and Karenough Crafts and Boutique.

The 50/50 raffle brought in $210 and Megan Hastings, the winner, graciously donated her half back to the SFES.

And while one could say that everyone who got out and had some fun was a winner, the official winners were as follows:

• Advanced Division – Bobby Degray and Cinely——Runners up: Kelly Caniff and Stacy Fortin
• Intermediate CoEd – Vicky Sheehan and Alex Shligersky – Runners up: Cindy and Stuart Davis
• Intermediate Women – Maggie Collins and Kelly Alexander – Runners up: Kim Wurm and Nicole Vargas
• Intermediate Men- Ken Goldstein and Brian Feeney – Runners up: Chip Dyer and Steve Petrolati

The SFES wishes to thank all the sponsors who gave so generously to help make this a success as well as those who braved the blustery winds to come out to play! To see more pictures of the day, please visit the SFES Facebook page and to learn more about the SFES, go to www.sfes.org.