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On Tuesday, June 4, local hometown heroes, Roman Young, Ryan Burrows and Alec Wiscombe, set out for a taste of Olympic victory. Since they are nowhere near qualified for Beijing, they went for the next best thing -- the Utah Summer Games. Held in Cedar City, this tournament of champions gives amateur athletes a chance to shine big.
Their story began at the Sorensen P.E. Building on Southern Utah University's cmapus. They were competing in the pickle ball youth division. For those of you who don't know, the sport of pickle ball is a cross between tennis and ping-pong. It is played on a miniature court with wiffleballs. An oversized ping pong paddle is used to spin, power and ace your opponent.
Lined with sweat, blood and a gleam of gold glimmering in their retinas, the competition began. Through perseverance and finesse in shot handling, the three boys finished with a clean sweep of the prizes.
Wiscombe beat out Young for the gold with a score of 11-7, 11-8. It was a long ride home for Young, especially carpooling with the other two medal heads. He had all the shots to win but couldn't capitalize. Kudos go out to him.
Bronze medalist Burrows stated, "Our main goal was to come away with the gold, silver and bronze, and we did that. We respected the game of pickle ball and it now respects us."
Pickle ball was the kickoff event for the summer games. The first medals awarded were claimed by our very own Utah County champions.
Gold medalist Wiscombe proclaimed, "Its good to bring the trophies back to our hometown where our pickle ball days began. It wasn't easy finding places to practice in such a rough neighborhood as ours. People claimed we weren't kosher enough. We endured the hard times and it has paid off. Thank you Ben Williams and Jason Littledike for giving this underdog the brawn to contend."
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There are those, I know, who will say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is the American dream.
-- Archibald MacLeish
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A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.
-- George William Curti |
