CORRINE CARR AND
SIMONE JARDIM
2015 WOMEN’S USAPA NATIONAL FINALISTS
Standout players Simone Paiva Jardim
and Corrine Carr are quickly becoming
prodigies on the pickleball court.
Carr, 27, and Jardim, 36, won gold and
silver, respectively, at the USAPA Nationals
V II in Casa Grande, Arizona, in November.
Jardim, a native of Santa Maria, Brazil,
won gold in open women’s singles and
in open mixed doubles with partner
Rafael Siebenschein. Jardim was a two-time
All-American tennis player at Fresno State,
and now serves as the tennis head coach
at Michigan State University. She has been
playing pickleball for almost a year.
Carr, a native of Pinehurst, North Carolina,
who now lives in East Lansing, Michigan,
won silver with Jardim in the National
Open Women’s Doubles. Carr, who has been
playing pickleball for about two years, played
championship golf for the University of South
Carolina, where she majored in math and
finance. She’s currently in graduate school at
Michigan State, pursuing her Ph.D. in finance.
Both women say friends invited them to try
the sport.
“I thought the game looked odd and I didn’t
think there was any way I would like it,” says
Carr. “I played a lot of sports growing up and
played golf and tennis at a high level, so when
I heard about pickleball, my first response
was, ‘Pickleball! What is that?’ But I got
hooked. I love the game and now play it more
than anything else!”
Jardim says her friend, Walter Pelowski,
told her she should try the sport.
“He was in a league at the time, playing
with Dan O’Toole, and told him that he should
get me to join their group,” she said. “So, Dan
showed up at the tennis facility where I work,
and from then on, I started playing at least
once a week with Dan, Corrine, Walter and
many other friends.”
Jardim, who has two children with husband
Chad Edwards, says that she played her first
tournament last May in Kalamazoo, which
was when she truly got “hooked” on the sport.
“I met some great people who I call great
friends now,” she says. “People have been
extremely friendly and the environment is
awesome.”
Both players are racking up impressive
pickleball stats.
In 2015, at the Royal Oak Skill Level
Pickleball Tournament, Carr placed first in
mixed doubles with Kyle Yates and in women’s
doubles with Laura Fenton. Also in 2015,
at the Fall Brawl Pickleball Tournament,
she placed second in mixed doubles with
Matt Staub and women’s doubles again with
Fenton. She also won first place in singles in
the USAPA Pacific Northwest Regional Big
Country RV Bend Pickleball Tournament.
In the Second Annual Pickleball Fever in
the Zoo, Carr won first place in mixed doubles
with O’Toole and won the women’s doubles
division with Jardim.
“I have a blast playing the game and I love
the people I’ve met,” says Carr. “I’ve made
some great friends through pickleball. Also,
although I’m young, I love that I can play
pickleball every day and feel like I’m not
tearing apart my body.”
While pickleball feeds Jardim’s competitive
spirit, she says that it’s the social aspect of the
game that she enjoys the most.
“I believe pickleball is one of the few sports
you can play with or against people of any
age,” she states. “Every Wednesday night, I get
to play pickleball with my friends, and after
we get to hang out and talk about anything.”
Carr agrees. “It’s a great game. Pickleball is
not difficult to pick up and it’s loads of fun.
It’s a game anyone can enjoy on some level,
unlike many other sports. It’s a great way for
people of any age to exercise and have fun.” •
JANUARY 2016 |
MAGAZINE
43