PICKLEBALL SWEEP
Standout player Mona Burnett scores five
gold medals at Nationals. BY JEN BROSAK
E
ight years ago, Mona Burnett was
riding her bicycle past the Sun City
Grand’s pickleball courts in Surprise,
Arizona, when she noticed a swarm of
activity. A fan of racquet sports, she was
intrigued by the gameplay on the courts.
She asked a few questions, signed up for
an introductory lesson, and the rest, as
they say, is history.
Today, Burnett, 58, has become one
of the game’s most dominant players. At
the 2015 USAPA Nationals, she racked up
five gold medals, sweeping each division
in which she played, including Women’s
Doubles Age 55+ with partner Luba
Zhekhovskaya, Mixed Doubles Age 55+
with partner Tyler Sheffield, Women’s
Singles Age 55+, Senior Open Women’s
Doubles with Zhekhovskaya and Senior
Open Mixed Doubles with partner Scott
Moore.
“It was an experience that is probably a
once-in-a-lifetime achievement and I feel
so fortunate to have had the experience,”
says Burnett, who is retired from the
real estate industry. “Not once did I ever
think that I would win every bracket that
I entered, but it sure was a fun ride!”
After her singles win, a friend informed
her that she had made a clean sweep of
each division she had entered in her age
bracket.
“At that point, the thought crossed
my mind that five gold medals was a
possibility. As any competitor knows,
these are thoughts that you cannot focus
on or you tighten up considerably on
the court. So, now the challenge was to
stay grounded and allow Luba and me
to play our best in the final match of the
tournament. When Luba and I won the
Senior Open Women’s Doubles, and had
only one event left, the situation become
more real than ever,” she says.
Her final event was the Senior Open
Mixed gold-medal
match with partner
Moore.
“When Scott and I
won the Senior Open
Mixed Doubles gold,
I was so excited that
I couldn’t wipe the
smile off my face.
I was ecstatic,” she
recalls.
Burnett said the
most challenging part
of her five-bracket
sweep was the bronzemedal match of the
Senior Open Women’s
Doubles bracket.
“We won the first
game, lost the second
game and were down 10-7 in the third
game,” she explains. “We actually lost
the final point of the match, but then
heard ‘foot fault,’ which gave us the side
out. We fought hard and it took two side
outs, but we managed to prevail over our
opponents 12-10 in the third game.”
Burnett, who splits her time between
Surprise, Arizona, and her native Canada,
says her skills from playing squash
transferred over “quite nicely” to the
game of pickleball.
In addition to her success at Nationals,
Burnett has medaled in many prestigious
North American tournaments, including
the Tournament of Champions, the
Huntsman World Senior Games, the
Grand Canyon State Games, the SoCal
Classic and the Canadian Western
Nationals. She is also the 2011 USAPA
Nationals Mixed Open Gold Medalist
and the 2014 USAPA Nationals Senior
Women’s Doubles
Gold Medalist, and at
the 2015 Tournament
of Champions, she
won gold in Senior
Women’s Doubles
and silver in both
Senior Mixed Doubles
and Senior Women’s
Singles events.
“I enjoy the
competition,
playing outdoors in
the sunshine and
the challenge of
constantly improving,
but I think most of all
I enjoy the pickleball
community,” she says.
“I have met people
who never would have come into my life
if it hadn’t been for pickleball. It’s a sport
that anyone can play, young or old!” •
MARCH 2016 |
MAGAZINE
37