Weekly Briefing: The Supreme Court And Pickleball. EMACS Coming Up. You Go Flo.

Stories you will find interesting:

1) Fight For Courts Reaches The Court

Ok, so it is not the U.S. Supreme Court, which has its hands full of weighty issues, and it is not the Supreme Court of Canada, which hears appeals from the provinces, but the Supreme Court of British Columbia has some weight. It listened to an appeal that pitted tennis players vs. pickleball players.

The court sided with the pickleballers.

Of course, it did.

A group in Vancouver raised money and built tennis courts in Mayne Island, B.C., but the Mayne Island Community Centre Society owns and operates the courts. The pickleballers wanted access and got 21 hours a week. The tennis folks resisted...with a lawyer.

Pickleball won when the B.C. court said the MICCS could do what they want with the courts.

And there you have it: judicial intervention in pickleball.

2) European Masters Athletics Championships

To get a full measure of the remarkable success of U.S. Masters athletes in Greensboro, keep an eye on the EMACS, which start September 23.

No doubt, word of the dominance of Jeannie Rice and Sue McDonald, among others, has reached the other side of the Atlantic. The Europeans should be inspired. If you want to keep an eye on European athletes and compare to the U.S. here is a site. 

I would imagine the event will be well-attended given the seaside location of Pescara on the Adriatic Sea. Rome to Pescara on high speed train is $44 and can be as low as $18.

3) Flo Meiler And Decathlon For W85-89

Flo Meiler will likely be oldest woman to enter the decathlon in the W85-89 age group of a Masters meet, according to John Seto, who runs the official rankings for World Masters Athletics (www.mastersrankings.com). Flo will do 10 events in two days, August 12-13 in Walnut, Calif., at the USATF Masters Outdoor Combined Events National Championships.

Flo is entered officially in the meet and she is not attempting this as a newbie to 85-89. She is 89.

If anyone can do it, Flo can. She is a multi-time national champion in various events. If you are worried about how a 89-year old woman can get off the ground for jumping events just know that Flo is ranked No. 1 in the world in the pole vault, and 200m Steeplechase, No. 2in the high jump, and she can throw the weight (No. 2).

"I'll do the best I can," Flo told Geezer Jock.

 

 Flo Meiler with the javelin. Photo credit: Rob Jerome.