STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
The 5th annual Men’s Second Chance Living Pickleball Fundraiser gets underway on Friday in Sun Valley.
The event will conclude on Sunday with a Paddle Up Champions Match, in which the public is invited to watch the Legends play free of charge.
This year’s Legends include John McEnroe, former World No. 1 and seven-time Grand Slam singles tennis champion, and Mats Wilander, former World No. 1 and seven-time Grand Slam tennis singles champion.
Also, Mikael Pernfors, a 1986 French Open finalist, who won back-to-back NCAA singles championships at the University of Georgia. And, Kaitlyn Christian, current World No. 3 women’s pickleball player who has podiumed at the PPA Desert Ridge Classic and the PPA Veolia Austin Cup, after winning an NCAA doubles tennis championship at University of Southern California.
Pros and Legends will provide two hours of instruction followed by matches for prizes from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Friday, July 31.
Pros are Brandon Hearn, David Furman, Stefan Andren, Mattias Johansson, Rich Lopez and Scott Crandall.
The Legends will then take part in a Legends Exhibition Match and Fundraising Dinner from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, at a home near Sun Valley. The dinner will be provided by the Sun Valley Culinary Institute and coupled with an auction and live paddle raise.
The three events on Friday and Saturday are sold out, but Sunday’s exhibition featuring The Legends will be offered free of charge to the public from 10 a.m. to noon. It will be held at the Sun Valley Tennis and Pickleball Club.
Funds raised from the three-day event will go to the Hailey-based MSCL, which provides men in addiction recovery with housing, financial education, medical benefits and other resources they need to maintain a sober lifestyle.
The organization now has four homes for the men to stay in while they rebuild their lives.
“Eight years now we’ve been going, and we’ve helped over a hundred men restart their lives,” said MSCL Founder Sonya Wilander.
Learn more at https://msclhouse.org/.