Earlier this month, Casper resident Sam Dia traveled to Dallas, Texas, to test his mettle against some of the top pickleball competitors in the country. He returned as a national champion. For Dia, who won the doubles title at the Lapiplasty Pickleball World Championships alongside partner Craig Plante, the journey to a national championship began during the summer at the United Pickleball Association’s Wyoming State Championships. Dia and Plante tore through their statewide competition, earning a spot at the national tournament.
“There was around 3,500 or 4,000 pickleball players from all over the country,” Dia said of the national championships. “It was really exciting.”
Matches consisted of best-of-three sets. On two occasions, Dia and Plante dropped their first set, requiring them to win the next two in a row. Both times, they did just that. As the duo worked their way through the bracket, Dia found he and Plante getting better, he said. With Plante hailing from Buffalo, the pair hadn’t had as much time playing together as many of the other teams competing, Dia said.
“We’d played against each other more than we’d played doubles together,” he said with a chuckle. But with each match played, Dia and Plante became increasingly familiar with one another. The team used a measured, patient approach to outlast their opponents that ultimately worked wonders.
“Patience was the name of the game for us,” Dia said. “We weren’t very aggressive, and were more concerned with wearing our opponents down. I guess you could say we were waiting for them to make a mistake.”
By the time they reached the championship match, the duo was firing on all cylinders. In the end, Dia and Plante won with an incredibly convincing 11–2, 11–3 victory.
“It felt like nothing could go wrong, like everything was working,” Dia said. “It was a really great feeling.”
When all was said and done, Dia left Texas with a gold medal and some serious bragging rights.
“It was the greatest feeling,” he said.
Looking to the future, Dia said he’s unsure if he’ll logistically be able to travel to more large national tournaments, though he added he would love to team with Plante again. Dia said the championship felt like the culmination of roughly the last decade of his life. For him, the game of pickleball has been a passion for nearly a decade. In addition to being an avid player, he’s also done a great deal to promote the game locally and throughout Wyoming as the chief operating officer of the Casper Pickleball and Sports Complex.
“I just love the game, and I wish more people knew about it,” he said. “It’s multi-generational, fairly cheap to get into, can be played recreationally or competitively and is good physical and mental exercise.”
Source: https://oilcity.news/community/sports/2024/11/15/dia-brings-pickleball-national-title-to-casper/