Lauree Gott Sharon Siebert Pickleball Champions: Lauree Gott and Sharon Siebert won gold at the National Senior Games in Des Moines, Iowa. The two longtime friends and athletes captured the championship in the 3.5 skill level of the 55-59 age group, beating 40 other teams from four countries.
From Local Play to National Title
Lauree Gott, from Old Town, Maine, and Sharon Siebert started playing pickleball together two years ago. Their shared love for competition led them to enter the Maine Senior Games, which they won before heading to nationals.
“We’re just trying to embrace the sport. You get older, you want to still compete, and so that’s what we’re doing,” said Lauree Gott.
Before entering big tournaments, the pair made sure they were ready to compete seriously.
“We played for a bit and had to get good enough so that we felt that we could at least compete a little bit at tournament level. Then, it’s kind of like we’ve got that competitive spirit back, competitive juice, so we were like ‘yeah, let’s start looking for some tournaments’ locally, and then we branched out from there,” said Lauree Gott.
Strong Performance in Iowa
The tournament in Iowa brought together 41 teams from four different countries. Gott and Siebert stood out by winning every match and finishing on top.
“It’s so much fun. Everybody’s so supportive. It was such a good time. We met some amazing people there. The other Mainers that were there were cheering us on in the gold medal game. It’s just a great, fun community. It’s unreal. We certainly didn’t go into it thinking we were going to win gold. We were just hoping to go out, have a good time, play hard, see what happened, and we ended up winning it all,” said Lauree Gott.
Lifelong Athletic Bond
Lauree Gott once coached Sharon Siebert on the Husson University women’s basketball team. Sharon Siebert is still the program’s top scorer with 1,876 points. Gott is now an assistant coach on Kissy Walker’s staff and even faced Kissy Walker during the filming of this story.
More Pickleball to Come
Lauree Gott and Sharon Siebert plan to keep playing in both indoor and outdoor events in Maine as they prepare for future state and national tournaments.
Their win comes just in time for National Pickleball Day, which falls on Friday.
News in Brief: Lauree Gott Sharon Siebert Pickleball Champions
Lauree Gott and Sharon Siebert from Maine won gold in their age group at the National Senior Games in Iowa. The duo has only been playing for two years but continues to grow in the sport. They plan to stay active in local and national pickleball events.
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