About Us

Carlos Dessens, President

Carlos is from Guaymas. He is an Industrial Engineer, and has certifications in Administration. Carlos is co-owner of Vive Real Estate. He previously co-owned a sheet metal fabrication company with 250 employees in multiple locations.

Carlos Joined the Board in 2020.

Christa Thomas, Vice President

Christa was a business law lawyer, and partner in a firm in Toronto, Ontario. She had several not-for-profit clients and served on one of their boards.

In 2009, she started What’s Up San Carlos, and continues to update the community on What’s up in San Carlos with a weekly newsletter, website and Facebook.

Since moving to San Carlos in 2006, she has volunteered with several of the local charities, including helping several with their websites. For 4 years, she was on the board of Pro San Carlos / Pueblo Escenico, now the San Carlos Foundation.

Christa worked on turning the rundown Mirador tennis courts into pickleball courts and joined the newly formed board as secretary in 2017. Christa does communications for the pickleball club, including the website and newsletter.

Kelly and her husband, Scott spent 11 winters living aboard their boat while sailing the Sea of Cortez. When Covid hit in 2020 and closed the ports, they wintered at Marina San Carlos. They quickly fell in love with the town, bought a house, became permanent residents, and moved here full-time in 2021.

Kelly holds a business degree in Operations Management, and a minor in Accounting from Colorado State University. She spent most of her career as a contract bookkeeper with multiple clients, while she also owned and operated an Embroidery and Screen Printing Business, as well as a Food Truck Business.

Kelly started playing pickleball in December 2021, and immediately became addicted. Her other activities (church, cards, softball) have had to take a back seat to her love for the game.

Karen Stewart

Karen has been involved in organizing and supporting pickleball in the community since even before we were playing at Mirador. She helped arrange tournaments and other fun events for the pickleball community when we were still scattered at courts around town. She helped get the Mirador courts started and joined the newly formed board as VP at that time.

Karen started, and has owned, Seaside Realty since 2006. She also owned several businesses throughout her career, including ERA Town and Country Realty, Gifts Remembered, and a Campground at Woodland Park.

She has lived all over the world (Paris!), and has called San Carlos home for the last 20 years.

Ryan Kuiken

Ryan is MainBloq’s founder and CEO, has over 10 years of high-level sales and business development experience with T-Mobile and PayChex where he was awarded the #1 national rank in sales for both firms, and is a partner in Bull Run Capital, a private digital asset trading fund focused on DeFi trading and Yield Farming. MainBloq is a groundbreaking digital asset trading platform serving banks and hedge funds which was purchased in 2021 by publicly traded Fernhill Corp. Ryan then joined the board at Fernhill and continues to manage the MainBloq division. You can read a more detailed work history on his Linkedin profile.

Ryan joined the pickleball board in late 2021. In 2023, he worked alongside James Main to market the club, increase visibility, and help secure funding for the new courts. Ryan, with the help of Darren Thompson, Kevin Duff, Art Bauer, Rocio Celaya, and Mariel Rivera works to organize club events and leveled play for our members.

In his spare time Ryan enjoys … wait, what is spare time?

Fabian Sanchez

I was born in Durango, but my family moved to San Carlos when I was just six months old. San Carlos has been my home for 48 wonderful years, and I wouldn’t trade it for any place in the world. I absolutely love my San Carlitos.

My pickleball journey began during the COVID pandemic, thanks to an invitation from Ron Halverson and Karen Stewart. Later, Terry and Angie Parmely made it their mission to get my wife, Fabiola, and me completely hooked on the game — and they succeeded!

I’m proud to have been part of the team that helped build the Club’s walls and prepared the ground for the courts’ construction. Now, I am a Board Member and want to continue building this beautiful community.

Fabiola and I share a competitive spirit in every sport we play, always striving to improve. Personally, one of my goals is to sharpen my skills at the net and continue enjoying the journey of becoming a better player.

In 2011, James relocated to the mountains of Colorado serving as the Athletic Director for the City of Glenwood Springs. He quickly got to work creating a Pickleball program in his town and was asked to become the District Ambassador for the Rocky Mountain Region. He created the Western Slope Tournament series, Directed tournaments for the surrounding communities, and was later hired as a consultant for new Pickleball programs. He brought pro-level instructors to develop and teach workshops, helped create an official referee certification for the USAPA, and played in many tournaments along the way.

In 2018, James made the crazy decision to sell everything and move to a small, beach town that we all know and love. He was immediately embraced by the Pickleball community and took a position on the Board. As a Board member, he was responsible for directing many smaller tournaments and round robin events, co-directing the larger events, conducting free skills and drills workshops, giving private lessons, and bringing pros to the area to teach workshops. Ben Johns, Christine McGrath, Coach David Alexander, Helle Sparre, Scott Crandall, and Irina Tereschenko have all made visits to our town. In 2020, James was asked to step up into the role of el Presidente. His mission as President was to purchase land for the construction and expansion of the San Carlos Pickleball Club.

Debbie Forrester, Secretary

As a “founding” pickleball player in San Carlos (2011), Debbie has been a part of its growth since before the first private court was built. She then organized play, orchestrated the first tournament, and later became a member on the first official board for San Carlos Pickleball Club.

She has spent hundreds of hours teaching pickleball and running clinics, round robins and tournaments, including the fun Amigos Cup.

Debbie also just ended a 3 year Board position on United States Senior Pickleball, formerly SSIPA, and has been a USAPA Ambassador for 10 years.

In her working life, she owned a pharmacy, managed a mail order pharmacy, and was administrator of a hospital.

Debbie played for 20 years on the women’s pro and national handball circuit, winning 2 world titles and 5 national titles.

She has enjoyed working on the San Carlos Pickleball Board since it’s inception and seeing the growth of pickleball in our community.

Theresa was a teacher, coach, and High School Athletic Director in Colorado before retiring part-time to San Carlos.

She has been helping the pickleball community since before we were playing at Mirador and has been on the Board since its inception. She organized tournaments for us when we were still playing at courts all over town. She also ran or helped run the Great Plains Regional Tournament in Colorado Springs for 5 years. At Mirador, Theresa ran the very popular Sombrero Showdown and many other smaller tournaments for the Club. She has also given many clinics and lessons to beginners, for free.