WHAT IS PICKLEBALL?

By AMY BANTON
Staff writer
9/1/2010 11:12 PM
AikenStandard.com

The name of a post-cucumber is in the title of this sport - but no pickles are involved.

Pickleball is coming to Aiken - a game that is a hybrid of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong. The sport has been around since the mid-1960s, but it was practically unknown to Aiken City Parks, Recreation, and Tourism (PRT) when it was brought to their attention by Mike and Loretta Beckner.

READ the full story

Charleston vs Myrtle Beach

Pictured to the left are Don Blasberg, Secretary of the Del Webb Cane Bay Pickleball Club in Charleston, SC, Rena Grant, USAPA Ambassador and leader of the Pickleball Pact in Myrtle Beach and Rob Cardello, Crabtree Gym Coordinator in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Rob provided the facility while Don and Rena gathered the pickleball troops for some friendly competition at the Crabtree Gym on August 27th.


In this picture Rena brings the group together to explain the tournament format for the day. While they were hoping to get a few more participants, this was their first time meeting, and surely the fun and success of the day will bring more together next time.

The competition included ladies and men's doubles followed by mixed doubles. Best of 3 games - 11 pts, win by 2. The winners for women were Faye Mills and Eva Dickenson of Myrtle Beach. Tony Reale and Don Blasberg of Charleston took top medals for the men. In the mixed doubles competition Maria Gesimar and Tony Reale of Charleston took home the gold.

Besides the winners, the other team players from Charleston were Bill Scott, Larry Davis, Pat Davis, Marion Gallagher, and Pat Flora. From Myrtle Beach were Doris Strothers, Joline Kuhn, Maggie Clark, Jane Young, Chris Fontaine, Rena Grant, Mel, Jerry Eamer, Rich Brown, Rich Kuhn, Fran Fenerty, David Gould, Jim Hockawjos, and George Moustakis.

The Hickory Nut Gorge Olympiad is an annual, charitable, sports festival featuring numerous events and activities for all ages & abilities in beautiful Lake Lure, North Carolina

As a non-profit organization run entirely by volunteers, the annual Hickory Nut Gorge Olympiad regional sports festival brings people together in the spirit of friendly competition for the broader purpose of promoting health and wellness, charitable giving, regional tourism and economic development. Since 2005, the Olympiad has given back over $140,000 to charities.

This year Pickleball was added as an Olympiad Event for the FIRST TIME, open to ALL ages and was played on the tennis courts at the Rumbling Bald Resort on Friday August 27th.

The tournament was run by Don "Smoke" Hickman with the help of the local Pickleball Club. Smoke is no stranger to pickleball, playing with the group at Rumbling Bald in the summer, and at The Villages, Fl in the winter. "We used a single elimination format, but wish we would have used a round robin....depends upon the numbers of teams....." They compted in Men's Doubles (congratulations Tom and Paul), Woman's Doubles ( YAHOO - Jennifer and Beth!) and Mixed Doubles ( Winners - Tom and Jennifer).

Players from the Upstate Pickleball Group in Greenville, SC and players from Hendersonville, NC also came to participate in thie innaugural event. From the Upstete Group..... "John and I (Spike) won our 1st round two games to zip. In the 2nd round we were soundly thumped 0-2. But, we managed to get a third place ranking and were awarded medals to prove it. Cupcake and I won our first round in three games; lost the first, but won the 2nd & 3rd both times coming back from 5-2 deficits. In the next round we met up with two toughies from Hendersonville and they promptly blew us to smithereens...............We had a great time with a nice group of p'ballers. The event was exceptionally well organized." (Read More)

Well Smoke - Sounds like a huge success! Everyone had a great time and is already looking forward to next year!

Meet North Carolina's New Ambassadors

MIKE AND NANCY FALKENSTEIN
USAPA Ambassadors,
Franklin, NC

We retired in January 2008 and moved to Franklin, NC, from Sarasota, Florida, on a full-time basis. We had lived and worked in Sarasota all our lives, and we were looking forward to a more relaxed lifestyle in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Nancy is a tennis player and not long after getting settled, she started playing tennis. One of the tennis players mentioned Pickleball and suggested that we give it a try. Of course, we had never heard of Pickleball, but decided to give it a go.

Jan Sharp was introducing the game to our community through the Senior Games and had a small group learning the game. Jan is a great ambassador of the game and after one morning playing we were hooked!

We are in our third year of play and our group has grown to an e-mail list of over 40 folks. We do have a core group of year-round players and in 2010 we found an indoor facility to use. The National Guard Armory let us under the auspices of our Parks and Recreation and in conjunction with our Senior Games paint and stripe the Armory floor giving us 3 indoor courts. They are available to us anytime we cannot play outdoors which is mostly winter and rainy days.

Our group has improved each year and this summer we had folks traveling over an hour to play Pickleball including some with tournament experience and several from much larger groups. Their experience and style of play helped everyone!

We have held in-house tournaments as well as the tournament we ran in 2010 year for our Senior Games, playing Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Doubles in Singles and Doubles We are hopeful that though it was “fun event” this year it will become a part of the Senior Games in North Carolina and be played at the State level.

We plan to travel to other areas in Western North Carolina, upstate South Carolina and even Tennessee to play with other groups in the coming months.

We have discovered that this game is one that men and women can enjoy equally and can compete with each other. We have held
exhibitions in conjunction with our Senior Games and plan to get into our local schools to introduce the sport.

Lots of Pickleball in North Georgia

"Normally we are gracious to our guests" claims Ann Earley of North Georgia, "but the Dunns beat the Jordans two out of three games!!!" Pictured below are Pat and Steve Dunn (left) challenging the Jordans (far court).

David Jordan USAPA Marketing/Sales and his wife Nancy, USAPA Membership Chair spent the weekend in nearby Hiram, GA, and played with the North Georgia PB Club on Sunday and Monday before moving on to Branson, Missouri.

North Georgia PB Club members Bill and Carole Hess along with Don and Merre Wehe, have introduced pickleball at nearby Lake Arrowhead. They have met about three times now and had 25+ people at the last gathering! Tom and Ann Earley along with a few of the other players will be holding a "mini-clinic"and will encourage the new group to become a "satellite" of the North Georgia PB Club. Several of the players have already joined weekday play with the Canton group.

Above are a couple of pictures of the Lake Arrowhead Sunday night group.

The North Georgia PB Club also announces their next tournament! November 20th and 21st are the dates scheduled for the Pickled Pilgrim Playoff.

Surely Ann will get find that graphic design group again this year for the tournament t-shirts. A pickle donning a pilgrim hat, buckled shoes and a silly grin!

There will be a $20 admission for players or support of the club. This will be enough money to give $5.00 each for the purchase of new balls, $10 for the t-shirts, and $5 donation for the Cherokee Humane Society.

Check upcoming events for more information, or the tournament schedule on the USAPA website.

Franklin, NC Welcomes New Ambassador

MEET JAN SHARP - Atlantic South Region's newest Ambassador.

Jan resides in Franklin, SC, (in the winter) and has been very instrumental in starting up an enthusiastic pickleball group in that area. As our newest USAPA Ambassador, she will represent the Franklin, NC area. But she is sure to bring her "Ambassador Skills" to Ft. Myers, when she arrives to spend the winter!.

Below, Jan shares her pickleball story.

I played tennis all my life and had to give it up because of a bad shoulder, and knees. I first learned to play pickleball in Fort Myers, Florida in 2006. I loved it so much I decided to try and start it here in Franklin NC with our Senior’s group. I thought at first it would really be easy as we have a large group playing badminton at our local comunity center, and all we would have to do is to drop the nets to tennis height and we would be ready to go. Unfortunately, the pickleball wouldn’t bounce on the new floor that was put in the gym.

I then purchased a portable net set, and our Community Center Director designated a basketball court between the swimming pool and the tennis courts. I had some demonstration days, and we began play. I had to carry the set from my car down a small hill and put it up every time we played as it was also used for basketball. Then carry it back up the hill! We had to carry concrete blocks to stabilize the end posts, water was not enough. After the first year, the Park drilled some holes and put some small posts in, and lined two courts for us. The Park now puts them up and takes them down. At first we felt like we were a lot of trouble to the Park people. But now they are very cooperative as they see how much fun we have, and our growing group.

We now have from 12 to 20 people playing Monday and Wednesday mornings from 9am to about noon, and we are having a ball. A lot of our people (including me) go toFlorida for the winter, so our numbers are down then, but we have a very loyal group. It has been described as being a very addictive game. Our group is not restricted to Seniors,so we have some younger players as well. When kids visit their grandparents (most are in college), they come to play and love it. We were recently given permission to put up nets and play in our local National Guard Armory when the weather is bad .

I hope to do some demonstrations for some of the kids in the schools. I have talked to a few people but they have not responded yet. I hope to get to the right people at sometime. Most kids love it as much as we do.

Also, we have a number of players who want to go and play with other communities that have started it up much as we have. We now play in our local Senior Games as a "fun" activity. It will become official as soon as the North Carolina Senior Games puts it in their official competition. We hope this is only a year away.

Our dream is to have our own dedicated courts.

Pickleball games bring out top competitors

Posted: Tuesday, August 17, 2010 8:00 am
By JESSICA SHUMAKER, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES — Pickleball players and enthusiasts throughout The Villages have a chance to catch some of the community’s top talent this week during the Pickleball Advisory Committee’s Advanced Round-Robin Tournament.

The tournament kicked off Monday morning with men’s doubles matches at Truman Recreation Center.
READ complete article


Photo by Bill Mitchell, Daily Sun
Paul Peppy returns the ball during pickleball action at Truman Recreation Center Monday, August 16th, 2010

Read Related Article: Pickleball enthusiasts wrap up tournament

Men's Doubles Winners:
Barry Gee & Don Piper, Runners up Tom Nunnamacher & Frank Cherill

Women's Doubles Winners:
Deb Harrison & Diane Bock, Runners Up Tiana Lawson & Christina Crenshaw

Mixed Doubles Winners:
Lydia Fenster & Don Piper, Runners Up Deb Harrison & Bill Freeman

South Carolina Welcomes New Ambassador

Sharon Jones
USAPA Ambassador
Pendleton, SC

I grew up in Seattle, Washington where Pickleball was offered in all of the public schools through PE. I had been playing tennis for several years before I took Pickleball but it was “love at first smash”! All of the kids loved it and we’d play for hours. I assumed that it was a game that was played all across the country and was really disappointed when I moved away from Washington State and found other paddle and racquet games but none of them were the ‘real deal’. I continued to play tennis and let Pickleball go for many years. It was a sport that I missed a lot and while living in Florida I had begun to hear of it being played. So I began to dig around and found Pickleball websites, ordered a set and then introduced my husband Tim to the game.

Tim is a carpenter and my background is in Materials Engineering. I work as an adjunct instructor at Tri-County Community College and also as a substitute teacher in the county school district. I also have an art tile business and have just written and self-published my first book called, “VegGroovy Smoothies”. It is through this book that I ended up becoming a Pickleball ambassador because the book will be part of a program that will introduce kids to physical activities that are fun and can become part of a LIFETIME of being active. So what did I think represented a lifelong, fun, activity? Pickleball of course! I plan to introduce Pickleball this academic school year at Riverside Middle School here in Pendleton, SC.

2011

GEEZER MEISTER TOURNAMENT

　

The Pickleball Players at the Del Webb Spruce Creek Country Club in Summerfield, FL invite you to join them for some great fun and competition. The Geezer Meister Tournament is a yearly event in Florida, but this year as a USAPA Sanctioned Event it is expected to be our largest tournament in the region.


WHAT: DOUBLE ELIMINATION TOURNAMENT

MENS DOUBLES, LADIES DOUBLES, MIXED DOUBLES

FOUR AGE DIVISIONS: 50-59, 60-64, 65-69 and 70 PLUS

WHEN: JANUARY 12 TO JANUARY 15, 2010

WHERE: DEL WEBB, SPRUCE CREEK
SUMMERFIELD, FL

(Summerfield is located just outside of Ocala in Central, Fl)


HOW MUCH: $12.00 ENTRY FEE/PER EVENT
$10.50 for USAPA Members

ALL ENTRY FORMS MUST BE RECEIVED BY January 8, 2011


JANUARY 12, MIXED DOUBLES

Double elimination until four teams remain in each age group. Those 4 teams will return on JANUARY 13, for the medal rounds.


January 14, MENS AND LADIES DOUBLES

Double elimination until four teams remain in each age group. Those 4 teams will return on JANUARY 15, 8:30 AM for the medal rounds.

JANUARY 16TH IS RESERVED AS A RAIN DATE.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND ENTRY FORMS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE FOLLOWING LINKS:

USAPA/TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

SPRUCE CREEK CC PICKLEBALL WEBSITE

Pickleball is Coming to Aiken, SC

Pickleball at the Weeks Center
As posted on: cityofaikensc.gov


What is Pickleball you ask? Pickleball is a combination of tennis, badminton and ping pong, and it’s one of the fastest growing sports in America. It may be a silly name, but it’s a serious sport. It’s fast paced and easy to learn, great exercise and lots of fun. Good for all ages! Come see what the excitement is about! FREE instruction! Learn from current players of the game. We have all the equipment you need. Just bring yourself.

Age: All

Cost: FREE

Saturday, September 18

Drop-In: 10 am – 4 pm

Weeks Center, Gym 1

Call 642-7631 for more information.

Prior to the initial demonstration/drop-in play, pickleball will be introduced at the Aiken Senior Extravaganza. Abassadors Mike an Loretta Beckner will be showing the Pickleball Promotional DVD and recruiting potential players at their Pickleball Booth at this event on September 15th. The Odell Weeks Activity Center is located at 1700 Whiskey Rd in Aiken, SC.