Pickleball introduced to Winston-Salem YMCA's

Submitted by Laura Patterson
Local Ambassador, Winston-Salem, NC

Laura was introduced to pickleball out in the State of Michigan and couldn't wait to get home to Winston-Salem to spread the news and share this great game. She joined USAPA in July of 2009 and was enthusiastically accepted into the Ambassador Program. She been very busy and just recently returned from the USAPA National Tournament in Buckeye, AZ. It was just a few days after returning home that she got to work............She shares this story of first success, and how she turned what could have been a not-so-good start to her birthday into pickleball success.

I had an informal demo at the Fulton YMCA on Wednesday, November 11, 2009. This was my birthday and I was at the Y from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The director had told me to come over and set up that morning but he forgot that the children were out of school that day and they basically had use of every inch of the gym.


I asked him if I could set up in the racquetball court and he said sure and then he put me in contact with the child care director. She wanted to know more about the sport and to see if I could bring in some of the children during the day and teach them the game.


I worked with 2 different groups ; from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. (1st and 2nd graders) and 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. (4th and 5th graders). The court size was modified (I used masking tape on the racquetball floor) but we went over all the rules and played a few games on the modified court.

In between working with the children, I would catch people (mostly seniors) finishing up their workouts (walking and exercise machines) and ask them if they would like to learn a new sport. I was able to work with about 5 or 6 seniors and all of them wanted to know, "how we could get this sport offered at the Y". I also had a family of 3 come in and try the game but the best part of all was the director and a couple of his staff members came in to play and they loved the game! He said he would love to set up a couple of courts but he didn't have the dimensions. I gave him a couple of handouts with the court dimensions and the basic rules of the game.

Fun was had by all!!!

.......................... I will have a formal demo at one of the other YMCA's on Saturday, November 21, 2009.