Palm Beach - Kids Fitness Festival

The Kids Fitness Festival (KFF) of the Palm Beaches was held at the Palm Beach County Convention Center on July 13 and July 14.

Each year more than 6000 Florida youth gather for two days of fitness and fun! Full of excitement and energy, festival participants have the opportunity to get hands on experience and develop skills in over 40 different sports clinics.

This year Florida ambassador Dick Freshley and his wife Verna ( pictured here with two KFF staff members) took on the challenge of introducing pickleball to these young folks.

"Today we finished our first day at the Kids Fitness Festival.  There were thousands of kids but most of them very young, under 10 years.  At first I tried to give some basic instruction and have a little informal volleying. Tha tdidn't work at all.  We were shuttling in four players every ten minutes. Even at that there were always 20 or more waiting to get on the court. If the group was very young I tried to encourage them to try another activity. Sometimes this worked, but not always.

The groups came in school buses from day camps....... for the most part the kids enjoyed the activity and many came back a second and third time. If nothing else they were enthusiastic. There were dozens of things to do that I thought were more appropriatefor them and they wouldn't have to wait either. So, I was surprised by their persistence."

Dick and Verna also said that they had a lengthy interview with a Sun-Sentinel reporter and photographer...............maybe well get to see that in print or on the air!!!

Thank you Dick and Verna for taking the time to bring joy to our Florida youth and to introduce them to our great game!

CLICK HERE for more pictures from our pickleball day with the kids.