Atlantic South Region

2010-09-02T17:11:00.004-04:00

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

2010-08-31T12:44:00.004-04:00

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.

2010-08-31T10:16:00.006-04:00

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

2010-08-28T10:19:00.004-04:00

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

2010-08-25T15:26:00.016-04:00

"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

2010-08-25T10:28:00.009-04:00

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.

2010-08-19T12:01:00.009-04:00

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

2010-08-17T10:28:00.008-04:00

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.

2010-08-15T10:35:00.006-04:00

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

2010-08-14T13:27:00.004-04:00

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.

Atlantic South "Roaming" Ambassadors

2010-08-11T09:24:00.006-04:00

Meet Ron and Connie Monson. As full time RVers, they were recently appointed as Ambassdors At Large. Spending the majority of their time in our sunny south - they were appointed to the Atlantic South Region. Below, Connie helps us to get to know them a little better.

Welcome to our Atlantic South Pickleball Family!

Ron and I met about 16 years ago, in Columbia, MO and married 6 years later. We brought to this marriage 7 children. As of this date, we now have 16 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Thus far two of the grandchildren are pickleball players. What they lack in ability is far exceeded by enthusiasm for the sport.

We were introduced to picklball 3 years ago in Columbia while the group was just forming. At that time we only had access to a school gym one night per week. Later after many discussions with the parks and recreation department we were able to get two outdoor tennis courts lined for pickleball play and a sign posted saying "These courts are for tennis and pickleball." This was required because the tennis players were not liking our using their courts. Now Columbia, MO has two more outdoor courts lined for play and the number of players continues to grow. Ron and I both retired from the University of Missouri two years ago and we went directly to Sun City, FL, Kings Point, for our first winter of total freedom from work. We love it there and all the pickleball players there, thus we returned last year and will again this year. Unfortunately about a year ago, I took the sport a bit too seriously and while trying to get to an outside shot I fell and broke my wrist. However, this did not stop my enthusiasm for the sport. I just continued to play, but with my left hand. This really does take a lot of concentration. I am healed now and playing with the right and left hand. Meanwhile Ron continued to play and play in tournaments and get better at this sport. This is the one sport that we can do together, that we both enjoy, and can be competitive whether playing against each other or as partners.

Now, we are workampers and are currently in Topping, VA at the Grey's Point Camp on the Rappahannock River. We discovered that the YMCA in Kilmarnock, VA was trying to get pickleball established. We joined the "Y" in May and have been actively involved with teaching the sport and promoting it with the community. We began with 3-4 interested players and now have grown to 16 rather competitve players. Each week a new person arrives, shows interst, and we place a paddle in their hand and hook them on the sport. It truly has been fun to see each one of these people improve and having so much fun while learning this sport.

It is so easy to promote picklball no matter where our travels take us. We always bring it up while introducing ourselves and spread the word about how great this sport is for your health. It will improve your core strength, your reaction time, and keep you young, mentally and physically. The bonus is the making of new friends along the way.

Youngsters Enjoy the Game - Mixed Genertion Pickleball in North Carolina

2010-08-10T08:56:00.009-04:00

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

I have been teaching pickleball to the campers at the Winston Lake Family Y for the past several weeks on Mondays from 2-3p.m. Each week I introduced a new skill to them. These campers were 6th and 7th graders. They really enjoyed playing the sport as much as I enjoyed teaching them. The campers wanted to have a pickleball challenge between themselves and the Seniors and/or staff members before the end of camp. I talked to the program director and she wanted to do something with a mixture of child and adult so I told her about the mixed generational format. We talked to the kids and they were cool with that!

Pictures above: (Winston Lake Family Y) Click to Enlarge - Use Back arrow to return to this page)

On Wednesday, July 28th we had a fun pickleball challenge using the mixed generational format. We teamed up an adult or Y staff member with one of the kids. They also had younger kids in another camp who served as cheerleaders (their camp counselor was playing with one of the staff members and they were cheering for “Ms Teetie”). There was one kid that was really good so he got paired up with one of the “not so good” staff members and they came in first place! The children had a chance to show off their skills and the grown ups had a chance to mentor a child. Fun was had by all and the children were asking if they could have another pickleball challenge at the end of the camp but they wanted to play against the grown ups.

On Thursday,(pictured above) July 15th I did a demo Since I was working with 3rd and 4th graders, I made the court 38 by 20 and the NVZ was 6 feet instead of 7 feet from the center of the court. We mostly worked on learning how to dink and then had a competition to see who could keep the ball in play the longest just using the dink shot. The record was 28....not bad for a 4th grader!

Boys and Girls Club of Winson-Salem,(Click picture to enlarge, use back arrow to return to this page)

On Thursday, July 29th I did a demo at the Boys and Girls club of Winston-Salem with the 6th, 7th and 8th graders. The court was a regulation size court and here we worked on learning the the entire game but also had a competition to see who could keep the ball in play the longest just using the dink shot. The record was 44, which was held by one of the boys. However, the girls caught onto the game a lot quicker and they won the doubles and the single challenge.

My plan is to get in the school system this Fall!

Play Pickleball in "International Waters"

2010-08-04T15:44:00.005-04:00

First Annual Picklecruise to Bermuda.
May 15-22, 2011
Holland Ammerica Cruise Lines

A very special THANK YOU to San Diego County, CA Ambassador, Audrey Phillips, for coordinating this '11 PickleCruise to the Magic Isle of Bermuda

8 Days/7 Nights on the Deluxe Holland America

ms Veendam

Up to three pickleball courts will be available day and night for your pickleball playing pleasure!

Tell all your pickleball friends that Pickleball is going International!

CLICK HERE for more information and Registration Form

PS - Another note from Audrey: "In addition, I want you to know that we are making contact with government officials in Bermuda in order to introduce pickleball to the island as well as have a place to play while ashore. As you will see, we will play onboard but also want to take advantage of the beautiful island and its special charm, especially its British heritage, more golf courses per square mile than anyplace in the world, and pink sand beach with great diving and snorkeling."

Hawthorne of Leesburg Added to Places to Play

2010-08-04T09:36:00.018-04:00

Hawthorne is an active adult, resident owned community located in Central Florida in the city of Leesburg. The Hawthorne residents were first introduced to pickleball about 5 1/2 years ago. At that time they shared the community tennis courts. The number of players steadily increased and they organized into their own club. They wanted their own picklebll courts.

The community of Hawthorne agreed to build three courts if the club proved their interest by providing 5% of the total construction cost. "We had some major fund raising to earn that and inside of one year we had the money" says Club Chairperson Carolyn Stein. This is a picture of their new courts as players prepare to start a friendly competition with the neighboring Highland Lakes community.

Today they have 3 courts with a high dividing fence between each court. During the summer months players enjoy the games in the evenings around 6:00 pm protected in the shade and with a fan for cooling after play. In the Fall and Winter season, beginner lesssons are provided every Monday morning. The low impact group meets daily at 9:00 am and then the Advanced and Intermediate Advanced players take over the courts at 3:00 pm every day.

Like most Florida communities, many of their players head north in the summer, so the Hawthorn players have joined with four other local adult communities for Summer Inter-Community Play. Pickleball playing is rotated between, Hawthorne, Highland Lakes, Pennbrooke, Legacy of Leesburg, Arlington Ridge and Water Oaks, all located in Leesburg or Lady Lakes, FL. In the picture above some of the Hawthorn Players enjoy Inter-Community Play at Highland Lakes, along with players from nearby Pennbrooke.

Today the club has grown to 102 pickleball playing members!!! Current Club Leaders are Ed and Carolyn Stein, Co- Chairpersons(pictured, right) and Flo Stanley - Secretary/Treasurer. There are also seven players on the steering committee. Contact information for pickleball at Hawthorn of Leesburg is available on the USAPA website under Places to Play.

Click Here for Places to Play

2010-08-02T16:02:00.005-04:00

PICKLEBALL
SINGLES, DOUBLES COMPETITION

Friday, October 8th, 2010
9:00 am

Cecil Gym and Fitness Center
13531 Lake Newman Street
Jacksonville, Fl

Bring your paddles! Pickleballs will be provided

A non-refundable and non-transferable entry fee is required of all participants. This fee is $15 for the first sport and $5 for each additional sport. All entries must include complete participant information, all required fees and a signed waiver. Entry forms will not be processed without this information.

Deadline is September 24

Your entry fee includes the following:
Registration for all sports
Admission to the Opening Ceremony of Athletes
Official T-Shirt
Welcome Bag
A chance to renew friendships or begin new ones

Medals will be awarded to the First, Second and Third place finalists in each age division of each event. Awards will be presented on site after competition is complete.

CLICK HERE for more information and entry forms

FLORIDA WELCOMES NEW AMBASSADOR

2010-08-02T14:07:00.005-04:00

MEET DICK FRESHLEY
USAPA AMBASSADOR, PALM BEACH COUNTY (PBC),FL

Dick is no stranger to pickleball. He and his wife Verna moved to Florida from the state of Washing about seven years ago. Both of them worked and retired from the Boeing Company. In fact, Dick introduced the Boeing employees to the game of pickleball, started a Pickleball League at Boening and he along with several other players quite often played pickleball in the parking lot during their lunch hour. A pickleball veteran, Dick participated in some early tournaments in Seattle, WA., back around 1970 and even played with Barney McCallum and Joel Pritchard, originators of this great game.

"I promote Pickleball whenever I can. I was very active in helping to rewrite the rules a while back" In Palm Bech County, Fl, summer is the off season for pickleball; so many of the snow birds have gone north but he hopes to get the interst started again this Fall. He and Verna do a lot of volunteer work in the Coutny, which is another place he hopes to be able to generate some interest. His home community is listed in Place to Play, so in the winter he gets several calls from people looking for a place to play. Maybe some of those northern snowbirds will team up with Dickl this winter and get some of the local parks and recreation centers on board..

Palm Beach County has more than 90 tennis courts and if you add those in the gated communities there are probably more than 500 courts seldom used and ready for pickleball.
Dick just recently met with the Palm Beach representatives, who provided him with some new contacts to approach to introduce pickleball to Palm Beach County.

Good Luck in Palm Beach County and welcome to the Atlantic South Ambassador Family.

2010-07-31T13:05:00.000-04:00

30th ANNUAL

TAMPA BAY SENIOR GAMES

Presented By:
City of Tampa RecreationDepartment;
City of Temple Terrace Parks & Recreation Department;
Hillsborough County Departmentof Aging Services;

Hillsborough County Parks & Recreation

PICKLEBALL

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2010

SUN CITY CENTER, FL

REGISTRATION / FEE
Registration: $ 20.00
(Registration includes unlimited participationin games, ticket to awards banquet
luncheon, opening continental breakfast & a Senior Games T-shirt)
Luncheon for non-participant: $10

REGISTRATION DEADLINE - FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION FORM

2010-07-31T10:27:00.004-04:00

2010 PENSACOLA SENIOR GAMES

SEPTEMBER 13th - SEPTEMBER 24th

Pickleball

SITE: Vickrey Community Center

2130 Summit Blvd.

Pensacola, Fl

DATE: Friday, September 24, 2010

FORMAT: Single elimination is planned. Best two out of three games. Games are played to 11 points, but must continue until one team achieves a two point margin

CHECK IN: 30 minutes prior to the event

START TIME: 10:00 a.m.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Pickleball Included in Week For Weber

2010-07-30T09:51:00.000-04:00

Pickleball will be included in the fun events taking place the week of August 14-19 in Rabun County, GA. All events are to benefit the Sid Weber Memorial Cancer Fund.

Come and have for for a great cause.

Thursday, August 19th
“Pickleball for Weber”

Sky Valley Timeshare Tennis Courts, 9 am – noon
Reservation required by Aug 12
Fee includes light lunch and prizes: $15

Click Here for More Inforamation and for Reservation Form

2010-07-29T15:46:00.002-04:00

SAVE THE DATE!!

We look forward to seeing you at the 19th Annual 2010 Florida Senior Games State Championships, December 4 - 12, 2010 in Lee County.

Registration books will be mailed out the first week of October. Materials and online registration will be available online at http://www.flasports.com/ by mid-September. For additional information on programs of the FSF and Florida Senior Games State Championships registration procedures, please call toll-free 1-866-FL-GAMES (354-2637) or (850) 488-8347 and via email at games@flasports.com.

PICKLEBALL DATES: DECEMBER 4TH AND 5TH

DOUBLES, SINGLES, MIXED DOUBLES

Pickleball does NOT require a qualifying event. ALL PLAYERS ARE WELCOME

Get ahead of the game and book your hotel reservations by calling the Lee County Sports Organizing Committee at 888-529-6588. The team at Lee County Sports are there to serve you and assure your stay in Lee County is a pleasant one!

We wish you the best of luck at the Florida Senior Games State Championships and look forward to seeing you in December!

Florida Senior Games State Championships are sanctioned by:
Florida Sports Foundation
2930 Kerry Forest Parkway, Suite 101
Tallahassee, Florida 32309
1-866-354-2637 - 850-488-8347
games@flasports.com

http://www.flasports.com/

Tournament Winners

2010-07-27T10:31:00.003-04:00

An Intermediate Pickleball Tournament was held at the Chula Vista Recreation Center in The Villages, Fl. This round robin event took place from July 19 through the 23rd.

Congratulations to all the winners!!

Men's Doubles:

Champions - Dennis Sarlo & Doug Balne

Runners-up - Jack Slagle & Al Rosati

Women's Doubles:

Champions -Denise Sullivan & Genette Heinz

Runners-up - Marilyn Cates & Nancy Rush

Mixed Doubles:

Champions- Laurie Zacco & Bob Pokirazzo

Runners-up - Nancy Bell & Bob Horton.

Skills/Techniques Clinic for Legacy Players

2010-07-21T15:43:00.004-04:00

If you've been watching the weather across the country these days you'll know that Florida is experiencing some record breaking hot days! But despite the forecast for a heat index of over 100 degrees today, the players from Legacy of Leesburg were on the courts ready for their first pickelball skills/techniques clinic.

Legacy is one of the premier retirement communities in Florida, located just north west of Orlando in the city of Leesburg, Fl and the home to better than 50 regular pickleball players. Legacy resident and pickleball player, Bill Leach worked with local Ambassadors Rich and Donna Donald to host this clinic for the community players.

Click on picture to enlarge - use back arrow to return to this page:

Bill tells us there was a "waiting list" for the clinic. Because we were liminted to only two courts, the number of participants was liminted to 12, but anyone was welcome to come and observe. Above Rich Donald addresses the group and works with them on the serve and their ground strokes.

Click on picture to enlarge - use back arrow to return to this page:

Above, participants show off their skills at the non-volley line.

Several others stopped by to watch and a few even came in to listen and practice their serves.. but the final participants were: Don Baron, Chandra Bhatt, Mark D’Addario, Elaine Leach, Ira Povlin, Nancy Povlin, Connie Snyder, Giles Snyder, Mike Stewart, Bev Underwood and Dan Wohlbruck. Bill Leach and Rich Donald (kneeling). Great Job, Everyone!!

Alabama Courts Get Facelift

2010-07-18T08:47:00.002-04:00

Check out the BEFORE and AFTER.........

Ambassadors, Tim and Laura Statum sent us these pictures of their newly surfaced courts at the Maurice West Recreation Center in Graysvill, AL

And Ambassador Bob Huskey sent along these pictures of a brand new pickleball court recently completed in Opelika, AL. Bob worked with the Opelika Parks and Recreation to get this old practice area adjacent to the tennis courts converted for pickleball play!

South Carolina Welcomes New Ambassadors

2010-07-11T09:52:00.012-04:00

Meet Mike and Lorretta Beckner, Joint Ambassadors
Aiken, South Carolina

"Although Mike was born in East Tennessee and Loretta in Kansas, Mike's 25 year career in the Foreign Service afforded them the opportunity to live in Brazil, Laos, Spain, Venezuela, Mexico and South Africa. They have two sons, Michael, who lives and works in Arusha, Tanzania in the Wildlife Conservation component of a safari company, and Brett, who is living in Arlington, VA, but planning to start a Peace Corps assignment in South America in January. Mike and Loretta are avid sports fans and Loretta played tennis for many years. It was only a year and a half ago that they first learned of pickleball, at community centers in Arlington and Vienna, VA, and after giving it a try, they were hooked! Since relocating to Aiken, SC this spring, they learned that no one in the community knows about their now favorite sport. They are committed to introducing pickleball to the Aiken community and are in the early stages of contacting park, school and church authorities to identify possible locations for pickleball courts. Hopefully, through media exposure, they will be able to generate the interest necessary to support their efforts at introducing pickleball to Aiken."

Skills Clinic for N. Georgia Players

2010-07-08T10:13:00.008-04:00

Pickleball Clinics are taking place on Wednesdays during the month of July for North Georgia PIckleball Players interested in improving their pickleball skills and techniques.

Above Tom Earley addresses the clinic attendees: Seated front row left to right: Carol Hess, Bill Hess, Marilyn Stapleton, William Criswell, Pat Dunn, and Steve Dunn. The 2nd row left to right: Dena Whatley, Bill Whatley, Bob Matthews, Ken Riordon, and Bob Caulk. Not pictured is Denise Corbitt.

More pictures of the players showing off what they learned! According to Ann Earley, the "strategy/techniques clinic was a success yesterday, with the second part to follow next week." Ann also reminded all players of their USAPA dues, which is the only requirement for membership in the North Georgia PB Club.