Florida International Senior Games

Notice to Floridians and Out of State participants - There are changes to this year's Florida Senior Games State Championships

New to the 2011 Games will be the introduction of the Florida International Senior Games where all out-of-state domestic and international competitors are only permitted to compete in the International Games, and qualifying at a local event is not required. Senior athletes will have the opportunity to compete against other nonresidents and Floridians entered in the Florida Senior Games State Championships.

Note: Florida athletes cannot enter the Florida International Senior Games directly. Floridians must enter the State Championships in order to compete. This event is being presented to better serve all athletes in this new format. Floridians will enjoy their very own State Championships, while still having the opportunity to hone their skills against out of state athletes. Out of state competitors will have a better opportunity to come to Florida enjoy our first-class facilities and competition.

CLICK HERE for more information on the games..............

Pickleball Update from Winston-Salem Ambassador

It's been a while since we heard from our Winston-Salem, NC Ambassador, and that's because  Laura Patterson  has been very very busy teaching people how to play our game.  Every Wednesday, during the month of August,  from 1-3 pm she was introducing pickleball to brand new players at the Winston-Salem Gateway YWCA.

 

And on  Friday, September 2nd  with a friend from Tenessee who wanted to learn the game, she stopped by to play with the group at the Senior Culter Center in High Point, NC.  She introducecd these folks back in November of 2010 and today they are playing every Wednesday and Friday. Unfortunately they are still playing on modified courts with modifed nets, but the Director  has promised to now invest in two USAPA nets.

Needless to say, her friend loved the game and vowed that she was going to find out if/where it might be played back home in Tennessee.     Also at the Center that day were to two staff members fom the YMCA in Greensboro, NC.  They had stopped by to see what the game was all about and  their timing was perfect! After Laura got them on the courts, like everyone  else, they were hooked. They invitedLaura to Greensboro to demonstrate and introduce the game to potential players there.  

Next on Laura's agenda is to get a letter out to the local high schools and see if she can do a few demonstrations there.   And she'll be making the trip again this year to the USAPA Nationals.  Good Luck Laura!!!

The young, and the young at heart, enjoy Labor Day Weekend Pickleball in North Georgia!

Tanner Morneau (pictured with ASR Mascot Bocce) just turned 5 years old last month, but Dad, Mark Morneau is already introducing him to pickleball.

And Tanner has a great teacher. Ann Earley of the North Georgia Pickleball Club says that Mark is "unbelievable! Never tested in a USAPA tournament but possibly a 5.0 ranked player. Tanner, she says is definately a 2.5!"
Also pictured above are North Georgia Pickleball players, Tom Earley, Dan Ross, Jon Pyle and Marck Morneau. 

Tom and Anne Early want to send along a reminder to any of the out-of-town players who are planning on playing in their Halloween Pickleball Tournament to contact them quickly to lock in your place in the tournament.   Call or e-mail then quickly as they may need to cut off registration soon.  Even players from Palm Creek Arizona have already registered to play.

This tournament is a benefit for the Cherokee County Humane Society.....and you get a really really cool T-Shirt!!!!

Many of us are expecting rain over this Labor Day weekend - but Anne says

"we have dedicated players with squeegees and towels!"

Hickory Nut Gorge (Pickleball) Olympiad

The Hickory Nut Gorge Olympiad is a three day Family sports Festival held in Lake Lure, North Carolina.   On Friday August 26th, under the direction of Don "Smoke" Hickman, pickleball was played on the tennis courts at the Rumbling Bald Resort.  This amazing video was prepared and sent to us from  pickleball player, Dick Stone, from Keowee Key, SC. 
    


According to Smoke.... "31 players participated in an open Pickleball Tournament at Lake Lure, North Carolina. as part of the Hickory Nut Olympiad games. Participants came from the Upstate Pickleball Group in Greenville, SC; Fletcher-Arden, NC; Keowee Key ,SC;  Brevard, NC, Hendersonville, as well as Lake Lure, NC. Competition was keen and all had a great time playing, participating, talking and sweating."

The winners were:
 Mixed Doubles - Mike Kaplan and Jan Amacher from the Upstate Pickleball Group in Greensville, SC.
Men's Doubles....Larry Formicella and Paul Coletta from Fletcher, NC.
 Women's Doubles: Laurel and Karen (sorry  we don't have last names!) of Brevard, NC.

 There is also a great write up and pictures on the  Upstate Pickleball Group's website and you can CLICK HERE for all the pictures from the event.

Kyle Burger, WAAY TV 31, Joins Seniors for a game of pickleball...

Burger Bytes: Pickle Ball
waaytv.com Huntsville, Al
August 31, 2011,

The folks at Huntsville-Madison County Senior Center have been playing Pickle Ball for a couple years.
 

“I love racquetball, then when I got introduced to Pickle Ball I just got so over-whelmed with it,” Monserrate Pina said. “[Jane] and I, we're the crazy ones - we'll be here everyday if we can. We enjoy it so much.”  READ MORE

Congrats to The Villages Winners!

An Advanced Pickleball Round Robin took place at The Villages, Florida from August 22nd through August 25th.  Competing in this Skill Level event were Villages resident players rated 4.0 -4.5.  The very best competitors brings out lots of spectators, and this event was no exception.

 August Advanced Round Robin Tournament Results

Mixed Doubles

 Champions: Don Piper and  Lydia Fenster,

Runners-up: Bill Freeman and Deb Harrison.

Women's Doubles

 Champions: Deb Harrison and Lydia Fenster

Runners up: Christina Crenshaw and Barb DeWitt.

Men's Doubles:

 ChampionsBarry Gee and Don Piper,

Runners-up: Bill Freeman and Jeff Shank.

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 An article in the The Villages Daily Sun, April 15, 2011,  featured the   Community Volunteer Group (PCVG)  that set up a rating system for the communities residents.   Pictured at this rating clinic is Deb Harrison (left) assisted by George Wijma and Rosamarie Pietromonaco.  The ratings system," said rating chairman Tom Nonnemacher," helps Villagers enter into leagues and tournaments that will suit their playing ability."

“You want to be competitive,” the Village of Liberty Park resident said. “The system rates players by ability level so they can match up against players of the same level to make the game enjoyable for everyone.”

Clinics were held where each player’s rating was calculated by teams of three judges.

A player was judged on their aptitude with the variety of shots the game demands: Serves, serve return, volleys, smashes, dinks, forehands, backhands and several other types of shots. 

Pickleball Expands to Hilton Head Island, SC

Donald Wheeler (pictured with wife Mary)  joined USAPA as an Ambassador for Hilton Head Island, SC just nine months ago. At that time he told us:  "I feel that offering free lessons with free use of equipment (we have enough for 8 people) as well as free court time, a consistent play time, both in the morning and evening on different days to accommodate the working and retired populous, would generate interest in the sport on HHI."

Don has introduced pickleball to players from all over Hilton Head and now maintains a “pickleball roster” consisting of 60 players . He schedules weekly play times at the nearby county courts. The players from Hilton Head Plantation, a private community where Don resides have even started their own “resident only” pickleball club. Because the tennis courts at the plantation are clay, this club also has to make use of the nearby county courts. Visitors to the island are also welcome to play.

“We have recently requested that the county paint pickleball lines on the two tennis courts we use or perhaps turn the basketball court into three pickleball courts by adding an apron onto the side of the court. The basketball court is a leftover from the elementary school that was on the site at one time and therefore the court is smaller than a high school or college court. I have also purchased a portable net to use on the basketball court since the gestation period for any new ideas to give birth is usually at least nine months!! Thus we would have three courts to play on with lines that are chalked by yours truly as needed, using the "chalker" invented, built and refined by Fred Harvey, Jane's (Ambassador, Indian Land) husband.”


We have a resident population of about 30-40,000 on Hilton Head Island but we get 2 million visitors per year!! I have welcomed and scheduled play for many visitors. The "Places to Play" section of the USAPA website has been very useful to our visitors and residents alike. We don't specifically list the courts we play on because that may change depending on where the tennis players converge. Hilton Head Island, historically, has hosted the "Family Circle Cup" tennis tournament until a few years ago. There are still many devoted courts that can be used only for tennis and some that are reserved for for tennis practice sessions during the spring. Bus loads of "Spring Fling" college students converge on the island and expect to be able to use all the courts on the island, from sun-up to sun-down, during that time. No exceptions.


Last month we welcomed Marsha and Boyd traveling from Atlanta to Tampa where they play every day. This week we'll have people from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, Vienna, Virginia and Sweden. In the near future we will poll the people on our roster, all sixty of them, to determine if we should schedule some play at other courts in addition to where we are playing now to accommodate players from the south end of the island and also later in the day for those that are still employed."

It takes just one person to get the "pickleball" rolling, and Don has done one fantastic job proving just that.  Give Don a call when you're in the neighborhood and stop by for a game or two!

CLICK HERE for photo gallery.

A Little Bit of Pickleball (Paddle) History

I got this email from Dick Freshley, our ambassador in Palm Beach County, Florida not long after the article about pickleball at the Palm Beach Kids Festival was released in the news.  This is a story about the history of these paddles.  I enjoyed reading this so much that I just had to share it with all of you.

"Regarding the Sun-Sentinel story. Great photo of the racquet which is one I made. When I started the game at Boeing in the '60s, there were hardly any commercial paddles available. I took up a collection among interested parties and bought a full 4' by 8' sheet of 3/8" AA mahogany marine plywood. It cost $20, which was a big deal in 1966.

I must have made 20 paddles from that sheet, one for all the donors and several others for later needs. I kept six for myself which have had good use. I wrapped the handles of some with tennis grips, which makes them better. Shortly after, a local entrepreneur began making them. And coincidentally, the material used was scrap floor panel materialfrom Boeing. I did some development with the Floor Panel manufacturing unit and, if I had been more alert, I could have gotten a lot of that material free. It could also be purchased at the Boeing Surplus Store for next to nothing. Alas, by the time I woke up the process had been moved to Spokane, WA 300 miles away. Now the panels are made in Mexico.



Ironically, one of the jobs I was working on was a Neumerically Controlled machine to cut out the panels. One of the features was nesting software to maximize the use of the material. It was all test and I could easily have programmed a bunch of nested PB paddles. I did use the opportunity to cut a custom rudder for my sail boat.



Floor panels are the most customized feature of a commercial airliner. Almost every plane is different depending on a number of factors; passenger, freighter or convertible, seat spacing (AKA pitch), lavl ocations and size, galley location and size, etc., etc. The material used for commercial planes is a fiberglass honeycomb sandwich called Nomex. Freighters have the same type of construction but the core is aluminum. Both are very strong for the weight which is a big consideration for planes.



The Nomex paddles were made by a start-up company formed by a couple of Boeing employees from my plant. It was called Pro-Lite and they gave me a couple of their first products to test.



So much for ancient history. I hope you found it interesting."

Amazing!!!    Thank you Dick.