Beginner Clinics in Aiken........

Submitted by
Loretta Beckner
Ambassador, Aiken, SC

I just finished giving my first beginner's pickleball class today.

We met for four consecutive Mondays, an hour each time, followed by an

hour of open practice time. I ended up with nine students, so two of

our regular pickleball players helped me out. It was a lot of fun and

we generated good enthusiasm. All of the players caught on so well

and I believe all of them will become regulars at our pickleball

sessions.

We now have a court designated just for beginners at Odell Weeks.

Whenever there are two or more beginners, they can use the court to

practice and/or play. When they feel comfortable to play with the

more advanced players, they are welcome to do so.

I'm sending along a photo taken at today's class:

From left to right:

Susan Andrew, Loretta Beckner, Paul Baltzell, Bobby Starks, Marsha

Isenhour, Jean Fishel and Sherry Moor. (Missing from photo are Sherry

Baltzell, Sue Stutman, and Wendy Hilliard).

I'm hoping to give more classes in the first of the year....I think it

will really help grow the sport here in Aiken.

North Georgia Pickleball Club- Halloween Benefit Tournament

Pickleball tournaments hosted and directed by Tom and Ann Earley and the North Georgia Pickleball Club are known to be some of the very best in the ASR, and this year's Halloween Pickleball Benefit Tournament, held on Saturday and Sunday, October 29th and 30th,  was no exception.

Participants received the crimson long-sleeved tournament t-shirts, breakfast pastry,fruit, and juice, and a hearty three soup lunch with hot, fresh bread (made by Tom Earley each morning).  The award winners received truffles made by local chocolatier: LynnWingfield's "Chocolate Fix".

According to Ann at the end of day one,  it was a .."Great day for Pickleball - if we could have eliminated the wind factor!"  Today's Pickleball teams came from Lake Arrowhead (Lana Chadwick,Bill and Carol Hess), Chattanooga, TN (Dennis Hart, Kirstin Beasley),Woodstock, Canton, Marietta, Dallas, and Acworth.

Day one winners were .. the"Ghosts" (Buzz Ahrens and David Barron) defeating the winners of the"Goblins" (Floyd Moody and Bill Whatley). Presenting the Halloween pumpkin shaped platter filled with "Chocolate Fix" truffles to David and Buzz is Tom Earley." (pictured below)

"There was a presentation of $500.00 from the tournament players and the North Georgia Pickleball Club to Ottis Moore of the Cherokee County Humane Society. Another contribution was made to the Air Warriors Jr. ROTC of Teasley Middle School. The Air Warriors gave a rifle presentation and  led the grand  Opening Ceremony with their flag corp. Tenor Ken Terrell sang the National Anthem and the games began."


The tournament continued on day two with the Vampires!"What a perfect day for Pickleball! We had our 4.0-4.5 skill level"Vampires" play with the finals between Tom Earley (Canton, GA)/Milton Myers (Lawrenceville, GA) vs Jeff Hudson and John Wilson (Opelika, Alabama). The winners (pictured below) were Jeff Hudson (in the white shirt/navy sweatpants) and John Wilson (the other one - navy shirt and sweatpants). Last year they only brought one team and this year they returned with two. Great players, great athletes, and all-round great
sports to drive 4+ hours for a bag of "treats"!

 

"Most Improved team won yodeling pickles - Jimmy Williamson and Dan Ross
(Marietta, GA)    ....."Bocce, the official Atlantic South Region Pickleball Mascot, was in attendance during the tournament as line judge.  He was also quite impressed (as you can see below) by the winners of the "most improved" on Sunday (4.0-4,5 skill level).       Or did he actually want their yodeling pickle ?

 The pottery pickle bowl "Good Sport" award went to Jason
and Buzz Ahrens. We had two teams of father/son - Steve (Marietta, GA) and
Mark Morneau (Michigan) and Buzz and Jason Ahrens (Canton, GA).

We had two teams of father/son - Steve (Marietta, GA) and

Mark Morneau (Michigan) and Buzz and Jason Ahrens (Canton, GA).

And finally - pictured below , with THREE generations of Pickleball Players is the Morneau family.  Pickleball players - Michigan resident Steve Morneau (white shirt), Jane and Mark Morneau, parents of Jensen (3) and Tanner (5).  Pickleball certainly is a game for the whole family - no matter what your age may be!!

A special thank you to everyone who helped Tom and Ann make this tournament a success!
Mark and Kate Perrie (Arizona) -  Court Preparation, covering the courts, taping the edges and aligning "drainage" boards.
David Barron -   Helping to tap re-tape the courts and for the supply of  water for the tournament.
Lana Chadwick, Don and Regina Lucas - Additional Humane Society contributions.
Kee Kai Ruckstal who brought a platter of fudge and a mound of biscotti from
Tennessee!
Jenn and Dawn Barron who shuttled ice to the giant cooler with water on the tournament days. Another great Pickleball family who recently moved to Georgia from Arizona!
Canton Holiday Inn Express for accommodations for our Tennessee and Alabama players.
Lynn Wingfield/"Chocolate Fix" for the Awards.
Carole and Bill Hess who monitored the score sheet, helped serve lunch, orchestrated clean up, and generally made themselves available
throughout the tournament.

"With such wonderful friends and players, holding a tournament
has been very easy!"  Ann Earley

CLICK HERE for our photo gallery and for all the pictures from the tournament

This event is held at the four outdoor courts at Kings Point in Sun City Center, Fl.

More information and registration information will be available around November 15th at www.gotpickleball.com

An invitation to play at the Phillips Center...

Earl Cunningham
Ambassador, Gastonia, NC

"We had 7 players from Billy Shirley's Pickleball league show up to play the Phillips Center team today.


Everyone was pleased with the set up thanks to the Center supervisors Tremayne Stephens and Skip Youngblood.

The Gastonia Phillips Center has recently added 3 indoor pickleball courts. Skip Youngblood advised me that they would make the courts available on Wednesdays 6:00pm until 9:00pm through December of this year.

Anyone wishing to play just show up At the Center on Wednesdays. Balls and paddles will be furnished.  Never played pickleball, not a problem, we have players with several years experience that will be glad to show you how. It's much easier to learn and easier to play than tennis. the game is a slowed down KING SIZE version of ping pong.

Phillips Center of Gastonia

2031 Echo Lane

Gastonia, NC 28052

Phone - 704-866-68951

or contact USAPA Ambassador, Earl Cunningham - 704-824-4125

Kings Point Players Proud of Tampa Bay Results!!

Submitted by
Louann Dubendorf
Kings Point Pickleball League

"The games went GREAT!! I got there a little before 7:30 and there were a ton of people already. The folks at the sign in desk did a fantastic job. They had the sign up sheets all set and single elimination brackets all made and ready to be filled in and to go. Because some of the folks were all there and signed in they began some games at about 8:15-8:20.

Breakfast and lunch was provided and the Sun City Center maintenance did just a super job putting up shade coverings all around the courts. They even rolled up the wind screen on the side so folks could easily see the games this year. Tables were set up for folks to eat lunch under shade also.


Best of all they managed to get all games done with by about 5:30. We plan to talk next week about the county possibly doing 2 Pickleball events each year. One in Spring this year. Also seems we will be splitting Womens and Mens doubles in the AM next year so one group will play at Kings Point so Mixed can start earlier. I went around and asked all out of towners their preference: 2 day or split, and they all said 1 day event to save $$$."

Congrats to our winners:

Ladies Doubles

50-54 GOLD - DIANE BARNES/JANE MAYHEW

55-59 BRONZE - NADINE POWERS/LOUANN DUBENDORF

65-69 SILVER - SHARLENE PETER/KAREN SELLERS (SCC)

70-74 SILVER - CONNIE KEHL/YUKO VETSCH

Men's Doubles

55-59 SILVER - TOM CUTHBERTSON/WALT KUEHN

65-69 SILVER - COLIN MEERTENS/LARRY CABERA

Mixed Doubles

50-54 GOLD - DIANE BARNES/WALT KUEHN

60-64 - SILVER - JANE MAYHEW/LEWIS LANGE

65-69 SILVER - NADINE POWERS/IRV SANDERS

Also sharing the winners circle today was Ft. Myers Ambassador, Nancy Meyer, pictured above with her doubles partner Jan Konn, and mixed doubles parter Bob Welter.

Jacksonville Senior Games Results

The 2011 Forever Fit 50 & Beyond Senior Games took place on  Friday October 7, 2011 at the Cecil Gym and Fitness Center in Jacksonville, Fl

Congratulations to all the Medal Winners!!

2011 Senior Games

Pickleball Results

SINGLES

55-59 – Female

1st Place (Gold) Gwen Iyobe

2nd Place (Silver) Karen Neider Dupius

60-64 - Male

1st Place (Gold) Tim Katchen

2nd Place (Silver) Wayne Richardson

3rd Place (Bronze) Larry Myers

65-69 – Male

1st Place (Gold) Michael Piccolo

2nd Place (Silver) Bert Williams

3rd Place (Bronze) John Foard

70-74 – Male

1st Place (Gold) Tim Poplawski

2nd Place (Silver) Ed Janke

3rd Place (Bronze) Jim Abercrombie

DOUBLES

Women’s

1st Place (Gold) Gwen Iyobe

Susan Stevenson

2nd Place (Silver) Pat Sencer

Betty Sweat

  

Men’s

1st Place (Gold) Ed Janke

Tim Poplawski

2nd Place (Silver) Tim Katchen

George Catalano

3rd Place (Bronze) John Foard

Wayne Richardson

NOTICE - START TIMES change for Halloween Tournament in N. Georgia

Ann Earley and the North Georgia Pickleball Club asked that we let everyone know of a "small" program change for the start times at  Halloween Pickleball Tournament this coming weekend in Canton, GA.

"Given the cool/cold morning temperatures predicted and then
distance many of the players must travel (including those from Nashville,
Tellico Village, and Opelika - about four hours away!), we will begin at
9:30 a.m. for "warm-up" and registration.   At 9:45 a.m. we will have the
draw for court time, and immediately have our grand "Opening Ceremony".

You won't want to miss the Opening Ceremony- which will be professionally videotaped and hopefully available here on our website in the coming weeks. So check back in ................. 

Coffee, orange juice, scones, and fresh fruit will be availabe in the morning and lunch between 11:30 and 1:00 pm for all the players.
 Even if you are not playing you are welcome to come enjoy the event.  There is lots of room on comfortable benches courtside.
 
Thanks yesterday to Lana Chadwick, Jon Pyles, Ken Riordon, Ken Terrell,David Barron,Carole Hess, Judy Vonesh, Bill Whatley, Tom Earley, and Ann
Earley  for their work on the courts to clean and retape the lines for the
tournament.

Let the games begin!

"PLAY WITH THE MEDALISTS"

Fun, social and valuable experience!
(Event open to The Villages Residents ONLY)

Question: How often do Advanced Beginner and Intermediate players have an opportunity to to test their skills against some of the Top Medal winning pickleball players in the Country?

Answer: Not often; however, thanks to the Pickleball Community Volunteer Group (PCVG) efforts, a PLAY WITH THE MEDALISTS Clinic has been scheduled for November 3rd (Thursday) from 1-3 PM, at the Pimlico Recreation Center.

Many of the Top ranked Villagers -- those who have proven their skills in State, Regional and National tournaments (they have collectively won hundreds of medals), will be volunteering their time so that participants in this Clinic will be able to play with and against them.

To do: Come on out and play, or simply observe. If you choose to play, bring your "A" game, and have fun hitting with the Medalists as they share winning tips with you.

This is open to male and female 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5 players ( make sure you have either completed a Self-RATING FORM or been RATED at a Rating Clinic).


NOTE: registration is limited and is on a first come first serve basis.