Tanglewood residents celebrate pickleball
 www2.highlandstoday.com - March 23, 2013 - Sebring, FL

The Tanglewood Residents' Appreciation Day Pickleball Tournament was played on Thursday with 28 men and 25 women battling it out.

Great temperatures made for comfortable viewing and playing but the new windsock showed just how big a factor the wind played in each match.

This tournament used rally point scoring where a point is earned no matter who serves. Usually, a point can only be won by the team that has served.
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Pickleball players go for gold
 www2.highlandstoday.com - March 18, 2013, Sebring, FL

On Friday, 23 men's and 15 women's pickleball teams arrived at Tanglewood to play in the Heartland Games for Active Adults, coordinated by South Florida State College.

Players came from several local clubs — Tanglewood, Highlands Ridge, Sebring Village, Sun 'n Lake and Crystal Lake — as well as from clubs in Zolfo Springs, Solivita, Orlando, Leesburg, Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce.

Lorrie Key, director of corporate and community education, and Lauren Reddick, community education specialist from SFSC, worked with the Tanglewood team to make this year's tournament another great one. Key had nothing but praise for the Tanglewood pickleball volunteers, saying: "The college couldn't have run the tournament were it not for Tanglewood's help. They know how to run a good tournament and have the facilities and people to do it right."

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Complete tournament results will be posted shortly on the USAPA website.
CLICK HERE for Photos!

Florida Heartland Welcomes New Ambassador

Dave Majick
USAPA Ambassador
Avon Park, FL 

  My career work was in education for 34 years and, most of those years where spent coaching boys basketball.. My educational background  began with undergrad work at Hiram College, and was completed by my receiving my Master Degree at Kent State, Kent, Ohio.

   Upon my retirement, I came to Florida with the intent of concentrating on golf and fishing.  That all changed when Brian Gilles approached me as asked if I knew about a game called pickleball. I said yes because I had my students play it sometimes during my physical education classes. We decided it was time to introduce pickleball to Highlands Ridge here in Sebring, Fl.  With the normal obstacles of tennis courts being taped, etc., behind us, we began to grow to our present 45 members who play almost every day. Once established I decided it was time to expand the pickleball experience beyond just USAPA tournaments and Senior games. We wanted, not just single and doubles games, but we wanted one community versus another community, a concept we all grew up with during the days of our town's football team versus another arch rival. Hence, each community team (South Central Florida Pickleball League) sends it eight best players, no age brackets, no skill determination. Just bring your eight best! It is a league made up of five communities and we have a great time competing in this manner with a shootout tournament deciding the league champion. Through our two local papers, we gained great publicity for our league and the sport of Pickelball.

   Coupled with my involvement in Sebring, is my pickleball involement in Northeast Ohio.  We started pickleball in Cortland, Ohio and have four courts in our city park where we have nightly play among 20 to 30 players. We are also developing the team competition concept for other communities from  Cleveland to Akron to Youngstown, Ohio and Western Pennslyvania.

   My other pickleball adventure is the development of a device I call, "The Pic", which I am marketing with the help of Reagan Marking and Design, Grand Rapids, MI. "The Pic" is a device that allows one to hit three doz. balls, and pick them up quickly, without straining ones back. It makes practicing a reality that was out of the question before "The Pic" came along.

Hi Pickleball Players,

The East Naples Skill Level Tournament with the new format (age and skill) will be held on April 5(singles), 6 (men's and women's doubles) and 7 (mixed doubles).

We are pleased to announce that our host hotel for this event will be The Quality Inn & Suites Golf Resort located at 4100 Golden Gate Parkway, Naples, Florida. They are offering special rates for our tournament players: $59.99 for standard, $79.99 for efficiency, and 109.99 for a suite. Their direct number is 239-455-1010. Mention that you are here for the tournament to get their special rate.

The Quality Inn will also be host for an informal meet and greet on Thursday night, April 4 at 6:30. There will be no charge for this event. There will be raffle and door prizes, a cash bar, and an opportunity to meet players from other areas.

We are also pleased to announce that Greg Gott, Vice-President and Operations Manager for Pickleball, Inc. in Seattle, Washington will be attending the tournament. Pickleball, Inc. is the Gold Sponsor for this tournament and Greg will be here to launch a brand new paddle manufactured by Pickleball, Inc. Our tournament will be the first time that this paddle will be available. He will be available to answer questions and discuss all the paddles manufactured by Pickleball, Inc.

 We also have a link for other special rates for hotels in the area:  CLICK HERE to go to that link:

 The rates for these hotels are $59-$229 per night. We hope to see all of you at the tournament!

You can CLICK HERE for Tournament Flyer and Registration form.
Registration is also available at active.com and put in East Naples Pickleball Tournament. Registration deadline is March 28 for mail-in registration and April 1 for online registration.

Come join us for a great weekend of Pickleball!!

Cindy and Nancy

Greater Greenville Senior Sports Classic

Pickleball is new to Senior Sports Games
 Published on Thursday, March 14, 2013, www.greertoday.com

The Greater Greenville Senior Sports Classic, for adults 50 years and older, is scheduled April 13-19 at recreation venues throughout Greenville County.

This annual event consists of 15 recreational and Olympic style sports. Events include a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, bowling, billiards, basketball free throw, disc golf, horseshoes, miniature golf, shuffleboard, spin casting, hotshot basketball, badminton, table tennis, weightlifting, and track and field events.

New is pickleball, a game played on badminton courts with the net lowered to 34 inches where players use a perforated plastic ball and paddles.

Registration forms are here, Greenville Rec Administrative Office at 4806 Old Spartanburg Road or call 864-288-6470.

Registration deadline is April 5.

New Boynton Beach Recreation Center activity promises to make you workout and have fun    :
http://www.wptv.com - March 11, 2013, Boynton Beach, FL

 Pickle Ball is loads of fun and, in turn, it can be good for your health. Brain chemicals stimulated through this fun and fast paced game make you more relaxed and happier and you will increase your self esteem and confidence as you feel better and healthier from the exercise.

Meeting days for Pickle Ball will be Monday and Friday. As mentioned earlier, the games will start at 9:00 a.m. and end at 12:00 p.m. There is a charge of $5.00 per player.

For more information, please call The Boynton Beach Recreation Center at 742-6550. READ MORE:

Hi Pickleball Players,

Our last tournament of the 2012-13 season will be the East Naples Skill Level Tournament held at East Naples Community Park on April 5,6,7 2013. We are excited to offer a new format which will include skill level and age level. The 2.5 skill level will have ages 35+ and 65+. The 3.0,3.5,4.0,4.5 skill levels will have ages 35+, 50+, and 65+. The 5.0 skill level is open to any age level.

 Thursday night, April 4, 2013, there will be a meet and greet event with light snacks, open cash bar, and raffle prizes. This event will be free to you and your guests. Place for this event will be announced. Also, we are working on hotel rates and will announce those very soon.

The singles competition will begin on Friday afternoon by 4:00. The men's and women's doubles will be on Saturday (start times to be announced) and mixed doubles will be on Sunday (all start times to be announced.)

 There will be 16 lighted courts. This is a double elimination tournament. If there are 4 or fewer teams in a bracket, a Round Robin format will be used in those brackets. This is a USAPA sanctioned tournament. You do not have to be a USAPA member to participate, but must be at least 16 years old or older by December 31, 2013.

The yellow Dura ball will be used.

We would like to thank all of you for your participation in all of our South Florida tournaments this year. We appreciate all the support for the tournaments and we have been absolutely thrilled with the level of competition in these tournaments. It has been fantastic!

We hope to see all of you at The East Naples Skill Level Tournament! Please encourage all your friends to participate, this will be a great event for all levels of play.
Links to the Flyer and Registration forms are below .

Cindy Eddleman
Nancy Meyer
Tournament Directors

CLICK HERE for tournament Flyer

CLICK HERE for Registration Form.

Pickleball a sport for a lifetime
www.myfoxatlanta,com -   March 11, 2013, Atlanta, GA

Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5 

Sid Cojac, 99, is known around the Marcus Jewish Community Center as the Mayor of Main Street. He calls the center his second home. But, perhaps the place where Sid feels most at home is the pickleball court.

Cojac learned the game while living in Charlotte. He says he brought it to Atlanta and it has taken off like wild fire.