Pickleball Creates a Racket for Empty Roller Hockey Rinks

Published April 5, 2013 - www.sun-sentinel.com

No one gets body-checked, and speedy skaters have been replaced by white-haired folks who often wear knee braces. But at least South Florida's roller-hockey rinks are seeing some action.

Pickleball, a game similar to badminton, is filling up the empty rinks that dot area parks.

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Want to Try Pickleball?

Published April 5, 2013 - www.sun-sentinel.com

Pickleball is similar to tennis but less strenuous:

The court is about one-third of the size of a tennis court, and players use sturdy wooden paddles to knock a plastic ball over a net.

Players must serve underhand, and the ball is allowed to bounce before players return it.

Demonstrations: 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at Wimberly Field, 3900 NE Third Ave., Oakland Park.

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Pickleball Players Find It's a Dilly of a Workout

Published April 4, 2013 - www.floridatotday.com

Between his grunts of frustration, shouts of joy and sweat dripping off his forehead, you’d think John Croes had just finished a triathlon.

Instead, the New Hampshire snowbird living in Palm Bay was playing a friendly game of pickleball.

The game, with a sour-silly name, has become one of the fastest-growing recreational pick-up sports in the country — including Brevard’s Space Coast.

“It’s addicting. I drive 26 miles one-way to play,” said Croes, during his Wednesday evening match at the South Beach Community Center in South Melbourne Beach.

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South Carolina Senior Sports Classic

The South Carolina Senior Sports Classic will be held at Francis Marion University in Florence, SC, May 15-18, 2013. Pickleball Singles will be played on Friday, May 17, and Doubles will be played on Saturday, May 18. The registration deadline was April 1, however, South Carolina residents have until April 15 to register.

1st Annual "Tribute To Pickles" Open Pickleball Tournament

PICKLEBALL
Published March 26, 2013 - www.tampabay.com

New Port Richey Recreation and Aquatic Center is accepting registration for its inaugural Tribute to Pickles Pickleball Tournament for ages 16 and up. The tournament begins at 10 a.m. April 13, and includes open format, doubles and mixed doubles. Registration deadline is April 11. The cost is $15 per player. For information, call (727) 841-4560, or visit the center to register.

Inaugural Hillsborough County Indoor Pickleball Championships

County to Host Pickleball Championships for Seniors
Published April 2, 2013 - www.templeterrace.patch.com

Pickleball, anyone?

The Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department will host the Hillsborough County Indoor Pickleball Championships Thursday, April 11 and Friday, April 12 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the All People’s Life Center, 1605 W. Sligh Ave. in Tampa.

Pickleball is an increasingly popular racquet sport, which combines elements of badminton, tennis and table tennis. The sport is played on a court with a net similar to a tennis net. Players use a hard paddle and a smaller version of a wiffle ball.

The cost is $10 for the first event; $15 for two events.

The deadline to register is Thursday, April 4.

New Ambassadors for Georgia

Please extend a warm Atlantic South welcome to our newest ambassadors, Steve and Pat Dunn, hailing from Cartersville, GA.

Steve and Pat have been playing pickleball since 2008 and have often assisted at clinics and demonstration across North Georgia to introduce the game at new locations. They are avid tournament players, having played in AZ. LA, IN, OH, TN and FL, proudly taking home many a medal to North Georgia.

Pat is a retired teacher who does a great job of describing the game to newcomers. Steve is retired from PepsiCo after 40 years in manufacturing, logistics and customer service.

A couple of states we traveled to had very active public courts going and that is what we hope to accomplish in Cartersville. The city recreation has three old tennis courts that they are willing to let us have for regular scheduled open play. There are some old tennis nets, but we need at least two portable nets to start with which will enable us to go to four courts and provides better nets. Eventually, we would like to see 10 courts at the facility which would be large enough to have a small tournament and will help gain a better awareness of our great sport.

Meet Mary Crusius - New Ambassador in NC

Please extend a warm welcome to Mary Crusius, our newest ambassador representing Pinehurst, NC. Mary will replace Steve and Jeanne Mager who will be relocating to Florida and will be reassigned to that area.

I feel so strongly about the many advantages and possibilities that Pickleball has to offer all ages that I try to spread the word wherever I go. I am a retired Dental Hygienist. I play tennis three times a week, play table tennis – won gold medals in both last year at the state level - tap dance, do volunteer reading for the blind (20 years). I only mention some of my activities to let you know that even though I will be 85, I am still alive and clicking (name of our tap group).

Pickleball was introduced to our area last summer and after hitting a couple of balls, I immediately fell in love with the sport and started spreading the word. I was so delighted when I was asked to replace the Magers as the ambassador in our area.
 

Last Fall, I started a Pickleball program at our Senior Enrichment Center in Carthage, NC. I conduct a two hour session weekly and am pleased to report that it continues to grow; new comers come every week to enjoy the sport.  

When I learned that Pickleball was not one of the events in our Senior State Games, I recommended and urged our board to list it on the local level hoping to be a part of our State Games next year. I am pleased to report that they took the suggestion and we hope to have a good group from Pinehurst at the upcoming games in Sand Hill this Spring. I have been trying to also introduce pickleball into our Southern Pines Recreation and Parks Program but am awaiting a grant to come through before I can go forward with this project. I want to convert a couple of our tennis courts into pickleball courts which would be free to the public. If successful, I will then try for a couple of indoor courts.

Ryan Gordon, Ambassador, Hope Mills has come over several time playing pickleball with us and thought it would be a great idea getting his players in Fayetteville together with our players, and Rick Laskey, Ambassador, Jacksonville has offered to come over and do a clinic for us.

In the meantime, I am forwarding some from our St Patrick’s Parade…



As you can see, some of the members decorated a clever pickleball golf cart and demonstrated some play along the parade route.

The parade was followed by an afternoon of pickleball play at our Pinehurst site.