USAPA NOVEMBER 2008 NEWSLETTER
In this Issue:
Special Feature - Pickleball in High School by Ron Farra
Want The History of Pickleball; Get Pat and Suzi on the case
Feature Club - Happy Trails in Surprise, Arizona
New Regional Ambassador for Great Lakes - Dick Manasseri
Membership Up a Whopping 46.8% this year - Wayne Roswell
Editors Note
Pickleball in High School
by Ron Farra and his lovely bride Joanna
I’m
sure I am not alone when I admit that I have felt a bit uncomfortable
telling friends and acquaintances the name of the new game I’ve been
playing. It’s not macho. Invariably they ask “What is Pickleball?” I
feel obliged to tell the dog’s name first, then go on to explain how
the game is played. Also, it’s a bit embarrassing when I ask “Have you
ever heard of Pickleball?” Rarely does anyone respond positively. Then
recently, while I was attending a ski writers meeting at Stratton
Mountain in Vermont, two people said, “yes” on the same day.
“Of
course I heard of Pickleball,” said the wife of a colleague. “I taught
it in my P.E. classes in the 1970s,” reported school teacher, Verna
Mulready. “I first heard about Pickleball at the Massachusetts
State Physical Education Conference (AAPHERD) held in Boston in 1970,”
said the now retired high school teacher. “I went to a demonstration at
the conference introducing teachers to Pickleball and became quite
enthusiastic about the game especially for my non-competitive students
and those who were not naturally skilled in sports,” she recalled. “ I
played tennis and was curious about this unique new game. I tried it at
the conference and enjoyed it. I was sure my students would too,”
Mulready remembered. “The newness of the game and the ease of learning
pulled in even those kids who tended to stand back and watch,” she
recalls. “I was always looking for fresh new ideas to motivate these
kids.”
Mulready
said the director of P. E. at her school, Weymouth High School in
Weymouth Massachusetts, approved the purchase of the reasonably priced
equipment, added a Pickleball unit to the curriculum and set up for the
games on badminton courts in 3 gymnasiums. Skill lessons and drills
were taught by the four phys. ed. teachers. Tournaments were held with
classes competing for fun, prestige and recognition. “We all loved the
game,” offered Mulready. “It is still taught there and continues to be
very popular with the faculty as well as the students.”
Later
that day I had an opportunity to be treated to complimentary tennis
lessons at the Stratton Mt. Tennis Center, home of the former Volvo
Tennis Championships. I asked the young attendant at the desk if she
had ever heard of Pickleball. “Yes, I have,” replied Heather Hopkins.
“I played the game during my 4 years at Leland & Gray Union High
School in Townsend, Vermont. “ Being an experienced journalist, I asked
for the name of her high school physical education teacher so I could
call for another human interest article for the USAPA Newsletter. In
fact, that is another story and I shall tell it in the next edition of
e-Pickleball News.
(Note
from the editor. Ron Farra is a sports writer from Saratoga
Springs, NY . In writing an article on pickleball, he tried the
game to learn as much as he could, and like many of us became
addicted. It is great to have a contributor with Ron's
credentials.)
Want the History of Pickleball; get Pat and Suzi on the case ...
by Donna and Richard Donald, Ambassadors, New Tampa, Florida
Pat
and Suzi Zwolenski divide their residency between Florida and
Washington State. After watching Good Day Tampa Bay, where
reporter Charlie Belcher featured pickleball last February, they took
up the game and quickly became addicted. Being a private investigator,
Pat wanted to know more about the history of this sport and went in
search of the original pickleball court built in the backyard of Joel
and Joan Pritchard.
Although
Joel Pritchard passed away in 1997, Pat was able to locate Joel's
widow, Joan in Ohio, and spoke with both Joan, and Barney McCallum, the
last remaining architects of pickleball. Both shared their stores
of how the courts were built, how they made the first wooden paddles
and, of course the story of Pickles. Pat learned that Pickles
life came to an end shortly after Joel's. Pickles fell off the
family porch in Ohio and broke his leg. During surgery to repair
the damaged leg, he developed a blood clot and had to be put to
sleep. Joan sent Pat and Suzi the picture of Pickles that
you see here.
Yes,
they found the original pickleball court, built behind the Pritchards
summer home on Bainbridge Island, WA. This is a picture of Pat
and their Cocker Spaniel, Trooper, on those same courts.
Learn
more about the history of pickleball from an article written by Joan
Pritchard, that was featured in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel on
June 27, 2008, by clicking on Pickleball featured on Morning Show by
Joan Pritchard
Happy Trails Pickleball Club uses ingenuity to improve their Pickleball courts.....
by Bill Gunning, Regional Ambassador, Southwest Region, USAPA
Happy
Trails Pickleball Club in Surprise, Arizona is an active group of 300
members that play on eight courts within their 2000-lot RV resort. Five
of these courts are lighted and get a lot of action on those warm balmy
Arizona evenings.
Four
of the courts were transformed from one seldom-used tennis court.
The surface was not conducive to pickleball play and was deteriorating,
as was that of the fifth court which is adjacent to the four converted
courts. The remaining three courts, in a different area of the
resort, are relatively new and although not lighted are quite adequate
The
Pickleball Club, under President Glen Brower, decided that something
needed to be done. Proposals were presented that would patch the
problem, but the best overall solution was to completely resurface all
five courts. The solution required $60,000, which neither the
club or the park had.
To
raise the funds, the club had to become creative. First of all,
since club members had volunteered the season before at the University
of Phoenix Stadium (home to the Cardinals) at the concession stand, the
Club was commissioned to run the stand with a percentage of the sales
from working the concession for five games, paid to the Club.
The
next move was a challenge to Club members to donate $100 each. This
call was met with a huge percentage of club members donating that
amount, many exceeding the $100 request.
The
third source was from the Happy Trails Resorts' improvement fund.
This left a $24,000 void that would be needed if the work was to be
done over the summer of 2007. The HTPC board asked if members
would be interested in a short-term, low-interest loan in the amount of
$6,000 each. This offer was quickly accepted by four members.
The
courts were successfully covered with a six inch slab of concrete that
has built in tensioners. They were repainted with an acrylic finish and
lined.
The
beauty of this project and how the entire Club got involved was that
the next football season, fall/winter of 2007, the club once again
worked the stadium. This year the club had four games that
included the Fiesta Bowl and the Super Bowl. The proceeds from
those four games, plus additional donations, allowed for all four
lenders to be repaid, and for the paving and shade covering of an area
outside of the courts.
This
story is just an example of how a Club and its members can get behind a
project that benefits all the players of a community
From distance running to the concepts of The Power of NOW and Tai Chi and now to Pickleball.
by Earl Hill
Dick
Manasseri Manasseri is driven, and now utilizing his organizational and
motivational skills as the Regional Ambassador in the Great Lakes
Region. With 34 Ambassadors reporting to him including 8 in his
emerging home state of Michigan, Dick has many ideas and methods to
promote and grow PB in his Region.
One
area where he has found success is in getting publicity for coming
Pickleball events. Dick's method is to call a newspaper sports
reporter and, while on the phone ask the person to go onto the USAPA
website and watch our Promotional DVD. The action sells itself,
even when the reporter has never heard of Pickleball. He
also will have the reporter review the Michigan facilities listed in
the Places to Play section, the history of our game, and other PB
stories "In the News". In short he makes it easy for a reporter
to write a story about this game with the funny name. Dick says
"The media loves the notion of Pickleball".
Family
comes first with Dick and his wife Donna, who have six adult children
and three grandchildren. We can bet the family get-togethers include
great conversations and a Pickleball game or two!
Membership Up a Whopping 46.8% this year
by Wayne Roswell
Thanks
to the efforts of Nancy Jordan and her committee, the membership in the
USAPA has increased by 277 which represents a 46.8% increase.
Going back to the beginning of 2007, our membership has more than
doubled in size. This is phenomenal growth.
In
August, a new record for the number of new members signed up in a
single month was set at 60 and then that record was broken by adding 75
new members in September. Forty-six members, or 31% of our growth
during these two months can be attributed to a supreme effort by the
committee of ambassadors at The Villages in getting the media involved
and really pushing to get new members. The USAPA Memberships
Department would like to send a special thank-you to this group and all
the other Ambassadors that have been making a special effort during
this time to bring new members on
board.
The
Membership Dept. tries to increase members through conducting as many
membership booths as possible throughout the year. Nancy says
“this year I have held 9-10 booths in 5-6
states (AZ- Mesa, Happy Trails, Tucson Sr. Olympics, Arizona Senior
Olympics, Palm Creek; in CA- Palm Desert; in OR - Bend at Thousand
Trails; in Utah- Huntsman World Games; Rhode Island- the NSGA; in NV
–Las Vegas)”. She says “I also hold informational meetings as the
opportunity and time allow. This year I have held 6 meetings in 6
states ( NY, AZ, NV, KY, RI, and OR).” Nancy claims, “We could
not experience this great growth without each person on the Board doing
their part and all the many volunteers and ambassadors across the
nation that are promoting the USAPA and in turn pickleball.”
Upcoming Tournaments
For a complete list of upcoming tournaments, please go to USAPA Tournaments Schedule