Highland Lakes Pickleball: 11/01/2010

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Pickleball Clinic

Information for all our Pickleball players,

About a month ago we had a special request of 4 people from 3 different communities asking if they could practice on one of our indoor courts on Sunday afternoons for three weeks.

The reason being is that they were practicing for the Tour State Senior Games which will be held at Ft. Myers on December 4-5. This tournament is being held indoors and neither one of them was accustomed to playing Pickleball indoors. They all have outdoor courts in their communities. They are Jim Spurlock of Plantation, Jack Trafalski & Brenda Littlefield of Citrus Hill and Sheryl Greiner of the Villages. In return for our hospitality Brenda Littlefield is providing us with a free Pickleball clinic for our Pickleball players at Highland Lakes.

This clinic will be held Sunday afternoon on January 30, 2011 at 2:00 PM. Write it on your calendar and come down to the arena and have some fun.

I will be sending out a reminder as the time gets closer.

Thank You
M&M

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Tour State Senior Games coming up in December.

Today we had the pleasure of watching four Pickleball players play some outstanding Pickleball games. These players were using our indoor courts to practice for the Tour State Senior Games which will be held at Ft. Myers, FL on December 4-5. These players were Jim Spurlock from Plantation, Jack Trafalski from Citris Hills, Brenda Littlefield from Citris Hill and Sheryl Greiner from the Villages.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Pickleball on Halloween October 31st and Voting Day November 2nd.

Sorry, the Blog has not been updated lately but I have been up North for a month visiting family but I am back now and I will try to keep it updated as much as I can. A Thank You to Lynn Corbett for updating the Blog with pictures of our Pickleball group who were hosting the Saturday morning breakfast on October 9, 2010. I'd like to Thank everyone who helped serve the breakfast and made this event a huge success. As you can see Karen Orman is back wearing her Halloween ears. Welcome back to Karen Orman, Gerry Crowell and Dena Randall. Glad to have you back. We are getting lots of snow birds back for the winter months but not all of them have been back to playing Pickleball. We are looking forward to there return. We miss them all when they leave for the summer months. The Arena was being used for Voting on November 2nd so we took our Pickleball game to the outdoor courts. It is different playing outdoors but we still had a wonderful time and the weather was good. Kathy Carter was out there playing Pickleball with her son.

PICKLEBALL CODE OF ETHICS

Every person involved in pickleball as a participant, official, volunteer, representative of the USAPA or spectator pledges as follows:
I will not engage in unsportsmanlike conduct or encourage others to do so. I will not engage in any behavior that would endanger the health, safety or well being of others. I will not engage in the use of profanity. I will treat others with respect. I will exhibit fairness and honesty in my dealings with others. I will not flaunt my position. I will not use USAPA records or materials for personal gain. I will observe the Golden Rule of doing unto others as I would have them do unto me. The above Code applies in all situations that relate directly or indirectly to pickleball play.

About Pickleball

Whether you have terrible hand-eye coordination or are a racquet sport pro, you will have fun playing pickleball.If you are a novice: The net is set at 34", lower than tennis, and the paddles we play with are solid (composite, graphite, or wood). It is easier to hit the ball where you want it to go in pickleball. We play with a 3" plastic ball similar to a wiffle ball.If you play any sports: You can learn pickleball in less than 5 minutes and start having great rallies, good exercise, and a lot of fun.If you are a tennis player: Pickleball is faster and more fun than tennis. The rallies are longer than in tennis. It can even help your tennis game, especially at the net. The strokes are the same as tennis.

The History of Highland Lakes Pickleball Group

It has already been written about how Pickleball was invented by a U.S. Congressman from Oregon but nothing has been written how it started here at Highland Lakes.
It was introduced by George Hastings around 1993. He posted an ad in our small newsletter asking for people to come out and see what it was all about. As I recall myself and my wife Marie Falcon and Kathy Hart showed up. At that time we only had two courts with thin black lines that you could hardly see from the other end of the court. In time we were able to get better outline courts and were able to increase the courts to four. Through "word of mouth" and advertising we had full courts with as many as eight to ten people waiting to play. We devised a plan of "musical chairs" for people to move up in line to play. In time George Hastings moved back up north and others had to take up the banner of keeping Pickleball going. Our equipment at first was not great. Small thin poles to hold up a flimsy net. Through meetings with the Board of Directors and Reps of Tennis players (since they had an inside court) we were able to get the equipment that we have today. We can write about Pickleball but until you come out and see what it's all about and play it, you won't know just how much fun it is. Come on what are you waiting for?
Joe Falcon

Highland Lakes Pickleball