Highland Lakes Pickleball Olympics. Mixed Doubles on 2-22-2010.

Pickleball Olympics - A good time for everyone.
We started our 2010 Highland Lakes Senior Olympics for Pickleball on Monday February 22nd. We had a packed house with onlookers, judges and participants filling the arena. We ended up with 26 players joining in the competition that lasted more than 3 hours. Everyone enjoyed the great playing and stuck around to see who won the Olympic Medals. There were many great moments and great playing that kept everyone glued to their seats. We want to Thank everyone who made this night so great. Congratulations to all the players who took part in this event.

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H.L. Pickleball Players are getting excited of the upcoming Pickleball Olympics starting next week.

On Thursday and Friday of this week, we had a record turnout of Pickleball players. On Friday, there were more than 30 players who came to enjoy a game of Pickleball and others trying to get in some practice for the Pickleball Olympics starting next week. As you can see from the pictures there were many Pickleball players sitting on the sidelines waiting their turn to play a game of Pickleball.  This week happens to be school break for many of the children from up North and we were fortunate to have some of them visiting here at Highland Lakes.  Among those visiting were members of Harry Yorgensens family.  Micheal, Levi & Estelle Yorgensen.  They were very anxious to come to the arena to play some Pickleball games and we enjoyed having them.  Jared Cardoza flew in last night and was up bright and early so he could get to play Pickleball today. 
   

Pickleball Players practicing for the Olympics.

This morning there were lots of Pickleball players who came to practice their game for the Pickleball Olympics. The Pickleball Olympics are due to start on February 22, 2010. This year we used a handicap system to determine how the teams would be picked. Harry Yorgensen and Manny Cardoza worked together to create the teams for the Mixed Doubles, Men's Doubles, Ladies Doubles and Beginner Doubles. All teams have been paired up and everyone should know by now who they will be playing  with. This gives everyone a chance to practice with their partner before the start of the Pickleball Olympics. BJ Rhodes from Ellington, CT was glad to be here to play Pickleball during his winter break.  He is the grandson of Manny & Marie Cardoza.
 

Pickleball Skills Clinic provided by Rich and Donna Donald.

Thank You to all our players who came out to participate in the Pickleball Skills Clinic.  USAPA Florida Ambassadors Rich and Donna Donald were visiting in our area and were nice enough to provide our players with a Free Pickleball Skills Clinic.  Thank You Rich and Donna for taking the time to help our Pickleball players try to improve their game; it was greatly appreciated.  We held this clinic on the outdoor courts, the weather was a little cool when everyone arrived but the players were all dressed for the weather, hats, glove, earmuffs, you name it and they were wearing it.  The players didn't let the weather stop them from enjoying the clinic.  It was a lot of fun and everyone came away with a little more knowledge about the game of Pickleball.  Our Pickleball Skills Clinic is also posted on the Atlantic South Region Blog.  Go to the bottom if this blog on the right hand side you will see a link pointing to this site.  You might like to check it out. 
 

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Friday morning Pickleball played on the outdoor courts.

On Friday, we played Pickleball on our outdoor courts. The weather was good and we had lots of fun until the wind picked up and then it was a completely different game. Anyone who has played  Pickleball on the outdoor courts really seemed to enjoy it. On Monday, we will be starting to play Pickleball in the Arena again. We are so fortunate to be able to have indoor Pickleball. Our regular schedule for indoor Pickleball will resume next week. Looking forward to seeing everyone back on the courts.

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Pickleball Senior Olympics starting at the end of February.

Last night we played Pickleball in the Arena and we had four courts going.  There were many players very happy to be playing indoors even for one night.  We had a new couple (Dave & Judy Wenzel) wanting to learn the game.   They did very well and we hope to see them again.  Pauline Duschesne and
Audrey Gorski are working on sharpening their Pickleball skills with Don Gullakson as their coach.

A reminder to all Pickleball players that the dates for the Pickleball Olympics have been set.  The games will be played the last week in February.
Please come to the Arena to add your name to the sign up sheet or call us (M&M at 728-6942) so that we may add your name to the sign up sheets or you may email us at mcardoza@embarqmail.com).

The schedule is as follows:
Monday night, February 22nd - Mixed Doubles starting at 6:30 pm.
Tuesday morning, February 23rd - Men's Doubles starting at 8:30 am.
Thursday morning, February 25th - Women's Doubles starting at 8:30 am.
Friday morning, February 26th - Beginners Doubles starting at 9:30 am. 

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Another super day for outdoor Pickleball.

We played some great Pickleball games on the outdoor Pickleball courts today. We are using courts 5 and 6. It's a little different than playing indoors but it's better than no Pickleball at all. Ken & Lynn are showing us how to chalk the second court.  It works pretty well.  I think were kind of liking this new setup.  Come on down and have some fun.

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Outdoor Pickleball play.

It was a great morning for Outdoor Pickleball. This is the first time we have played as a group on the outdoor Pickleball courts. We had two nets going and everyone was having fun. We will be playing again on the outdoor courts on Thursday and Friday morning at 9:00 am.  Come out and join us.

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A record number of players to play Pickleball in one day.

Friday morning we had 30 players come out to play the game of Pickleball. It was wonderful to see such a great turnout! We had four courts going all morning. To be able to get everyone to rotate in, the scoring was brought down to 9 points as opposed to 11 points. This worked out very well and everyone was able to rotate and play many games. We also had a guest (Mary Heffner) join us to play Pickleball, she is from Michigan and traveling in Florida. She heard about our Community and wanted to stop in to play Pickleball. She was very much impressed with our Community. Gerry & Marilyn Crowell brought their guest (Hank & Judy Turco) to play Pickleball for the very first time and they fell in love with the game.


We will be playing Pickleball in the Arena Monday night at 6:30 pm.

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We were so glad to be playing Pickleball today.

Everyone must know by now that new lighting is being installed in the arena. Due to this the Pickleball players have not been able to play Pickleball in the arena for a couple of weeks now. Today was the first day that we had a chance to play and the Pickleball players came out in full force. There were lots of good games being played and everyone was having fun. Joining us today was Ken & Lynn Corbett from Greenville SC. Playing was Janet Neff, she was a guest of Gerry and Marilyn Crowell. We would like to welcome Pauline Duschesne, she is our newest Pickleball player.
We will be playing Pickleball tomorrow morning and also on Monday night.

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New lighting being installed in the Arena.

We have new lighting being installed in the Arena therefore our Pickleball playing time has been curtailed for the past two weeks.  Pauline has informed us that we can play Pickleball on Thursday and Friday of this week because the workers will not be working on the lights due to all the scheduled activities already planned for this week.  We will also be playing Pickleball on Monday night (January 25th). 

The workers will resume their work in the arena next week so the Arena will be closed for Pickleball play until further notice.  Check your email for further information.