Highland Lakes Pickleball

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Relay for Life Cancer Research

The pickleball Team should be proud of their involvement with the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. We have raised over $4000 for this charity and achieved the Silver status of money raisers. We encourage everyone to come down and join us at our booth and to enjoy the food and entertainment that will be going on for 18 hours straight starting at noon on Friday April 13th at the Southpointe Church. Again we want to thank all of you. You helped make us and all of Highland Lakes Proud of what this group has accomplished.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Pickleball Senior Olympics Awards Ceremony 2012

The Senior Awards Ceremony was held on April 3, 2012 in our Arena and was conducted by Dorothy Ekstrand. As you can see by the pictures, we had a large group of our Pickleball players receiving their awards at the Senior Awards Ceremony. Congratulations to all of them. They made us proud!

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Results of Relay For Life Pickleball Tournament which was held at Plantation

RELAY FOR LIFE Pickleball TOURNAMENT

MARCH 24^TH AND 25

SATURDAY MARCH 24

MIX DOUBLES MANON: (4 ROUND ROBIN)

GOLD: TOM & NANCY BROWN PLANTATION

SILVER: DAN & SIGRID LAFRANCE PLANTATION

BRONZE: JIM SPURLOCK & ARLINE KIRST PLANTATION

GOLD: KEN & LYNN CORBETT HIGHLAND LAKES

SILVER: JOANNE & PETER PATTERSON PLANTATION

BRONZE: BILL GUENST & IRENE BLENIS HIGHLAND LAKES

ASHLEY: MIXED DOUBLES (8 ROUND ROBIN)

GOLD: BILL SWINGLER & BECKY COOLBROTH PLANTATION

SILVER: GARY GRIECO & TWILA LARGENT PLANTATION & ROYAL HIGHLANDS

BRONZE: SERI & JAN LODATO PLANTATION

HERMITAGE: MIXED DOUBLES (8 ROUND ROBIN)

GOLD: JOHN KINSEL & LINDA WEIL LEGACY & ROYAL HIGHLANDS

SILVER: KEN LEVELING & BETY LAVIGNE PLANTATION & SPANISH VILLAGE

BRONZE: BILL PROFFIT & MARYANNE WEISS PLANTATION

SUNDAY MARCH 25^TH

MANOR: MEN’S DOUBLES (4 ROUND ROBIN)

GOLD: CARL BROWN & JACK MYERS PLANTATION

SILVER: PETER PATTERSON & ROGER HOWELL PLANTATION

BRONZE: BILL GUENST & KEN CORBETT HIGHLAND LAKES

GOLD: LOU MATHEW & DENNIS KELLY PLANTATION & ARLINGTON RIDGE

SILVER: LARY VETCH & FRANK COSMO ARLINGTON RIDGE

BRONZE: DON PERRIES & RICK OWEN ARLINGTON RIDGE

ASHLEY: WOMEN’S DOUBLES (8 ROUND ROBIN)

GOLD: LYNN CORBETT & SUE STOCK HIGHLAND LAKES

SILVER: SIGRID LAFRANCE & TWILA LARGENT PLANTATION & ROYAL HIGHLANDS

BRONZE: SUE MCGINNIS & DIANE MOORE HIGHLAND LAKES

HERMITAGE: MEN’S DOUBLES (4 ROUND ROBIN)

GOLD: SERI LODATO & JACK WARSAGER PLANTATION

SILVER: MANNY CARDOZA & GARY GELTZ HIGHLANDLAKES & WATER OAKS

BRONZE: DAVE RAYBOULD & KEN DEWITT HIGHLANDLAKES

HERMITAGE: WOMEN’S DOUBLES (4 ROUND ROBIN)

GOLD: JUDY TALLEY & BARB MCCOY PLANTATION

SILVER: SHIRLEY OLEX & JUNE LAVIN PLANTATION & ROYALHIGHLANDS

BRONZE: LILY BYRNE & KAREN DONOCOFF PLANTATION & ROYALHIGHLANDS

Friday, February 17, 2012

Highland Lakes Pickleball Senior Olympics 2012

The Pickleball Senior Olympics were completed today on 2-17-2012.

We want to Thank all of you who participated and hope you had as much fun playing as we did just watching you guys. There were lots of great games and you are all winners in our eyes. We also would like to give special Thanks to everyone who helped officiate the games by being line judges. We had a good crowd observing the competition and they enjoyed every minute of play. The Senior Olympic Awards will take place on April 3, 2012.

HL Ladies Pickleball Olympics 2012

Class A - Gold Medal - Lynn Corbett & Cindi Eckman

Class A - Silver Medal - Susan Stock & Dena Randall

Class B - Gold Medal - Irene Blenis & Dorothy Ekstrand

Class B - Silver Medal - Bebina Zeis & Judy Wenzel

Class C - Gold Medal - Judy Marshall & Marilyn Crowell

Class C - Silver Medal - Anita Pasiak & Maria Grieze

HL Mens Pickleball Olympics 2012

Class A - Gold Medal - Bill Guenst & Dave Wenzel

Class A - Silver Medal - Ken Corbett & Jay Pettey

Class B - Gold Medal - Don Gullakson & Al Grieze

Class B - Silver Medal - Carl Ricard & Don Johnson

Class C - Gold Medfal - John Zeis & Ed Buonopane

Class C - Silver - Bob LaBonte & Richard Ekstrand

Class C - Bronze Medal - Cal Blenis & Joe Longenecker

Class C - Bronze Medal - Harry Yorgensen & Dick Mell

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Pickleball at Spruce Creek Preserve

In November of 2011 Chip (manager of Highland Lakes) approached our Pickleball group to ask if anyone would be interested in going to Dunnellon, FL to meet with Steve Butts (Manager of Spruce Creek Preserve) about teaching their Pickleball players the fundamentals of the game. Don Gullakson, Harry Yorgensen, Manny & Marie Cardoza decided to go and help them understand what a fun game Pickleball really is. This community has just resurfaced the Tennis courts and added Pickleball lines to accommodate the people in their community who wanted to learn to play the game. The community had been planning on getting Pickleball up and running for sometime now and they have finally mastered this task.

It was a beautiful day and as you can see by the pictures below there was a good turnout of people who were very interested in learning how to play Pickleball. We had a lot of fun teaching and they were a fun group to work with. We wish them well and hope they have lots of fun playing the game of Pickleball.

Click on picture to view and click on the X to return to the Blog.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Pickleball Pizza Party 12-5-2011

Our traditional Pickleball Pizza Party was a great success. We had lots of Pizza to eat and a wonderful assortment of salads, crackers, fruit, and lots of desserts. Thanks to all who brought in a dish to share with everyone. There were also some great Pickleball games being played as you can see by the pictures below. We were happy to have our new players join us this year at the Pizza Party. They were Rich and Carol Paul, Don Johnson who brought his wife to the party and Ken (he is so new that I don't have his last name yet). Karen Orman kept up with her tradition of dressing for the holiday as you can see below in one of the pictures. All in all everyone had a great time mingling with their friends, chatting and laughing at this wonderful time of the year. We would like to Thank all who donated to the Relay for Life Cancer Research.

Our committee wishes one and all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Manny & Marie, Don Gullakson & Harry Yorgensen

In this photo above in the pink is Marilyn Crowell's
sister.

Nice picture of Gerry & Marilyn Crowell.

It's so nice to see Joel back on the court and playing.

He had a shoulder injury and was not able to play for quite a while.
Welcome Back!

Ron Eversole (in the burgundy shirt) is vacationing at his home here at Highland Lakes.

He is from Kentucky but hopes to be a permanent resident here as soon as

he can sell his house in Kentucky.

Above in her Christmas outfit is our one and only Karen Orman.
Karen had surgery on her shoulder and is now able to return to
play Pickleball. Yeah!

Ruthanne, you did take a nice picture!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Pickleball is Hosting the Saturday Breakfast.

I would like to Thank all the Pickleball Players who came this morning to help serve at the Saturday Breakfast. You guys did a wonderful job and there were many compliments on how friendly the Pickleball Players really are. You made us proud! Thank You!
We had a good turnout of our residents who came to eat and have some fun.

All 20 of our Pickleball Group.

Dorethea instructing the Pickleball Group of their duties.

Behind the scenes!

Ernie cooked the eggs today!

Joe is busy whipping up the pancakes.

A good crowd for this mornings breakfast.

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