Highland Lakes Pickleball

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Highland Lakes Inter-Community Play has a strong turnout. .

Highland Lakes Pickleball has just finished it's second week of Inter-Community play with a great turnout from Royal Highlands, Pennbrooke Fairways, Spanish Springs, Plantation, Hawthorne, Legacy & and Water Oaks. This has been a fun time for everyone involved. We get to meet new Pickleball players who play at different levels of the game and this has proven to be very challenging for everyone involved and we all have fun playing the game of Pickleball.

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of seeing Doug Benedict again, grandson of Ed & Carolyn Stein from Hawthorne. He visits with his Grandparents every year at Hawthorne. Doug loves to play Pickleball and joins us in our Inter-Community play when he is here. He wants to get all the Pickleball play he can possibly get during his vacation. He is a very good player and flies around that court and he rotates in just like everyone else. Welcome Doug! Below are some pictures of Doug.

Pennbrooke Fairways

Royal Highlands

Plantation

Hawthorne - "Doug with his grandmother".

The Serve

The follow through

The Return

I Love this game

Friday, June 8, 2012

June 1st was the start of Pickleball's Inter-Community Play at Highland Lakes

Highland Lakes Pickleball has started their Inter-Community Play with 7 different communities on June 1, 2012. The communities are Hawthorne, Legacy, Pennbrooke, Plantation, Royal Highlands, Spanish Village and Water Oaks. We have finished our first week and we had a great turnout. We had 10 to 16 Pickleball players from these communities come to join us in some fun games on each given day. We have some established Pickleball communities joining us and we also have two communities who do not have access to play Pickleball at their community. We welcomed Royal Highlands and Spanish Village to take part in our Inter-Community play for the summer months. With Inter-Community play we get to meet some nice people from different communities and have fun playing Pickleball.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Highland Lakes Pickleball Outing 4-23-2012

Here it is nearly the end of April and we are finally having our Pickleball Picnic. We normally have it at the end of March and the weather is usually very nice and warm, but this year we had it nearly at the end of April and the weather was a little chilly. We had a sunny day but a little breezy, quite unusual for the end of April. We would like to Thank everyone who helped by bringing a dish to the picnic and those who helped by supplying food for the picnic. Thank You to Cal for helping us cook on the grill. Thank You Ruthanne for helping to orgagnize the tables and all of you who came by to help us set up and those who helped us put everything away. We had a great crowd with lots of good food and lots of fun with our friends. Thank You Irene for taking the pictures as you can see they came out great. It was nice to have Bob Cuenin with us this year because he's usually in Costa Rica at this time of the year. A big Welcome for Karen Orman who came by with her husband Bob to be with her friends and enjoy some of the food. It was so nice to see her there because she has been hospitalized for many weeks and we are all glad she is finally back home. A Welcome to Cindi's friend "Wayne" who was able to join us this year. It was nice to see Heidi, Ryan & Jason. Heidi is visiting her parents Cal & Irene Blenis with her two sons Ryan and Jason and we were glad they could join us at the picnic.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Relay For Life at Southpointe Baptist Church 4-13-2012

I've added some pictures from the Relay For Life that we participated in on April 13, 2012. We wish to Thank Judy Marshall, Maureen Shulz, Hugh & Sue Stock, Cal & Irene Blenis for helping out at the Relay for Life. Thanks guys!

Setting up the game area.

Our site at the Relay.

Manny & Marie - Bill & Kathy

Survival Walk.

Bill & Kathy Guenst - Ginny Warburton

Judy Marshall

My granddaughters decorated this for their grandmother who passed away due to cancer.

Our Godson Donald & his Father Albert both passed away due to cancer.

Illuminaries

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

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