HAPPY
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Saturday, December 21, 2019
12 Days of Pickleball Christmas
Keith, from Gig Harbor, WA, just whipped up this fun poem for you to enjoy:
12 Days of Pickleball Christmas
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
A pickleball in a pear tree.On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Two overheads—and a pickleball in a pear tree.On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Three bench hens, two overheads—and a pickleball in a pear tree.On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Four calling nerds, three bench hens, two overheads—and a pickleball in a pear tree.On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Five golden blings!
Four calling nerds, three bench hens, two overheads—and a pickleball in a pear tree.
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Six geezers playing—five golden blings—
Four calling nerds, three bench hens, two overheads—and a pickleball in a pear tree.On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Seven studs a swinging, six geezers playing—five golden blings—four calling nerds, three bench hens, two overheads—and a pickleball in a pear tree.On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Eight dames a dropping, seven studs a swinging: six geezers playing—five golden blings—four calling nerds, three bench hens, two overheads—and a pickleball in a pear tree.On the ninth day of Christmas, my true gave to me:
Nine ladies looping, eight dames a dropping, seven studs a swinging: six geezers playing—five golden blings—four calling nerds, three bench hens, two overheads—and a pickleball in a pear tree.On the tenth day of Christmas, my true gave to me:Ten lords a lunging, nine ladies looping, eight dames a dropping, seven studs a swinging: six geezers playing—five golden blings—four calling nerds, three bench hens, two overheads—and a pickleball in a pear tree.On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:Eleven picklers paddling, ten lords a lunging, nine ladies looping, eight dames a dropping, seven studs a swinging: six geezers playing—five golden blings—four calling nerds, three bench hens, two overheads—and a pickleball in a pear tree.On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:
Twelve dinkers dinking, eleven picklers paddling, ten lords a lunging, nine ladies looping, eight dames a dropping, seven studs a swinging: six geezers playing—five golden blings—four calling nerds, three bench hens, two overheads—and a pickleball in a pear tree!
Saturday, December 7, 2019
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Barney McCallum
Written by Jennifer Lucore
Barney McCallum – A Wonderful Life
The pickleball world has lost its last living founder, inventor and a pioneer of this great sport. Barney McCallum passed away at his home in Seattle, WA on Monday, November 18, 2019. He was 93 years old.
I will miss his sharp wit and humor, our in-depth conversations, his amazing storytelling, and his true friendship and positive outlook on all things. Barney had an amazing memory, often recalling and sharing his life experiences as he interweaved them into the conversation. I’m going to miss those chats!
Barney lived an interesting, full life that held many chapters. One chapter of his life began in 1965 when Barney was one of the three founders and creators of the sport of pickleball. At that time, Barney was 39 years old, married with four kids, and was busy running one of the businesses he started in Seattle, the McCallum Envelope Company.
Fast-forward to Barney’s last pickleball chapter, Summer 2013 – November 18, 2019:
In 2013, Barney had long sold Pickle-Ball® Inc. to his son and had not been to a pickleball event/tournament in decades. At Jennifer Lucore’s urging, to which Barney exclaimed, “Let’s check out what pickleball is up to!”, he attended the popular SeaTac indoor tournament held in Washington state.
Later that year, Barney attended his first USAPA Nationals in Buckeye, AZ. Barney sat courtside for several matches and was a special guest speaker at the USAPA Ambassador Dinner. Barney said his visit to Nationals was “overpowering” and “just a thrill.”
For the next several years, Barney would get constant updates with the happenings of pickleball from Jennifer Lucore, Alex Hamner, and his many pickleball friends and family via phone calls, mail, and personal visits. Jennifer and Alex visited Barney periodically and stayed with him in Bainbridge Island every July (usually right after the Canadian Nationals) for six years in a row… priceless!
In 2018, Barney returned with family to Nationals when it was held for the first time at Indian Wells Tennis Garden in the California desert. He had been there many times for big tennis tournaments, but to enter such a prestigious venue that had a week full of only pickleball – he could not believe it. He was impressed.
Throughout 2019, the monthly talks about pickleball and the things that are happening continued. His hope was to attend Nationals again but decided it was best to stay closer to home. In September he celebrated his 93rd birthday, and hundreds of pickleball players from around the world sent him birthday wishes. Barney shared that he spent many hours reading all the notes he received and how much he appreciated receiving them. He was overjoyed with the outpouring of love and the various uplifting and life-changing pickleball stories people shared with him.
An early chapter of Barney’s life was shared in this Around the Post column printed in the Sept/Oct 2019 issue Pickleball Magazine:
Not Just Your Everyday Veteran Pickleball Player
It was 1944, and like many boys his age, Barney McCallum joined the U.S. Navy in order to serve his country during World War II. Told that he needed to finish high school first, Barney reported to Recruit Training just two days after graduating at the age of 17.
Assigned to a ship for the next two years as a Deck Seaman (deck seamen are charged with managing the ship while going into and out of port, as well as maintaining the ship’s appearance and keeping the deck secure), Barney was recognized as being a very strong guy who was not afraid of heights. So he was tasked with climbing the 70-foot-high mast to pull the boom up and secure it whenever the ship would leave port. This could be particularly dangerous when the ship was already in motion. Barney remembers one of the most challenging climbs leaving port in San Francisco as the ship went under the Golden Gate Bridge in a storm – it was just him and the elements 70 feet in the air.
Most of Barney’s Naval service was spent traversing the Pacific Ocean. His last wartime travel turned out to be during the last battle in Okinawa when his ship picked up 1,000 Japanese POWs to take to the United States. By the time the ship had reached Hawaii, the war had ended. Barney and his shipmates then went back and forth between Japan and the U.S., bringing soldiers home.
The final voyage for Barney was through the Panama Canal (during a hurricane!) and back to Norfolk, VA, where the ship was decommissioned.
Barney can count three separate times during his short Naval career where he almost lost his life. Honored to have served, Barney wonders if he should have stayed in the Navy rather than return to Washington state to attend college. We’ll never know how pickleball history may have been altered if Barney, the last living creator of our great sport, and founder of Pickle-Ball Inc., had taken a different course in life.
Thank you, Barney McCallum, for both your service to the country as well as for helping to create pickleball!
RIP Barney McCallum, you will be missed by millions!
Sunday, November 10, 2019
The Growth of Nationals
2009 -2014 Buckeye, AZ
The first USAPA Nationals had just under 400 participants from 26 states and several Canadian provinces. Eight dedicated pickleball courts were used with an additional 12 courts set up on adjacent tennis courts using taped lines and hand-built, free-standing nets.
2015 -17 Casa Grande AZ
Palm Creek and Robson Ranch co-hosted this event in 2015, this is the first time champion courts were available.
2016 - Palm Creek, AZ
With 32 courts this was the first time players were capped at 860.
2017 - Palm Creek, AZ
To accommodate more players in 2017, an additional twelve courts were added from the nearby Robson Ranch complex for a total of 44 courts. Despite the additional courts, registration had to be quickly capped as registrations surged past 1,300 players within the first hour. 2017 also marked the first time the National Championships aired to a national audience as 2 hours of the event were aired on the CBS Sports Network.
2018 - Indian Wells Tennis Garden, CA
This venue featured 45 courts and the world’s largest pickleball championship court. The event also set a new player registration record with over 2,200 registered players who competed in a total of 4,300 matches. This tournament also provided the highest cash purse ($75,000) in the history of the sport! As for broadcast coverage, over 17 hours of the event were live-streamed to a nation-wide audience on ESPN3 and a special, 1-hour highlight program aired nationally on ESPNEWS.
2019 - Indian Wells Tennis Garden, CA
This tournament just ended and many details are sure to follow in the USAPA newsletter and the Pickleball Magazine
The venue grew to 50 courts and 2,333 registered players and a cash purse of $80,000 making this the largest pickleball ever!
Matches were easy to view on Facebook if you missed some of these events check out: https://usapickleballnationalchampionships.com/live/
A super special moment for the first time a Junior won a Gold medal in a Pro Division! Womens Pro Doubles - Junior Anna Leigh Waters ( 12 years old) playing with Leigh Waters won the Gold!
2020 - Registration information available on usapa.org
The first USAPA Nationals had just under 400 participants from 26 states and several Canadian provinces. Eight dedicated pickleball courts were used with an additional 12 courts set up on adjacent tennis courts using taped lines and hand-built, free-standing nets.
2015 -17 Casa Grande AZ
Palm Creek and Robson Ranch co-hosted this event in 2015, this is the first time champion courts were available.
2016 - Palm Creek, AZ
With 32 courts this was the first time players were capped at 860.
2017 - Palm Creek, AZ
To accommodate more players in 2017, an additional twelve courts were added from the nearby Robson Ranch complex for a total of 44 courts. Despite the additional courts, registration had to be quickly capped as registrations surged past 1,300 players within the first hour. 2017 also marked the first time the National Championships aired to a national audience as 2 hours of the event were aired on the CBS Sports Network.
2018 - Indian Wells Tennis Garden, CA
This venue featured 45 courts and the world’s largest pickleball championship court. The event also set a new player registration record with over 2,200 registered players who competed in a total of 4,300 matches. This tournament also provided the highest cash purse ($75,000) in the history of the sport! As for broadcast coverage, over 17 hours of the event were live-streamed to a nation-wide audience on ESPN3 and a special, 1-hour highlight program aired nationally on ESPNEWS.
2019 - Indian Wells Tennis Garden, CA
This tournament just ended and many details are sure to follow in the USAPA newsletter and the Pickleball Magazine
The venue grew to 50 courts and 2,333 registered players and a cash purse of $80,000 making this the largest pickleball ever!
Matches were easy to view on Facebook if you missed some of these events check out: https://usapickleballnationalchampionships.com/live/
A super special moment for the first time a Junior won a Gold medal in a Pro Division! Womens Pro Doubles - Junior Anna Leigh Waters ( 12 years old) playing with Leigh Waters won the Gold!
2020 - Registration information available on usapa.org
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Monday, October 28, 2019
The Snow Ball Express
Palm Creek is proud through Pickleball they helped raise funds for the Gary Senise
Foundation for Wounded Warriors!
Gary Senise has an incredible sense of what is important
Foundation for Wounded Warriors!
Gary Senise has an incredible sense of what is important
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Battle of the Branches
Way to Go - over $ 5,000 raised for Wounded Warriors
Hats off the to Gary Senise Foundation and to all the Players and Volunteers who made this a success!
The Results Link
Friday, September 27, 2019
Steve Hansen
Steven Hansen
1953 - 2019
Steve loved playing pickleball. He and his wife Cathy as club members were also always ready to volunteer.
Steve will be missed by all those who played with him and by all of those who he has helped. During his Winter stays at Palm Creek he participated in a lot of events the community offered.
With Cathy, he enjoyed fishing and woodworking. He also was enjoying learning to play the guitar.
Steve will be dearly missed by his wife Cathy, his sons, grandchildren, and great-grandchild, his mother and sisters. He will also be missed by his Palm Creek pickleball family.
(Apologies for the late notice)
Celebration of Life For Steve Hansen is on Saturday, Sept 28 from 11am-2pm. Anyone wishing to send flowers can send them to:
Zion Lutheran Church
1300 Pearl St
Belvedere IL 61008
(815-547-6102)
If sending through a Florist have them delivered anytime between 8:30-10:30am Saturday.
1953 - 2019
Steve loved playing pickleball. He and his wife Cathy as club members were also always ready to volunteer.
Steve will be missed by all those who played with him and by all of those who he has helped. During his Winter stays at Palm Creek he participated in a lot of events the community offered.
With Cathy, he enjoyed fishing and woodworking. He also was enjoying learning to play the guitar.
Steve will be dearly missed by his wife Cathy, his sons, grandchildren, and great-grandchild, his mother and sisters. He will also be missed by his Palm Creek pickleball family.
(Apologies for the late notice)
Celebration of Life For Steve Hansen is on Saturday, Sept 28 from 11am-2pm. Anyone wishing to send flowers can send them to:
Zion Lutheran Church
1300 Pearl St
Belvedere IL 61008
(815-547-6102)
If sending through a Florist have them delivered anytime between 8:30-10:30am Saturday.
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Battle of the Branches
Still time to Register
Did you or a family member serve? You Qualify to play. This is going to be a great round robin tournament, lots of play, Friday Dinner, silent auction, and all to benefit The Gary Sinise Foundation. Join us. Palm Creek Resort, Casa Grande, AZ
The link below will bring you to theregistration page.
https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=30701
Saturday, September 14, 2019
Monday, July 29, 2019
Friday, July 26, 2019
You may want to see this..
BROADCAST ALERT! Pickleball will hit the “TODAY Show Plaza” outside Studio 1A in Rockefeller Plaza. Tune in to the Today Show next Monday morning to watch pros Lucy Kovalova and Tyson McGuffin demonstrating one of the fastest-growing sports in the U.S. on a national stage!#USAPickleball #WatchUsGrow #NBC
Saturday, July 13, 2019
Thinking about being a Referee
USAPA has come out with a new page, listing some helpful guidelines and tools
Who knows you may be getting paid to be a Referee for our Annual Tournament!
Who knows you may be getting paid to be a Referee for our Annual Tournament!
Friday, July 5, 2019
Picklelball on Steroids
There is no end in sight as to how much how sport will continue to grow!
The following article was in the Naples Daily News
East Naples Community Park is set to receive $23.4 million in upgrades, including more pickleball courts, a welcome center and a 3,500-seat championship stadium.
The following article was in the Naples Daily News
East Naples Community Park is set to receive $23.4 million in upgrades, including more pickleball courts, a welcome center and a 3,500-seat championship stadium.
The park, which has become a pickleball mecca in recent years, has hosted the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships since 2016 and its existing 54 courts are frequented by daily players.
The project’s first phase, which will cost approximately $1.8 million, will upgrade electrical, water and wireless access and add 10 pickleball courts by April 2020, according to a master plan county commissioners approved this week.
The initial upgrades will help event organizers meet the needs of the U.S. Open Pickleball Championship, said Chris Evon, a co-founder of Spirit Promotions LLC, the company that runs the U.S. Open.
Access to improved electricity and wireless Internet will help the event run more efficiently while the extra courts will accommodate demands for more space, Evon said.
“The demand not only for the U.S. Open but for daily play is still increasing so we asked for more courts. The U.S. Open, we pull in 2,100 people, but we turn away about 1,000 people. So, we know that more people want to come to the U.S. Open, we just don’t have the space,” she said.
The second phase of upgrades will include a 3,500-seat Championship Pickleball Stadium, more than 1,000 additional parking spots, a community center and a new welcome center.
The welcome center, which is set to be completed in 2021, will bring much-needed additional bathrooms to the park, said Barry Williams, the county's parks and recreation director.
"The big thing is we're going to start the design of a welcome center that would include adequate bathrooms for this facility. It was designed in the '80s with a different use and now this has become kind of an event center," he said.
The Phase 2 improvements will cost approximately $21.5 million. Although funding for the second phase of upgrades has not been secured, the money will likely come from an array of county funding sources, Williams said.
In the past four years, the county has invested more than $3 million in East Naples Community Park, converting areas designed for skateboarding and tennis into pickleball courts, installing a shade structure and making other improvements.
Thursday, July 4, 2019
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Teaching Pickleball for Juniors
Many of you go into the Middle and High Schools to teach
This book is directed at teaching Ages 5-12!
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Check it Out
More information has been posted
The history does mention the years at Palm Creek
Lots of answers about the upcoming Nationals under FAQ
The history does mention the years at Palm Creek
Lots of answers about the upcoming Nationals under FAQ
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
2019 Nationals
2019 MARGARITAVILLE USA PICKLEBALL
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
NOVEMBER 2-10, 2019
at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
NOVEMBER 2-10, 2019
at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden
The 2019 Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships, returning to the beautiful Indian Wells Tennis Garden in November, is on track to be bigger and better than last year. We are excited to share some changes for this year’s Nationals – from additional match courts, fan-friendly scheduling, and an online player check-in to free access to Championship Court, a player focused site layout with a variety of food options closer to the courts and more – it is sure to be fun for all!
Schedules, fees, and tournament information are now available click here.
To read about this year's tournament upgrades click here.
Be sure you have met the requirements to participate and played in one of the qualifying tournaments (click here for list) and start planning your trip to the 2019 Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships!
Pre-Registration opens July 15, 2019
Public Registration opens August 1, 2019
For more information, visit www.usapickleballnationals.com. We look forward to seeing you at Nationals!
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Saturday, May 18, 2019
In Memory of Walt Buehler
Walt Buehler
5/11/2019
Many of us knew Walt by his smile and his love the game. He started playing in 2014 and like most players quickly became involved. In addition to Winter play at Palm Creek, Walt also belonged to the Parkland Pickleheads at home. He did play competitively in tournaments but liked refereeing even more. In addition to being a referee for 3 years in the USAPA Nationals and many other tournaments, he also gave clinics for the Parkland Pickleheads and at the Central Lions Club in Edmonton.
2009 Walt at Work
Since the 1980's Walt was a sound engineer for the Edmonton Oilers on broadcasts on CFRN radio and later at 630 CHED. It appears that sports ran in his blood!
Many club members have commented on how they enjoyed playing with Walt and his friendship. He will be missed by many.
This is also a difficult time for Walt's wife Elana, she is currently in hospice.
Like a bird singing in the rain,
let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.
let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.
--Robert Louis Stevenson
Sunday, April 28, 2019
Sane and Insane
The Sane
This was posted on Facebook today
The Insane
This was posted on Facebook today
Operating three tournament desks
Playing on 58 courts and
788 matches in one day
Everyone Played
The Pros, The Senior Pros
Ages from 19+ to 80+
Skill levels 2.5-5.0
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Veterans Spread the Word!
Pickleball Tournament - Battle of the Branches - Benefiting The Gary Sinise Foundation
Pickleball Tournament 10/17/2019 - 10/20/2019
Palm Creek - Casa Grande, AZ USA
Everything you want to know, you can find on the link below. Including players that have already signed up. Signup Here: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/login.asp?TID=30701
Everything you want to know, you can find on the link below. Including players that have already signed up. Signup Here: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/login.asp?TID=30701
The Gary Senise Foundation has been giving a 4 Gold Star rating by Charity Navigator with a perfect score of 100. Last year, 91.12 % of every dollar raised was applied directly to supporting our defenders and their families
Friday, April 12, 2019
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)