On November 2nd, more than 300 pickleball players from across the country & Canada will converge on Buckeye, AZ for the first USAPA National Tournament.  This year the tournament will be held at the Sun City Festival, a Del Webb Community in Buckeye, just a short drive from Phoenix.

If you have not yet registered, there still is time.  Registration will end October 10, so hurry and register on-line now.

The USAPA will be selling official USAPA hats, visors, sweat bands, and lapel pins. Additional pickleball vendors will be selling the newest equipment, there will be new home tours for those interested, a banquet with entertainment, tours and attractions around the Phoenix area, and of course lots of pickleball for all ages.

Come and experience the warmth of Sun City Festival and the excitement of the first USAPA National Tournament. For tournament information Click Here

The USAPA Board of Directors would like to welcome the following new board members who are filling vacant spots.

Irene Fraties will become our new e-newsletter editor.  Irene  retired in 2006 from The Raiford Company, a management consulting firm specializing in improving behaviors and communication among corporate management teams.  Her primary responsibilities included writing, editing, and generally overseeing the development of a variety of written materials, from strategic plans to web sites to training and marketing materials.  Irene and her husband A.J. are full time RVer's and help promote the game of pickleball across the country.

Rich Donald will become our new Ratings Chair.  Rich & his wife Donna (new Regional Ambassador for the Atlantic South Region) are from Elmira, NY. They relocated to Tampa, FL in 1994 and he retired in 2006 after a 29 year career in the HVAC Engineering field. Rich joined USAPA in 2007 as an Ambassador in the New Tampa area where he has played a key role in promoting and growing the sport throughout the Atlantic South Region.

We welcome both of these talented individuals to the board and know they will work hard in an effort to make pickleball a fun and enjoyable game for all.

by David Jordan, Marketing & Sales Chair

During our travels, we visit the Atlanta, GA area a couple times a year to visit Nancy's mom, brother-in-law, and sister.  While there, we have the opportunity to visit and play pickleball with Tom and Ann Earley at their courts and the newly formed North Georgia Pickleball Club.  Tom wrote the following clip about their club.

The newly formed North Georgia Pickleball Club has one requirement - all members must join the USAPA - the National organization for Pickleball Players.  There are no dues, no elected officers, no age requirements.  Everyone enjoys playing Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 9 a.m. and Sundays at 10 a.m.  Balls and Paddles are furnished and beginners are welcome. L-R Tom, Ann, Nancy, David

There are approximately 30 members in the organization at this time.  The two tennis courts can be altered to support four PB courts with portable nets. For 2009, the club will sponsor another tournament in November.   For more information, call Tom and Ann Earley 770.401.7355.

We also usually travel North to Chattanooga to visit  Nancy's brother and his family.  This year we were able  to visit the Frances B Wyatt Recreational Center in  North Chattanooga while there.  We played with a  spirited and talented group of players for a couple of hours.  There also is a group of players at Signal Mountain that we hope to get to play with on our next visit.
For more "Places to Play" click here
3rd from left - Kelly Price, director of the Wyatt Center

On the same trip we visited our son in Madisonville, KY and then visited with friends in Henderson, KY.  They had never played pickleball and wondered what all the fuss was about.  So it was off to some local tennis courts with a chalk line and tape measure in hand to introduce the game they had heard so much about.

L-R Nancy Taylor, Darrel Watkins, Nancy Jordan

by Tom Brull
USAPA Ambassador

Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, began a new Pickleball club for players in the City of Manitowoc. We were successful in getting the City Recreation Department to paint two courts in 2008 on a tennis court that was seldom used and they added a third court this past spring. They also provided us with a gym to use in the winter. We had to tape off courts, but it worked.

We are averaging 15 to 20 players on a weekly basis and are now listed in the "Places to Play" section of the USAPA website. Although, our surface leaves a lot to be desired, we have started and are growing. Our players range in age from 9 to 70 and we have a good mix of men and women. In the beginning, I provided the equipment. Now almost everyone has their own equipment and are learning new techniques each session. I have been providing our Rec Dept with info from USAPA in hope of getting better and permanent courts, but it hasn't been catching on with them as fast as I would like. I have even volunteered to help paint the lines on the gym floor so that we don't have to tape in the winter, and hopefully will speed up the process.

We are presently playing on Wednesday evenings starting at about 6 pm. and lasting until
7-7:30 pm. As daylight hours decrease, we will start play at 5:00 pm. This Winter, we will move indoors play on Saturdays from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm.

Tom and Ann Early live on a farm outside Atlanta, GA and have turned their tennis courts into pickleball courts. This past year they decided to raise turkeys.

As you can see, turkeys and pickleball players can enjoy each other. The question is, do the players or the "turkeys" rule?

Check out Idaho's new blog at http://idahopickleball.blogspot.com . Congratulations to Jan Johnson and helpers for starting the Idaho blog.

Venture Out RV Park in Mesa, AZ will have two additional courts for their January tournament this year.  Construction on the two new courts is scheduled for completion this Fall.

For a complete list of upcoming tournaments, please go to  USAPA Tournaments Schedule.

Send your submissions to newsletter@usapa.org . I would appreciate your comments on the newsletter.

by David Jordan, Marketing & Sales Chair, USAPA
Nancy Jordan, Memberships Chair, USAPA

Nancy's and my travels this summer took us on America's back roads to several places well off the interstates.  As we travel, we always look for pickleball courts and the opportunity to meet new people associated with those courts. As we all know, it is the people that make the game of pickleball so enjoyable . We love pickleball and we are always excited about finding new places.  Many times the people we meet are new friends and other times we get to see and play with people that we have met before.

A couple of courts that we found toward the end of  this year's trip were:
Hart Ranch RV Park, Rapid City, SD - Located  about 12 miles South of Rapid City, S.D.  and on the  way to Mount Rushmore, Custer State  Park, and the  Black Hills.

Hart Ranch is an owner-operated RV Resort with  four outdoor pickleball courts. In 2008, Kathy Payne, the Activities Director, asked  for one of  the tennis courts to be made into two pickleball courts.

Gregg Owens (in the red hat) from Sun City, AZ comes to Hart Ranch  for the summer months. Gregg saw the need, and volunteered to give free lessons two days a week. By the end of the summer, there was a line of people waiting to play. This year Gregg volunteered his labor and converted the two courts into four courts. Gregg is a true pickleball player (aka addict) who believes in sharing his knowledge and helping others enjoy the game he loves.  Hurray for Gregg!! While at Hart Ranch, we were able to get  into games with many people and some from  as far away as The Villages  in FL.

Show Low, AZ - Situated in the White Mountains of Arizona at an elevation of 6200'. Show Low is visited in the summer by many of Arizona's "Valley" people, those who reside at the lower elevations of Phoenix, Tucson, and Casa Grande during the winter  months.

Some AZ Ambassadors L to R.
Tucson - Nancy Jordan, Beth Patterson
Show Low - Larry and Sara Santora
Scottsdale - Joe Nelson

The pickleball program is run by the local recreation department. Play starts around 9 am and continues until everyone is tired, with most days going until  about 1pm. Due to many windy days in Show Low,  pickleball is played indoors on three carpeted courts  in a local gym decorated with brightly colored animals on the walls. All three courts are typically filled and  people  are eagerly waiting to get into the next game.
(David Jordan in blue, gathers with part of the Show Low players)

Playing on a carpeted floor was a new experience for us and one we grew to like very much. We had a lot of fun at both of these places and met some wonderful people. We would certainly enjoy visiting them both again.

Both locations mentioned above are included on the Places to Play page at  www.usapa.org If you haven't visited this site lately, please look to see if there are new places in your area or places that you know about that need to be added to the site. Remember that anyone can add or update a location. Just click here.
As we continue to grow, we need everyone's help to keep the Places to Play as current as possible.

by Janet Razz

The Great Lakes Region is Number One in regard to USAPA Members. Great Lakes gently edged in front of Atlantic South for the first time on August 10th and (amazingly) has held the lead for 10 days. Today, USAPA has a total of 1649 Members. The top three regions are Great Lakes (342), Atlantic South (334) and Southwest (263).

Today, PICKLEBALL is firmly rooted and growing in the Great Lakes. I raise my paddle to the USAPA Board Members and Pickleball Players across ALL USAPA Regions and Pickleball Canada for making this growth possible. Atlantic! Atlantic South! Great Lakes! Mid-South! Northwest! Great Plains! Southwest! West! Canada West! Pickleball Canada! We certainly do belong to a FANTASTIC Pickleball Community!

USAPA Great Lakes Region includes nine states, IA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MN, MO, OH, WI, and the province of Ontario. ALL ten areas in the Region are experiencing USAPA Membership growth.

USAPA Great Lakes Region is home to 2 USAPA Board Members, Marilyn Holladay and Dick Manasseri, 58 Local USAPA Ambassadors, 342 USAPA Members, and approximately 4159 Pickleball Players.

Click here to read the entire article

by Mark Friedenberg
Past President, USAPA

Editor's Note:
Mark recently completed two demonstrations in Wisconsin.  As past president of the USAPA, he is telling the story of Pickleball and giving demonstrations as he travels.  On this trip, his first stop was Janesville, WI

Pickleball in Janesville, WI – July 15, 2009    
From article in the Janesville Gazette…

I expected fewer than 10 players, but 43 players came out at Janesville’s Palmer Park to experience the joys of pickleball. Jim Clark and I taped two tennis courts but we ended up needing to also play on a third court without the tape.  I had planned to discuss several items, such as fundamentals, types of strokes, etc., but after discussing the plan with Jim, a part-time tennis instructor, we decided to demonstrate the sport with a few experienced players/snowbirds and then let those people who wanted to try out pickleball play. Just about everyone participated. While they played, we explained the rules and proper techniques. Afterwards, we passed out a brief set of rules and some tips that they could read later. It was a huge success.

In addition, most of the participants were in favor of approaching the city and asking for the  $5,000 required for putting in two courts next to the existing tennis courts. I offered to help in any way I could and suggested that they use the approach that Norm Davis had taken with the City of Surprise, AZ. I also said that the USAPA has a grant program which will allocate up to   $200 for help in getting new pickleball programs started.

In my opinion, Janesville, a city of about 60,000, is ready for pickleball.  Wisconsin can get very cold in the winter and very hot and humid during the summer.  I suggested that they investigate the middle schools, high schools, and recreation centers for badminton courts.

Second stop was Port Washington, WI - July 17, 2009
Again I expected fewer than 10 players and unfortunately I was right on this time. Port Washington is a small community and pickleball is played in the high school gym.  Although only 10 people showed up for the demonstration that I was to give, we all played and had fun. One woman said that she would look for the sport in Lansing, MI, her home town. Another gentleman was from Sun City West, AZ and had some experience playing the game, and spoke with the players about pickleball in AZ.  Many of the players were high school students and had some experience playing pickleball which was part of their physical education curriculum. We used Port Washington’s high school gym's badminton courts. Of all the badminton courts that I have ever seen, these were the most confusing.

Two people from the Parks and Recreation Department came to see the demonstration and to learn how they could start a successful program. Since they were my contacts and very much interested in getting pickleball started in their recreational program, it was great that they were there to see the interest and learn about the game.  The interest level may have been low because of  the early time, 8am -11am, but their enthusiasm was not lacking as we played until after 12pm. I left them paddles, books, and balls to encourage them to get it started. I did pass out the same information about pickleball as in Janesville, which consisted of two pages of rules and 3 pages of tips.

While at the first USAPA National Tournament, be sure to visit the USAPA Membership booth for the official USAPA Tournament Patch and other USAPA merchandise such as pins, hats, visors, and t-shirts that will be available for purchase. Take a memento home from the games.

The USAPA official on-line store is Cafepress.  If you have not visited our site for unique pickleball merchandise click here. These items make nice gifts for friends, relatives, or even yourself.  Stay out of the crowds and shop here for birthdays, anniversary, thank-you gifts, or Christmas presents.

(one of the many designs available)