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.