ATLANTIC SOUTH PICKLEBALL

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

September 15, 2012

The Atlantic South Region (ASR) E-Newsletter is distributed on the 15th of each month

to all ASR Ambassadors. This newsletter is intended to keep all of you apprised of what is

happening in your region and to consolidate our news into a once/monthly communication.

Please forward this information to all USAPA members, all pickleball players/clubs in your

regions and post to your local pickleball Blogs or Websites.

WELCOME NEW AMBASSADORS

In North Carolina….

Meet Deb Richter – our newest NC

Ambassador. Hi from Brevard NC,

land of waterfalls and pickleball. My

partner and I found Brevard, and our

new community, Connestee Falls back

in Y2K. Bring back memories? Back

then, I was an air traffic controller at

the center in the Washington, DC

area………….

………….My pickleball introduction was in

October of 2010. Our wellness

committee offered an afternoon

seminar in Pickleball and I HAD to see what this sport with the dumb name was all

about. We used two tennis courts with some taped modified lines, paddles and balls,

some enthusiastic teachers and 40 rookies. At the end of the seminar someone came

up to me and said "You're pretty good at this...want to organize it? “ I said yes and

we haven't looked back. We played for about 8 months with tape or chalked lines but

our numbers grew. Today, we have an active and enthusiastic group of about 175

pickleball players who meet regularly for fun and competition.

We have offered beginner classes for 2 years and this year, added sessions of

intermediate and advanced skills training. We have started a ladder with the help of

USAPA and play weekly, and have an interclub event weekly with another local group

of players………….

We are listed with USAPA and we invite and encourage visitors to enjoy our

hospitality and community in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina and

Upstate South Carolina. Check out our website, www.carolinapickleball.com

See you on the courts! CLICK HERE for complete profile.

In Georgia……..

Please extend a warm Atlantic South welcome to Connor Murphy who hails from

Savanna, GA and is our newly appointed ambassador for Chatham County, GA.

Connor and his wife Ginny have been blessed with a large family. They are the proud

parents of seven children and 22 grandchildren!! AND………..still at home with them is

“Murph” ………….their 170 pound St. Bernard. Connor is originally from Ridgefield CT.

where he was employed in the paper industry for Champion International. About 11

months ago, he and his wife moved to The Landings at Skidaway Island, a gated

community of 8500 people, 6 golf courses and 34 tennis courts.

He started playing pickleball when the community introduced the game to about 6

people on one taped off tennis court. Today about 40 people enjoy the game on two

courts and he often travels take on the competition of the players on Hilton Head

Island. Connor has now joined the tournament circuit, recently playing in the Lake

Lure Olympiad, and registering to play in the Jacksonville FL Senior Games, the

Beaufort Jasper Games in SC and in the Atlantic South Regional in Naples, FL. He is

our pickleball contact working with Lemuel O’Neal of Savannah Outdoor Racquetball,

as they move forward on a proposed short term layout for converting an existing one

wall racquetball court to combination pickle ball and racquetball with the sport tile

surfaces. Longer term they would like to have 4 new multi-sport courts that include

pickleball in Lake Mayer, GA.

Saying Good-by to Carl Clouse - As we welcome new

ambassadors to our pickleball family – we are saddened

to have to say good-by to a long time pickleball player,

ambassador and friend.

Carl Clous, a resident of the Solivita Community in

South Central Florida and enthusiastic supporter of

USAPA, served as our ambassador since January of

2008.

Carl passed away on August 24th after an ongoing

battle with various forms of cancer. The pickleball

community – and especially his friends at Solivita will surely miss him.

USAPA BANNER CONTEST

Hurry – you only have until 11:00 pm October 1st

Help us create a new USA PICKLEBALL banner. The USAPA Board is in search of a

new design for our 3’ x 6’ banner that we give to ambassadors and clubs to hang at

tournaments, lessons, and clinic or wherever pickleball is regularly played.

The USAPA will award the winner with a three year extension to their USAPA

membership plus Pickleball Central will award any one paddle of the winner’s choice

that is displayed on their website and one dozen pickleballs. Contest Rules

RECENTLY IN THE ATLANTIC SOUTH NEWS

Advanced Round Robin, The Villages, FL: The Advanced Players were out this

month for the August Round Robin. The tournament took place from August 28-31,

2012 at the Truman Recreation Center. The tournament was open to only The

Villages residents, rated 4.0 – 4.5.

And the winners:

Mixed Doubles: Champions Bill Freeman & Deb Harrison, runners-up Dick Scott &

Alison Fulton.

Women's Doubles: Champions Denise Boutin & Alison Fulton, runners-up Nancy Nowak

& Deb Harrison.

Men's Doubles: Champions Barry Gee & Don Piper, runners-up Doug Balne & Tony

Chiorazzi.

Kudos to all who participated, and congrats to the champions :-)

September in The Villages will include an Age Level Open Tournament for the

residents at the Mulberry Recreation Center from the 25th thru the 28th.

Pickleball in the Atlantic South Media: This past month it was pickleball and

pickleball players that made the headlines! Getting the attention of your local media

is a great way to promote your club and our great game; a great way to celebrate

pickleball events and attract new players to the game. Here’s a quick look at some

recent North and South Carolina and Florida articles. Click the links to read the

whole story!

Pickleball, an exercise in disquise – The Sun City Hilton Head Players were

featured on blufftontoday.com on

August 15th. BlufftonToday.com is the

daily digital companion for Bluffton

Today, a semiweekly newspaper serving

the greater Bluffton area, Beaufort

County and parts of Jasper County SC.

Pickleball may come to Massena - Lyle Dumers, our Lee County Florida

snowbird, teaching pickleball

back home, was featured on

WatertownDailyTimes.com on

September 13, 2012. This publication

serves the communities of Jefferson,

St. Lawrence and Lewis counties in

Northern New York State.

On August 25th it was High Point, NC. Pickleball at the Madison-Mayodan Senior

Center was featured in Great game, strange name, an article that appeared on

GoDanRiver.com. The Dan River Region includes Danville and Pittsylvania County in

Southern Virginia and Caswell and Rockingham counties in North Central North

Carolina.

Cary Ambassador Mick Walsh and Holly

Springs/Garner Luis Vazquez and the

players at the Bond Park Community

Center were in the news. Fun for All

- It's Pickleball! appeared on

CaryMagazine.com in August.

Cary Magazine is the leading lifestyle

magazine for Western Wake County, is

published six times a year and is

available by subscription or at retail

locations throughout the area.

Pickleball Skills Clinic – SummerGlen - Ocala, FL: On Sunday September 9th,

Tampa Ambassador, Rich Donald provided a skills/techniques clinic to about 35

pickleball players at the SummerGlen community in Ocala, Fl. SummerGlen player

Len Outzs wanted to provide the resident players the opportunity to learn some skills

and techniques that would benefit both beginners and experienced players.

Rich covered a lot of the basics, like safety, the serve, where to stand on the court

and calling out balls. With the help of four of the experienced players he

demonstrated things like the soft game/dinking, lobs, volleys and that all important

third shot! Many of the players not wanting to forget what they had learned stayed

to play or practice what they had learned and promised to practice what they

learned!

“Donna and I enjoyed our visit to this beautiful community and were delighted to see so many people eager to improve their game. We had a great time – and we’re glad to see this location now listed on our “places to play” pickleball page on the USAPA website.” Click Here for all photos

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IMPACT PICKLEBALL PLAYERS, Information provided by Jodi Pree – our ambassador in Marco Island, Florida.

The hydrogen sulfide inhalation was an issue for the players at the Marco Island

Recreation Center (MIRC). We’re sharing this with our readers so you will recognize

the situation should it happen in your location. .

There was a smell coming from the sewage lift station located

next to the pickleball court and racquetball building. MIRC

immediately made contact with a Waste Water Specialist, who

suggested that all play be discontinued. What they were

breathing was toxic and doing damage to their bodies. They were

breathing in Hydrogen Sulfide. Symptoms can include shortness

of breath and dizziness, coughing, itchy eyes, nausea and vomiting,

which can potentially lead to more serious problems.

If you experience these symptoms while playing make the officials at your location

aware so they can contact the professionals who can deal with this. Those specialists

can resolve the situation so very easily and get your courts pickleball ready in about a

week.

UPCOMMING TOURNAMENTS, CLINICS AND EVENTS

Additional information and all links to registration formso are available in the Upcoming

Tournaments/Clinics/Events section on our Atlantic South Website:

www.south.usapa.org

Pickleball Demo and Beginner Clinic – September 21, 2012 Myrtle Beach Tennis

Center, Myrtle Beach, SC.

Tampa Bay Senior Games, Sept. 27-28, 201222, Sun City Center, FL –

Registration Deadline – September 21

Jacksonville Fit For Life Senior Games, October, 5, 2012, Jacksonville, Fl.

Registration Deadline – Sept. 21, 2012.

Kissimee/St. Cloud Senior Games, Oct. 15-16, 2012, Poinciana (Solivita), FL –

Registration Deadline – Oct. 5, 2012

N. Myrtle Beach Round Robin, October 19, 2012, Myrtle Beach, SC.

Veterans Day Invitational Pickleball Tournament/Benefit Hope for Warriors, Oct.

26-27, 2012, Fort Mill/Indian Land, SC - Registration Deadline – October 5th

Beaufort-Jasper Active Adult Challenge, October 29-31, 2012,

Bluffton, SC, Registration Deadline – Sept. 21, 2012

USAPA National Tournament, November 4-12, 2012, Buckeye, AZ

(Tier 1), Registration Deadline – October 5, 2012

Florida International Senior Games and State Championships, December 3-5, 2012,

Lakeland, FL

2nd Annual Riverbend Resort Classic, December 8-9, 2012, Labelle, FL

Skill level tournament open to ages 16 and up. (Tier 4)

The Villages Toys for Tots Tournament – December 17-21, 2012, (TV residents

only), The Villages, Fl.

2012 Tanglewood Winter Classic, January 5-6, 2013, Sebring, FL – Skill

Level tournament (Tier 4)

Geezer Meister Pickleball Tournament, January 17-19,2013, Summerfield, FL

Atlantic South Regional Pickleball Tournament, February 1-3, 2013,

Naples. FL (Tier 4), Registration Deadline – Postmark 1/12/2013,

On-Line – January 14, 2012

3rd Annual Senior Pickleball Tournament, February 8-9, 2013, Jacksonville, NC

Daytona Beach Senior Pickleball Tournament, February 8 -10, 2013, Daytona

Beach, FL

Lee County Senior Games, February 22-24, 2013, Ft. Myers, FL

City of Ft. Myers Skatorium Classic – March 1-3, 2013, Ft. Myers, FL

Skill Level Tournament open to ages 16 and up. (Tier 4)

Polk County Senior Games, March 5-6, 2013, Poinciana, FL

Heartland Senior Games, March 8-9, 2013¸Tanglewood, Sebring, FL

Charlotte County Senior Games, March 15-17, 2013, Punta Gorda, FL,

(Tier 4)

3rd Annual Riverbend Resort Classic, March 23-24, 2013, Labelle, FL – Skill Level

Tournament open to ages 16 and up.

East Naples Skill Level Tournament, April 5-7, 2013, Naples, FL

2013 US Open Senior Doubles Championship at the Villages, April 18-21,

2013, The Villages, FL

Pura Vida Pickleball Adventure, May 2-9, 2013, Westin Playa Concha, Costa Rica.

(Registration is Full – Closed)

National Senior Games Association (NSGA) Pickleball Tournament, July 21 – August

5, 2013, Cleveland, OH

1st Annual Myrtle Beach Invitational Tournament, November 16-17, 2013, Myrtle

Beach, SC

Do you have a tournament/round robin or social event that should be listed here?

NATIONAL SEIOR GAMES RELOCATE TO FLORIDA

The Atlantic South Region is excited about the recent announcement that the

National Senior Games Headquarters is relocating to Central Florida. According to

www.prnewswire.com, on August 5th….

The Osceola Board of County Commissioners officially approved the agreement today, which includes central Florida's hosting of five National Senior Games events through 2025. The move to central Florida from Baton Rouge, La., is a key part of NSGA's organizational growth strategy as it expands the National Senior Games competition to an annual event, from a biennial event starting in 2016 through 2025…………

The National Senior Games will now complement The Florida Senior Games State Championship and the Kissimmee-St. Cloud Senior Games, the former being a national qualifying competition. Both events feature multiple team and individual sporting events held at venues throughout central Florida.

CLICK HERE to read the complete article.

REPORTING IN FROM ACROSS THE REGION

FLORIDA

Rich and Donna Donald, New Tampa, FL - Ed Pritchett serves as the volunteer

coordinator in Victoria Park and reports that they are now playing on the tennis

courts within Victoria Commons, one of four communities that comprise Victoria Park.

The courts are located behind the

pool in Victoria Commons.

They play on Wednesday mornings

at 9 a.m. and Thursday evenings at

7:30 p.m. on one – two outdoor

lighted courts and play is open to

the public. Ed says that they are

also planning an event this fall to

offer free instruction and

explanation of rules in an effort to

expose more people from the

community of Deland to the game.

We’ll keep you posted when more

information is available.

Thanks to Garrett Veirs, Athletic Sports Coordinator, City of Deland Parks and

Recreation, the David E Disney Tennis Center at 816 South Amelia Ave in Deland, FL

is now listed as a new place to play pickleball. Right now, play is scheduled for

Monday mornings from 9-11 am on tennis courts modified for pickleball. Summer has

seen a drop in turnout, but during the cooler weather 15 - 20 regulars are there to

play. As the numbers grow, the plans are to introduce league play.

Contact information for both of these locations is available on the USAPA places to play page.

Dick Freshley – Palm Beach County, FL: The Parks and Recreation Director of

Palm Beach Gardens contacted Dick about introducing pickleball to the Board. Dick

reports: It went very well. I think they were already committed to do it. They just wanted some advice on what would be needed and how to best initiate people. I left them 4 paddles and some balls…….. The PB Gardens people are looking for ways to get more use out of their facilities. They have an enormous place with two big gyms,

each with two full size basketball courts; they are idle most of the daytime. I told them that is perfect for Pickleball, for a lot of seniors who can play in the daytime. They were impressed with the comments from MIRC; inexpensive to start and run. And participation from a vocal, influential segment of the community

On Friday morning, Sept.7th Josh and Harriet Berks-Kalin set up a pickleball

demonstration for a small group of residents in their community, the Glen Eagles

Country Club in west Delray Beach. Dick and his wife Verna were there to help them

out. An executive from Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation was also there to

check out the game. Dick is confident that if they can find a group of players that

this gentleman will find them a place to play

Josh and Harriet also met up with another pickleball enthusiast Robin Warner on

Sunday, Sept 9th to demonstrate and introduce pickleball to another community in

nearby Deerfield Beach. We get so many calls from visitors to this part of Florida’s

east coast. Things are really starting to happen and we are hopeful that we will be

able to report some new pickleball venues in the near future.

GEORGIA

Steve Dunn, North Georgia. Remember last month Steve and Pat Dunn had

organized a clinic at Big Canoe in Jasper, GA? What a great turnout they had!

Not yet listed on our places to play page but Linda Powell of Big Canoe says: We are just experimenting at this point to get a feel for the level of interest. We are starting by taping off 1 hard court and introducing a couple of clinics. We all know

how addictive this game is…………..so we confident that we’ll be hearineg more from

this location real soon.

NORTH CAROLINA

Pickleball Beginner Clinic, Emerald Isle, NC: The Emerald Isle Parks and

Recreation hosted a free pickleball clinic to anyone wanting to learn the game, on

August 22 at the Community Center gymnasium. Ambassador Rick Laskey led the

clinic and reports that…. “18 folks attended… We had locals as well as attendees from Raleigh NC, VA, NJ, MD and FL.” Emerald Isle is in Carteret County and the county has started pickleball every Tuesday morning at one of four different venues. I will contact the Athletic Director for Carteret County Parks and Recreation to see if she would like me to run a clinic for her players. The Carteret County Parks &

Recreation, in conjunction with The

North Carolina Active Play Alliance and

the 2nd Annual North Carolina Play Daze

will also be including pickleball in their

upcoming Play Daze event at the Fort

Benjamin Park in Newport, NC. This

event will take place on Friday,

September 21, 2012 from 9am – 1pm. The event is being offered to Special

Olympics athletes throughout Carteret County.

Mountain Picklers, Conestee Falls, Brevard, NC In an exciting final match against Mountain Pickler Karen Wolf and Lin Kolb of Brevard, Deb Richter and Rene Wilson won the Women's Doubles gold medal at the Lake Lure Pickleball Tournament. The tournament was highly competitive with players coming from Charlotte, Greenville, Fletcher, Florida and more distant locations due to the

lovely location and quality of play.

Other Connestee entrants Eliot Butter, Karl Schumacher and John Dreier all won several matches in the Men's Doubles and Mixed Doubles but did not reach the medals competition.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Rena Grant, Myrtle Beach, SC - Plans are currently under way to introduce

pickleball at the Myrtle Beach Tennis Center. Rena is sure that one more venue will

be available for pickleball players in Myrtle Beach; a demo/pickleball clinic for

beginners is scheduled for September 21st. In October a fun round robin is

scheduled in North Myrtle Beach between the Crabtree and Pepper Gedding players.

And plans are also underway to announce the 1st Annual Myrtle Beach Pickleball

Tournament. The dates are set for November 16 and 17, 2013 – so mark your

calendars and watch for more information.

Bob Grueser, Sun City Hilton Head - REGISTRATION DEADLINE – Sept. 21,

2012. The Beaufort Jasper Active Adult Challenge for pickleball is October 29, 30 and 31. We are a USAPA sanctioned event. It is for 50 and over competitors. We have beginning, intermediate and advanced levels of play. Last year we had 156 participants in the men's, women's and mixed doubles events. We do not offer singles.

The competition will be held on the new and beautiful courts in Sun City Hilton Head. We have 8 lighted courts

for this event. A division of the ladies doubles will be held at The Haven, a neighboring community.

Keowee Key Players at Lake Lure Tournament: Keowee Key was well represented

at the Lake Lure Olympiad Pickleball Tournament. Over 60 teams competed in the

tournament and Keowee Key had 5 teams in Mixed Doubles, 2 in Men's Doubles and 2

in Woman's Doubles competitions. They also had folks come just to cheer and

support their players. Many of our group chalked up some nice match victories to move up the ladder, but eventually encountered top ranked players from The Villages in Florida or youthful talent from other locations. We all experienced "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." All in all, a very fun day!

Keowee Key player

Dick Stone put

together “a creative video of the group at the tournament. Great Job!! Hats off also to Pattie Stone and Raylene Webster for supplying the stills and the video for the production. “

CLICK HERE to view

the video.

Donald Blasburg, Cane Bay Pickleball Club, Charleston, SC: In August we had our third annual Cane Bay Pickleball Club tournament and pool party with our new Tournament Director Bill Scott. Our club has what we call a Drop-In tournament the first Saturday of every month, except during one of the summer months where we have our sign up tournament and party. For this tournament we pair partnerships based on player’s rankings making for closer competition and hard fought games.

We separate the participants into “A” players and “B” players again making for closer and more animated competition. This was a two loss tournament with a winners and losers bracket.

With over 30 participants this year games went on most all of the morning finishing in early afternoon, with the winners of the “A” bracket being Dale Munoz and Terry Meek beating Don Blasberg and Bob Larsen. In the “B” bracket it was Ron Birckhead and Roman Switenko beating John DePaul and Norma Hammett.

Great fun was had by all with a super pool party following a long morning of Pickleball. Food for the party was hot dogs and chicken all done on the grill, with everyone bringing a prepared dish. You all know there was more food than appetites to consume it all. Our club is now more than 70 strong and growing.

If you have ANY story, news or information from your area that you would like to share with our readers in our monthly newsletter or on our Website, please send it to Donna Donald at rddonald2@gmail.com