Pickleball The States

  August 30 2023 The plan was to drive three and a half hours from Wenatchee WA and play pickleball in The Dalles OR that evening and then drive to Hood River the next morning for some play at Golden Eagle Park. Perhaps it was the blustery wind, but not one player showed up at Sorosis Park in The Dalles.  We were starting to get concerned about playing in OR in our limited window of time. Would anyone show up at Golden Eagle Park? Would we have to alter our schedule and head to Portland? Hoping to get some assurance, we posted on the Hood River Valley Pickleball Community FB page that we would be there the next morning. There was one response, and it wasn't from someone who would be playing. He wished us well, but had some concern that the courts might have puddles from a recent rain. Fortunately, there was only one small puddle on one of the three courts when we arrived. That one small puddle was the only thing on the courts at 8:30 am which was the time we understood play ge...

 August 28 2023 We are often asked how we choose our locations to play pickleball. For this trip, Barb's nephew Steve and family live in Wenatchee, WA so combining a visit with them and playing pickleball in the Wenatchee Valley was an easy decision. Communicating with players prior to our arrival also directed us to play at Eastmont Community Park where we would find players with similar skills to ours playing in the mornings. As soon as we arrived at the courts, we met Diane and Allie, a mother/daughter team. Diane brought us up to speed on the paddle system in use. Paddle handles pointing north indicated advanced players. Handles pointing east were intermediate and handles pointing south were beginners. The six dedicated outdoor courts were filled with players, however, courts became available rather quickly. We had placed our paddles down with Diane and Allie and before long we were on the courts. They made a formidable pair to play against. Diane's background in volleyba...

  April 29 2023 We had checked IL off our list of  Pickleball the States back in June 2018, however, it wasn't quite the way we like to do it. For more info, you can open up up  Morton IL #4 - When it rains , We were on our way home from our Southwest Pickleball the States Tour and had spent the night in the Quad Cities area. Curious about possible pickleball play in the area on a Saturday morning, we checked Places2Play. The Riverside Pickleball Courts looked like they might be a welcome place to get in some open play before finishing our drive home, and we were right, it was a fantastic place to play. Eight dedicated courts were fenced off with shaded seating in the middle. Even though the courts were fairly new, they had replaced the previous smaller umbrellas with these new larger umbrellas and benches. All the courts this Saturday morning were full which was hopefully a sign we would be able to find some players willing to play with us.  Shortly aft...

  April 26 2003 The weather on this particular Wednesday was cold with a possibility of rain so play was scheduled inside at the Colfax County Event Center. Lobbing the ball inside was not going to be successful for those who like to lob. Our first game was against Leslie and Barbara. Leslie was our contact for play in Raton and she was faithful in seeing that players showed up the day we visited. Her pickleball partner Barbara was previously a tennis coach and her tennis skills transferred well to the pickleball court. Our next game was a bit different and something new to us. Leslie called it Chaos. On the sideline for each team was a third player who would replace the next player on their team that made a mistake. The photo at the top of the blog shows me, Leslie, Barb, Barbara, Jeanne and David just after our Chaos game. It was a great way to get players into the game and keep the game moving. We have used this method occasionally for play after returning home. We had a great g...