News

How the Game Got Its Name: Pickleball is an
unusual name for the sport we all love so we wanted to let some of the families
who were actually there tell the story for themselves of how the game got its
name. Travel with us now back to Bainbridge Island once again for this fun
episode of Pickleball 411 and learn from founder Barney McCallum the story
behind how the game got its name. Also hear first hand from Dick Brown, one of
the four original men who helped develop the sport, and was actually in the
room when they came up with the name pickleball.   

Click Here for the full story!

Hello APCers,

If you weren't already aware, APC members receive a 5% discount when purchasing anything on the Pickleball Central website:  https://www.pickleballcentral.com/default.asp. 

In addition to the 5% discount to the customer, APC will also get 5% credited to their account for purchase of pickleball supplies (balls, nets, etc.).

Thanks very much to Joy Goldberg for her efforts in setting this up and for her continued support to the Club.

Pickleball has made the Today Show!  Click the link below to watch the segment!

Click Here for Pickleball on the Today Show!

Click here to see why a 72 year old man is traveling to prisons to promote Pickleball!

Thanks Rick Benton for the News!

Since the last update, APC continues to evolve, with now over 625 active members!  

The summer evening league is in full swing at PAL park.  Heat not withstanding, players converge on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, leveraging our permit with the AA county, to play competitive, yet fun games.  Thanks to Ed Woods for coordinating, and Danielle Kaczensky, Ben Torreon, and others for supporting both the league operation, and after play socials. We are especially happy for our members who still have careers, offering a league opportunity that they can take advantage of in the evening. 

Speaking of AA County, APC has received word that the two tennis courts at Bestgate Park will soon undergo renovation and be lined with four additional pickleball courts!  Stay tuned for more details.  Thanks to Kristin Schwitzer and Frank Quigley for helping nurture along our partnership with the county.  More court capacity for APC is a good thing!

Based of the support of Nick Passagno, and many APC volunteers, our kids clinics are off to a great start.  Several others are planned with volunteers needed.  This is a great example of APC outreach.  

Stay tuned to email notifications to sign up for the third edition of the APC ladder league, which plays on Tuesday’s. Our league fills up very quickly.  Sign up on the website begins at 12 noon on August 8, 2019.  

APC is also starting a new novice/beginner league!  This will enable newer players to play fun and competitive games.  Sign up for this league will commence at 12 noon on August 10, 2019.  

Permanent lines will soon be painted on basketball court #1 at PIP Moyer.  Thanks to Nick for his continued hard work with the PIP relationship.

Per the APC bylaws, the board has created a nominating committee to identify candidates for board positions that will need to be filled in 2020.  The board has asked Marshall Steele to chair the committee, with Kristin Schwitzer and Jack Evans as committee members. This committee will commence their activities shortly. 

The APC website, coordinated by Tom Shupe, is the main location regarding information of the clubs operations.  The site is utilized to conduct surveys, communicate play times and locations, enable registrations for league, clinic, and social events, among other things. You can find contact information for every APC member who provided it. The board posts minutes of all board meetings to establish a new level of transparency, ensuring every club member, who takes the time to review them, understands what is being discussed.  The forums exists to enable Q&A, and comments from members.  

All the best!

Tony

Read the latest update from our USAPA Ambassador, Kristin Schwitzer by clicking here!

WORLD PICKLEBALL FEDERATION NEWS RELEASE SUMMERIZED VERSION
Pickleball Is All Bloggers Facebook Group Author/Moderator  Joe Palmere Jr.
            

The World Pickleball Federation welcomes the world pickleball family to the beginning of an explosion of new ideas that will carry the sport into the 20th year of the 21st Century. The WPF has assembled a team of the best and brightest individuals who are working to advance the sport of Pickleball on an international level. 

After 21 months of meetings, fact finding, and a tremendous amount of work the founders team is ready to launch the World Pickleball Federation (WPF).

The WPF Confederations will consist of: 
Asian Pickleball Federation
Europoean Pickleball Federation
North American Pickleball Federation
South American Pickleball Federatioin
Oceanic Pickleball Federation
African Pickleball Federation

The first of many WPF goals to be achieved are: 

 
1. Fulfilling  the requirements of the International Olympic Committee to allow the sport of Pickleball to become an Olympic sport.

2. Striving to attain a World Championship possibly in Seattle, Washington of the USA or Vancouver Canada in the summer of 2021, to attract each countries best players to compete for the world best of the best. 

3. WPF will allow an official court size which is the exact same as the badminton doubles court which will mean the addition of over 100,000 new courts all across the world.

• The only difference in the old court and the new court is the non-volley zone line will be 6 inches (15.24 cm) closer to the net.
• Current court dimensions will also be legal which gives two options to the court size.

4. WPF is encouraging the paddle manufacturers to continue to develop paddles that use modern technology to allow our players to have the best equipment made.

• This game should be exciting to watch with a mixture of delicate drop shots and powerful overheads.
• Several paddle manufacturers have developed unique paddles such as the Apike and the S-Type Prototype which offer the players an option different from the traditional composite, wooden, graphite and aluminum paddles.

5. Ball manufactures are encouraged to continue use better plastic or other material that allows the balls to last longer.

• The WPF endorses the Duraball for all play indoors and outdoors.

6. There will be a Ranking system for each country and for the entire world. 

7. There will also be a rating system which would make tournament play fairer with players of equal ability competing within their own divisions.

• An Open division will continue to be the ultimate venue for the top players.
• Players will be ranked separately in Singles and Doubles.

8.  The ultimate goal is to have a game that is fun to play, competitive and that the viewing public would want to watch in person or on television. Televised Marketing will be very important to the future of Pickleball.

9. WPF will develop a marketing plan that shows the rest of the world what we as players and fans already know, that pickle ball is a fun and exciting sport that can be enjoyed by a diverse world population. 

The WPF welcomes everyone from all over the world to join us in taking this wonderful sport to the next level.  

For additional information visit the WPF website and help promote this great sport by posting questions, ideas and answers in our forum section.  http://www.worldpickleballfederation.org

We have added a new bucket for disposing of old or dead Pickleballs.  Please click on the following link to see the process.

Click Here!

Hi gang, 

Just a quick note to tell you that the  YMCA of the Chesapeake Spring Fling Pickleball Tournament dates have been set.  

The tournament will take place at the YMCA at Washington Street on April 6, 7.   Once again, we plan to have 11 courts going all weekend for the event.

I will advise when registration opens, so, block the dates, line up your partner(s) and be ready to register.  Our last tournament drew close to 200 interested pickleball players and we had to close registration early, so, if you want to assure a spot, get registered quickly.

Also, be on the look out for opportunities to volunteer; the plan is to set up various committees to spread the work load.  Aaron Hutt will be the Tournament Director for this event, so let him know if you have interest in helping out.

More to come....

Nick Papson
(410) 913-7129 cell