Pickleball’s history continues at Leisure World
by Peggy Beste
LW contributor
Pickleball has been played in Leisure World since 2016. It started indoors with one court set up one day a week in Clubhouse 1, the lines marked with blue painter’s tape. It soon expanded to several indoor courts, and a club was formed on Oct. 9 of that year. Among the initial 20 members were Connie Adkins, Penny Alberts, Bob Margie, Connie Deady, Sandy Bird and Tim Linehan.
The first president of the Pickleball Players Club was Darlene Boyce; Wayne Gould was vice president, with Susan Jacquelin as secretary/treasurer. The group gathered once a month for a potluck dinner and meeting. The club credits Boyce, Kim Pigeon, Gould and Leah Perotti, Recreation Committee president at that time, as pivotal in helping to get pickleball started in LW. The group also worked closely with the GRF Recreation Department as plans were made for the state-ofthe- art courts that now exist at Mission Park.
According to the U.S.A. Pickleball Association, it is considered one of the fastestgrowing sports in the United States. Invented in 1965 by Joel Pritchard and Bill Bell, pickleball is played by two to four players using paddles to hit a perforated ball similar to a wiffle ball over a net. In a column for the Parkersburg (WV) News and Sentinel, Joel’s wife, Joan Pritchard, wrote, “The name of the game became Pickle Ball after I said it reminded me of the Pickle Boat in crew, where oarsmen were chosen from the leftovers of other boats.” A friend of the men, Barney McCallum, is credited with fabricating the sport’s first paddles; he later started a company to manufacture them commercially.
The LW Pickleball Players Club sets rules of play as well as a code of conduct that encourages sportsmanship and player safety. There are currently 190 members, with Linda Evenson as president, Jerry Wrenn as vice president and Peggy Beste Hackenberg as secretary. Phil Arnold continues as webmaster, a job he has done since the beginning.
Novice players can join open play each morning on the pickleball courts from 9-11 a.m. Beginners are also invited to play Mondays and Thursdays at 6 p.m. Anyone interested can contact Peggy Beste at (310) 489-2390.
The Pickleball Players Club is open to all levels of players. There is no fee, and meetings are held the first Sunday of every month in Clubhouse 2 at 5 p.m.
Free beginner lessons start Jan. 18. Sessions will continue every Tuesday at 11 a.m. and Thursday at 6 p.m. for two weeks.
Anyone interested in learning more or joining the club should contact Linda Evenson at lwsbpickleballclub@gmail. com or (561) 577-3283.
