SaddleBrooke Pickleball celebrates 10th anniversary

A group pauses to pose; photo by Linda Cornish

A group pauses to pose; photo by Linda Cornish

Andrea

Molberg

On March 28, SaddleBrooke Pickleball Association (SPA) celebrated turning 10 years old with lots of food, 90 attendees and Pat and Jerry Morris’ wonderful PowerPoint photo presentation. According to social committee chair Angela Martin, “Things got pretty hectic at times, but it was all well worth the efforts of the social committee. A big thank you to all who sent in both old and new Pickleball photos.”

Many originals who had been playing for a long time were swapping fond memories with some fairly new players at the festive gathering. The club’s first social chair, Julie Brown, plus Eileen Berst and Bob Perez recounted the trials and tribulations they had at the beginning – getting anywhere to play the game, including the parking lot and street, and no paddles or balls in local stores.

SaddleBrooke Pickleball all started when Julie invited Beth Patterson to Voyager RV Resort to play this game with the funny name. Beth, a devoted tennis player who had been sidelined from tennis by a shoulder injury, immediately fell in love with Pickleball and was willing to move heaven and earth to bring the sport to SaddleBrooke. SPA’s current 682 members are so glad they did!

Interested in learning to play this fun, friendly game? Find out more at spaclubexpress.com.