Andrea Molberg
Pickleball in SaddleBrooke is 10 years old! SPA (SaddleBrooke Pickleball Association) was conceived and the initial charter signed on February 26, 2007. The first court was outlined with masking tape in the MountainView parking lot and play was limited to weekends only because of traffic. The tape would rub off and need to be reapplied each Saturday, but club members really wanted to play. SPA owes a big thanks to Dave and Beth Patterson, Bob Perez and many others for their efforts to launch this great sport here.
With Tim Fudge’s help as HOA2 Operations Manager, a golf cart pad at the Preserve was resurfaced and painted with court lines, so pickleball play moved to the Preserve on May 12, 2007. These temporary courts were very visible and people would stop, watch and get interested in learning about pickleball. According to Beth Patterson, as soon as they tried the game they were hooked. More and more residents became passionate about pickleball, raised funds and built the six permanent Ridgeview Courts which were built during John Benter’s presidency and dedicated to the Pattersons and Ed Symprunch, SPA’s resident engineer.
Currently there are over 650 SPA members, so SPA is grateful for the chance to also play at SaddleBrooke Ranch temporarily. In addition, the pickleball clubs from five Arizona Robson communities have formed a Robson Pickleball League with the goal to give pickleball players from the communities an opportunity to socialize and compete. Over a five-month period, up to 60 players per community are competing against members from the other Robson clubs.
Check out the SPA website (spa.clubexpress.com) to learn about introductory lessons and membership. Come join the fun and see why pickleball is so popular!