Raymond H. Goettsch The four teams fielded by SaddleBrooke Pickleball Association, Inc., have begun competing in matches in the Arizona Pickleball Players League. The Flying Burrito Brothers team (3.5 65+ men) defeated the Ranch Wranglers2 team from SaddleBrooke Ranch by a score of 30 points to 15 points on Jan. 2. On Jan. 3 the…
Raymond H. Goettsch SaddleBrooke Pickleball Association, Inc. (SPA) has fielded four teams to compete in the Arizona Pickleball Players League for this season. The teams’ match schedules have now been set. “H” refers to a home match at the Ed Robson Pickleball Center, and “A” refers to an away match. Flying Burrito Brothers (men’s 3.5…
Raymond H. Goettsch Members of the SaddleBrooke Pickleball Association, Inc. (SPA), will have a rematch against members of the SaddleBrooke Ranch Pickleball Association (SRPA) on Oct. 20–22. This now annual tournament has been named The Battle for the Saddle and will be held this year at the Ed Robson Pickleball Center in SaddleBrooke. In the…
Raymond H. Goettsch This is the time of year when pickleball players make suggestions for rule changes to USA Pickleball for 2024. Approximately 100 proposed changes can be found on rules.usapickleball.org/entry, and comments can be made regarding these proposed changes. Probably the most important proposed change is to make the volley serve illegal and the…
Shot Selection David Zapatka Continuing our study of Pickleball Fundamentals Master the basics and compete with confidence by Mary Littlewood, it is time now to learn about shot selection. Mary Littlewood says the ideal sequence of shots provides a means for all four players to get to the net where pickleball is won and lost…
Raymond H. Goettsch During the last year, SaddleBrooke Pickleball Association (SPA) has been offering round-robin play at least once a month. For June, SPA sponsored a new form of round-robin play. Named Dink & Drink, the round-robin not only involved doubles pickleball games, but also a post-game gathering of players for food and drink in…
Raymond H. Goettsch On March 31 through April 2, 115 members of the SaddleBrooke Pickleball Association (SPA) played in an intramural tournament for the first time in several years. The tournament was for Women’s Doubles on March 31, Men’s Doubles on April 1, and Mixed Doubles on April 2. The doubles teams competed in a…
David Zapatka Continuing our study of Pickleball Fundamentals Master the basics and compete with confidence by Mary Littlewood, it’s time now to learn about the overhead smash after learning about lobbing the past few months. Mary Littlewood says the overhead smash is the most aggressive, offensive shot in all of pickleball. It’s usually hit off the…
Raymond H. Goettsch When SaddleBrooke resident Jim Galko approached the SaddleBrooke Pickleball Association booth at the 2023 Activity Fair, he indicated that he was interested in signing up for an introductory pickleball class. Jim was asked if he had ever played pickleball, and he responded that he had won a pickleball tournament in Tacoma more…
Raymond H. Goettsch USA Pickleball has announced new rules and rule changes for pickleball play effective in 2023. One change is that the “spin” serve, or “chainsaw” serve, is no longer allowed. Under this rule, a server may not spin the ball when it is released to be struck by the paddle. However, while serving,…