Pickleball Tuesday 7-29-08

We had a mess this morning after all the unpredicted rain last night. Bob T. brought his squeegee and we had a broom and the 3 of us started working on it before 8:30. After John arrived there were 4 of us working on it and we had it in pretty good shape when everyone else arrived. Barb and Bokson came next and brought their neighbor Cadum who hadn't played before. We ended up with 12 players.....Bob T., John, Barb, Bokson, Cadum, Steve, Ralph, Ron, Sharon, Anne, Lynn and I. Bokson played with her new paddle for the first time today. She seemed to really like it and we hope so as she told us to make the decision of which one to get for her. John seems to be enjoying his new paddle too. Ron and Sharon have ordered new paddles now and they might get to play with them on Friday. It looks like we'll play one more day at Timmons this week and then we'll move to Cleveland Park for a while. Hopefully it won't be crowded down there the next time we go as the kids tennis camps should be over. It will be nice to have more than 2 courts as our group seems to be growing.
C U on D courts........Mr. Pickle

Pickleball Friday 7-25-08

We were back at Timmons Park today and had 12 players show up.....Bob T., Steve, Bokson, Barb, George, Ron, Sharon, Peter, Bob H., Anne, Lynn and I. George is from our tennis group and it was his first time to come. Being a tennis player he was able to pick the game right up.
Peter returned today after a long absence because of his knee.
It was a nice day to play as it was cloudy and a little breeze. Some of us ended up playing 3 1/2 hours. We plan to play next week at Timmons Park but the following week we will probably have to go back to Cleveland Park. Hopefully the camps will be finished by then.
C U on D courts, Mr. Pickle

Pickleball Tuesday 7-22-08

Well it was kind of a fiasco at Cleveland Park today for pickleball. Ken and I got down there early to mark the courts. Bob T. came about 15 minutes later to help. We were all there and playing and then this group of kids from the YMCA came. The man in charge of them came over and said that they had 3 courts on Mon, Tues, Thur and Fri. So we got to keep one of our courts. Then a couple of ladies that had another court left and so we took that court too but didn't chalk it. We played the tennis single lines on that one instead. A couple of times we played 3 on each team on that court and that was fun and crazy. There were 6 of us on the same court. It was pretty wild. There were 10 of us for pickleball today......Bob T., Steve, John, Bokson, Barb, Ron, Sharon, Bob H., Ken and I.
We had ordered a paddle for Bokson last week and it came on Saturday. We discovered that the new Champion paddles are a lot heavier than they have been. At first Bokson wanted the paddle but then we all agreed that the paddle was too heavy for her as she is a small lady. She had complained about the paddle that Barb was letting her use saying it was too heavy and this one was just as heavy. So John decided that he would buy the paddle. John is a big guy and he can really handle that paddle. I called him the intimidater when he plays with it. He can really smash the ball with it. So now we've ordered Bokson a lighter paddle. So hopefully that will work out good for her.
After we got home today we called the city and found out that Timmons Park is still open until Aug. 4 so we will go back there for our next pickleball session. We may end up back at Cleveland Park for a couple of weeks in August as the YMCA tennis camp will be over on August 1st.
Lynn

Pickleball Thursday 7-17-08

Rain was forecasted for tomorrow so we chose to play pickleball today. There were 9 of us..... Bob T., Bokson, Barb, Ralph, Ron, Sharon, Anne, Ken and I. Bokson is really doing great! She and Barb practiced on their own down where they live at some tennis courts on Wednesday evening. We can really see a difference. Ken, Bob T. and I have also practiced with her on occasion trying to help. Today was her 4th time to play and she has ordered a paddle this past Tuesday. Hopefully she'll have it for next week.
Dolores and Chris came by to check out the game as they have been hearing alot about it. They wouldn't give it a try yet though, but Chris says he'll be back.
We hope Steve will be back with us next week. We're hoping to play at Cleveland Park next week too as Timmons is going to be closed. We also missed Bob H. today.
Lynn

Pickleball Tuesday 7-15-08

We had a great time playing pickleball today. There were 11 of us.....Bob T., Bokson, Barb, John, Ralph, Ron, Bob H., Anne, Sharon, Ken and I. Ralph came back today after having to take some time off for his foot. He left early though so that he wouldn't overdo it. Everyone took a turn at sitting out since we had more than 8 but it was a nice break. Bokson did a lot of practicing and she is getting better. Sharon and I had a gold star day as we won a game together against Ron and John. Plus we won a tennis scoring game when we played some short games towards the end. It was a really nice morning with some breeze but it didn't bother the balls too bad.
We plan to play at Timmons Park on Friday but next week we're going to try to play at Cleveland Park as Timmons will be closed for repairs to the park. We'll include directions to the park with our pickleball message for next week.
We missed Steve and Lynne S. today. Both are off on vacations.
Lynn

Pickleball Friday 7-11-08

We had major work to do on the courts this morning. We have had thunderstorms every evening creating large puddles of water on our tennis courts. So Bob T., Ken and I went to work trying to spread the water out so it would dry fast. Bob T. brought his squeegee and push broom and we had a small broom. After working on the puddles we had to chalk. Because of all of this we did not start playing till almost 9:00.
We had 10 for pickleball today.....Bob T., Lynne, Ron, Sharon, Bokson, Barb, Bob H., Anne, Ken and I. We found out today that the park will be closed from July 21 to Aug. 11 for road work so we have to find another place to play. Right now we are thinking about Cleveland Park as it is nice and shady in the morning. It will probably be about the same drive for everyone as it is to Timmons Park. Lynn

Pickleball Tuesday 7-8-08

We played pickleball this morning and had 12 !!! We set a new record !!! We also had some heavy rain over the weekend and it wiped out our chalk. Ken, Bob T. and I were chalking the court this morning and a young girl came on the court straight over to me. She said she wanted to help so I gave her a piece of chalk and she helped us mark the courts. We had seen her last week when she watched us through the fence. Her name is Katelin and she was one of the 12. Bob gave her his extra paddle and she played with us. Bokson and her neighbor also came for their first time. Her neighbor used to live on the north side of The Villages and used to play pickleball there. Her name is Barb. She hadn't played in about a year and a half but after she hit some balls she was pretty good.
The pickleball players today were Bob T., Katelin, Steve, Lynne S., Bokson, Barb, Ron, Sharon, Bob H., Anne and Ken and I. We didn't quit playing till 15 till 12:00.
And our brave mascot, Bridget slept through it all. We are thinking about renaming her Pickles.
Lynn

Pickleball Thursday 7-3-08

We played pickleball today instead of Friday because of the holiday being on Friday. There were 7 of us there......Steve, Lynne S., Ron, Bob H., Anne, Ken and I. Bob T. was on a camping trip and Sharon decided to take a break. Our mascot Bridget watched in the shade from just outside the fence. She barked when possible buggers were approaching. It was a nice morning, a little too warm but we had some good games. There were a couple of memorable games. One being that Steve beat Ken and Lynne S. (not Lynn) 11 to 0 without ever losing his serve. Ken and Lynne S. never got to serve the whole game. Steve's head grew very large. Another game where Ron and Bob H. were up 9 to 0 and managed to lose the game. Ron was jumping up and down using adult language. He was not a happy camper.
Lynn

Pickleball Tuesday 7-1-08

There were 9 of us for pickleball today.....Bob T., Steve, Lynne S., Ron, Sharon, Anne, Bob H., Ken and I. Bob H. decided it was cool enough to play today. We were all pleasantly surprised to see him. He picked the game right back up after being away for 6 weeks or so.
2 men had just beaten Ken and I to the courts this morning. They were going to play tennis. So we took the other court and started chalking as apparently it had rained and all our chalk was gone. Soon the rest of the group started arriving and pretty soon the 2 men were overwhelmed by the crowd and decided to give us the other court too.
It was a cool morning but windy. The wind didn't help our games too much. We had some rousing games anyway and a good time was had by all.
We hope to play on Thursday again.
Lynn