Pickleball Reunion - 3/16/2010

Above: Our group minus Johnny, Carol and Gary who escaped before the photo session got under way.

We had a great day for Pickleball, and a good turnout of folks to welcome Ken & Lynn who arrived here from Florida on the 15th and will head back that way too soon. Joannie came out of hiding and got right into the game. Anne came, but didn't play because she was feeling a little punky with allergies. PRESENT: Lynn, Ken, Johnny, Carol, Ralph, Anne, Joannie, Mike, Gary, John, Jan, Sharon and Ron. That should add up to 13. We played for 3 hours. It was great to have Ken & Lynn back in town. They showed off some of their Sunshine State moves and we locals promised not to use them, especially the Orange Blossum, side-arm shank shot that was Ken's specialty. Lynn's Backhand double-shunt with a twist was very effective as well.

Below: Spike and Cupcake (standing nearby) accept the coveted PICKLE during the renown "Passing Of The Pickle" ceremony that originated here in the Upstate, but is copied all over the world. The Pickle was first entrusted to Ken & Lynn during a lavish ceremony
last December. Thanks to Anne for the picture.

Kelow: Ken leans into one. John at the ready.
Below: Ralph lets one rip. Faster than a speeding bullet.
Below: John huffs as he hurls the pill toward his (and Ken's) opponents. John had a beauty of a fat lip, but he didn't get from playing Pickleball. Just a little bad luck.
Below: Jan and Lynn mix it up.
Above: Johnny fires away as Cupcake looks on.
Below: Gary was on his game, as usual. Blasting away.

After many hard-fought matches we adjourned to the Brick City Grille to do a little more socializing before Ken & Lynn returne to Florida. Some folks couldn't make it and a few gave plausible reasons why not - even though excuses were not solicited, or even necessary. The STORY about one of our members delivering a baby at Timmons Park was a Pinocchio doozie.

Revelers @ the restaurant: Lynn, Ken, Joannie, Jan, Anne, Ralph, Lynne, Sharon & Ron. We killed a few hours there, had some adult beverages, good food and excellent service. And, thanks to the generosity of Ralph, the rest of us got out of there scot free.

So, we sent Ken & Lynn off in good style and are looking forward to their next visit. Thanks to K & L for bringing Pickleball to Greenville. Look at all of the fun we are having!

Spike

Pickleball Thursday Morning Indoors 1-7-10

Today was our first group indoor pickleball session. Everyone seemed to enjoy being out of the cold weather and playing indoors. We played at the Pavilion Recreation Complex. It was really different and fun. There were 13 pickleball players today..... Anne, Claude, Gary, Jan, Joanie, John, Ken, Lynne S., Ralph, Ron, Sharon, Steve and I. This is definitely a nice option to have when the weather is bad outside. Lynn

Pickleball Monday Morning 1-4-10 Indoors

Today 4 of us got together and did a test run of playing pickleball on the indoor badminton courts at the Pavilion Recreation Complex. The badminton court is the same size as the pickleball court. There are 3 courts but 2 would work great for play. Everything went smooth and it looks like a good option for our group during bad weather. The only drawback is that it does costs to play there. The cost is $3.50 per person for 2 to 3 hours of playing, depending on the number of players. It was a new and different experience and we all enjoyed playing there. The players today were Steve, Jan, Ken and I. Ron came and checked things out and took a few pictures for us. He did not play as he is recovering from a cold.

Pickleball Monday Afternoon 12-14-09

It turned out to be a nice afternoon for pickleball. I think it made it to about 55 degrees. We had some sun but not the whole time and the wind was not a factor. There were 7 players that turned out for the games today. Doubles was played on one court and canadian doubles on the other. The players today were Ron, Ralph, Mike, Claude, Johnny, Ken and I. Sharon was with us too but had to sit on the sidelines today as she had had shots in her knees and the doctor had forbidden her to play. She did some walking around the park, picking up balls for the players and read. Jan stopped by to visit. She is still getting over having bronchitis and still has some congestion. We could have used Steve today for a change but he's trying hard to improve his bowling. Hope to play later in the week. Lynn

Pickleball Friday Afternoon 12-11-09

Sharon, Steve, Ralph & Ken

We think this was the coldest day that we've ever played pickleball. We don't remember ever having to wear as many clothes to play. 5 of us braved the elements this afternoon to come out for some fun games and good exercise. Steve, Sharon, Ralph, Ken and I were the hearty players of the day. Ralph only lasted one game and then determined that he didn't have enough clothes on and hadn't brought anything else with him so he called it a day and headed for the house. The other 4 of us continued to play for a little over 2 hours. We were able to keep warm by continuous play. I brought some brownies thinking that there were going to be more of us. We munched on brownies between games. We needed some hot chocolate to go with them though.

The weather this weekend looks pretty frightful so we will not plan anything for Saturday and Sunday. Monday looks pretty good right now if anyone wants to play. Right now the forecast for Monday is sunny and 62.

I took a picture of Ron and Sharon's new license plate and will try to put it over in the right margin.

Maybe we'll see some of you on Monday. Lynn

Pickleball Monday Afternoon 12-7-09

Claude is our player of the day!!!!

We had another enjoyable afternoon of pickleball without it being too cold. The sun was out and about 50 degrees. We had a little wind but it wasn't too bad. 9 of us turned out for the games today..... Ralph, Mike, John, Claude, Carol, Johnny, Bob H., Ken and I. During the last 5 games Claude and Ken were 4 and 1 against Mike and company.

Mike is still working out the details on the Christmas dinner get together.

Pickleball Sunday Afternoon 12-6-09

Christmas shopping must have taken most of our players today but we still ended up with 6. We had 3 hours of good playing. Ralph, Catherine, Dave, Joanie, Ken & I were the group today. We rotated 2 in at a time after each game with everyone getting to play 2 games in a row. The players that were out played half court singles. It was a nice afternoon..... better than I thought it would be. Sunny, about 50 and the wind was not a problem at all. We had fun. Sorry you shoppers missed it. Catherine took a video with her phone so we're going to try to put it on the blog when she sends it. Planning to play tomorrow (Monday). Hope you make it then. Lynn

Pickleball Friday Afternoon 12-4-09

Click on picture to enlarge - use back arrow to return to this page.

The weather was on the chilly side and cloudy but it did not seem to hinder our pickleball games today. At least there was no wind. That was a plus. No sun in our eyes either. 13 of the group turned out for pickleball this afternoon. Those that were present were Ron, Sharon, Mike, John, Ralph, Johnny, Bob H., Catherine, Claude, Fran B., Concetta, Ken & I. Concetta is a new player and she took to the game pretty well as she is also a tennis player. We enjoyed meeting her and having her join us for pickleball today. Claude and Fran B. hadn't be out to play with us in a while so it was nice to have them on the court with us too.

We're hoping to play again on Sunday afternoon at 12:00. Hope to see you then. Lynn

Pickleball Tuesday Afternoon 12-1-09

The Twins..... Ralph & Mike

Ken and I got to the courts today about 12:30 and had to do some court clean-up after yesterday's rain. After we had the courts in good enough order we hit some balls till Mike, Gary and John showed up. Following them were Ralph, Ron, Sharon, Johnny, Carol and Bob H. There were 11 of us total today. The weather was pretty good.... sunny, close to 60 degrees and little or no wind to speak of. Bob H. finally made an appearance after being absent for a few weeks. We're wondering what happened to Jan and Anne today? Were they doing Christmas shopping. That's not a good excuse for missing pickleball. Tomorrow's weather looks pretty awful so we're glad we got to play today. Looking forward to playing on Friday..... weather is looking good for then. Hope you can make it. Lynn

P.S. we sure are missing Steve this week. He's up in the cold country and I'm sure he can't wait to get back down here on the courts with us.

Pickleball Sunday Afternoon 11-29-09

Gary

We had a good group for pickleball today. Playing on the weekend gives some players another chance to play when they can't make it during the week. There were 11 of us today and 1 spectator. The players today were Gary, Muriel, John, Ralph, Jan, Ron, Mike, Barbara, Lynne S., Ken and I. Barbara's husband Paul was the spectator. It was Barbara's first time to try pickleball. By the time she had to go she was getting a little more used to it. We had a pretty nice day..... sunny once the sun decided to stay out, windy and in the 60's. The wind was really doing some tricks with the ball today that definitely gave us more of a challenge. At one point it started raining with the sun still shinning brightly. Wierd. Ralph finally showed back up. We were beginning to wonder if the hogs got him. HA!! Just kidding Ralph. Jan told us that she went up to Waynesville, NC yesterday and played for 3 hours with the group there. They play inside in an armory with a cement floor and have 3 courts. Jan said that their level of play is similar to ours.

Looking at the weather forecast Tuesday looks pretty good so we'll plan to get together for more fun and pickleball games then. Hope you can make it. Lynn

Pickleball Friday Afternoon 11-27-09

Mike

On this Black Friday 9 of us gathered to play pickleball instead of going shopping. Those that came were Gary, John, Mike, Ron, Sharon, Carol, Johnny, Ken & I. It was sunny, mid 50's and windy. Gary arrived without a jacket thinking it was going to be a nice warm day. He was in t-shirt and shorts. I loaned him my windbreaker jacket. We're planning to play on Sunday afternoon. Hope to see you there and bring a friend. Lynn

Carol

Pickleball Wednesday Afternoon 11-25-09

These were the players in the last game of the day... Steve, John, Mike & Ken

The weather was better this afternoon than it was yesterday. The sun was out and it was probably in the mid 60's and not much wind. There were 8 of us pickleball players today.... Steve, Mike, John, Gary, Catherine, Carol, Ken & I. For a while there were 6 of us so 4 would play doubles and 2 would play singles. Then Catherine arrived and we had doubles and canadian doubles going. Carol came and made it perfect so that we had 8 and could play doubles on both courts. I didn't get any pictures of Gary, Catherine or Carol as by the time that I could take a few pictures they had left to go home. I only got pictures during the last game. We missed all of our pickleball buddies that couldn't make it today. We're still wondering what happened to Ralph. Last word we got was that he was only going out of town for a few days. That was 2 weeks ago. Anyways we're planning our next pickleball session to be on Friday afternoon. Hope you can come and bring a friend. See ya then. Lynn

Pickleball Tuesday Afternoon 11-24-09

Well we had an interesting start to our pickleball session today. Kevin from the city of Greenville parks and recreation came to talk with us today about the courts. Mike had emailed him about converting the tennis courts at Timmons Park to pickleball courts. Kevin says that the city can not do that but they could possibly build some new pickleball courts for us in the future. He also said that he expects to be resurfacing the tennis courts at Gower Park next spring and said that he will try to have the 5 courts there painted for pickleball. He was a really nice guy and easy to talk to and he says that he likes having us in the park. Kevin is also the one responsible for our pickleball lines that are painted on the tennis courts at Timmons and McPherson Parks, which was instigated by Sharon.

Well once we got started playing pickleball today we had some tough and tense games going. We had 11 players today for such a cloudy kind of day. It was also on the cool side but some of us were still in shorts although it did start to feel cold by the time we were ready to go home. The last game was finished about 4:20. The players today were Steve, Mike, Bob T., John, Jan, Johnny, Catherine, Anne, Carol, Ken & I.

We have some interest for tomorrow so we are scheduling pickleball for tomorrow afternoon at 1:00. We are also planning to play on Friday afternoon at 1:00. Hope you can make it and bring a friend. Lynn

Pickleball Saturday Morning 11-21-09

Joanie & Steve on the other side of the net playing Jan & Ken

We had a nice morning. It started out a little chilly but once the sun was out nice and bright we started shedding clothes. There were 5 of us pickleball players this morning. Steve, Jan, Ken and I got to the courts a little before 9:00 and started playing. Joanie arrived about 10:15. We had 3 hours of tough games and I think a good time was had by all.

We're trying to figure out how to play Monday and Tuesday and Friday next week. The weather could present a problem for Monday. Hope to see you at the next pickleball session and bring a friend.

Lynn

P.S. Be sure to scroll on down to see the rest of the pictures taken today and yesterday.

Pickleball Friday Afternoon 11-20-09

Steve

11 pickleball players came to today's session. They were Steve, Bob T., Ron, Sharon, Lynne S., Pete, Jan, Anne, Joanie, Ken & I. We missed our other pickleball buddies that couldn't make it today. Guess we're getting into the holiday season so folks are going to have more things to do in the next several weeks. It was a great afternoon.... sunny, upper 60's and no wind to speak of. It was actually quite warm on the courts.

We're planning to play tomorrow morning at 9:00 at Timmons Park if anyone is interested. Lynn

Pickleball Tuesday Afternoon 11-17-09

Ron

We were a little leary of getting in our pickleball session today. There was a slight chance of rain but we scheduled it anyway and we got lucky. There were 12 pickleball players today ready for some good games and I think we all had them. The players today were Steve, Gary, Mike, Bob T., Ron, Sharon, Carol, Johnny, Jan, Anne, Ken & I. It turned out to be a really nice afternoon for playing..... on the cloudy side and I'm guessing in the upper 60's. Also the wind wasn't too bad. The next couple of days rain is in the forecast but we're hoping to be able to play on Friday afternoon. Hope to see everyone then for more fun and pickleball games. Lynn

Anne & Steve

Ken & Johnny

Pickleball Monday Morning 11-16-09

Who is going to get this ball?? Steve or Jan?

For those of you who did not show up for pickleball this morning..... we had a great time and it warmed up wonderfully. If anyone thought it was going to be too cold, well it definitely was not. There were 7 pickleball players today. Anne was the last player to come, arriving about 10:20 after her aerobics class at senior action. It was really nice to have Anne back out on the court with us after her 40 day hike in Spain with Doris. The players today were Steve, Mike, Joanie, Jan, Anne, Ken and I. We had some doubles games going and some singles games. Also some canadian doubles. We started playing about 8:45 and played till about 12:15 with hardly any sitting out. We left Steve at the park eating his lunch as he had bowling to go to this afternoon.

Don't forget that we're playing tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon at 1:00. Hope to see you there..... Lynn

Pickleball Saturday Morning 11-14-09

It was a great morning for pickleball. We played our first ever scheduled pickleball session at McPherson Park this morning. 4 of us started playing just before 9:00..... Mike, Steve, Ken and I. We had to play at McPherson Park as there was a disc golf tournament going on at Timmons. The 4 of us played for a couple of hours then shortly after 11:00 Catherine and Dave arrived. We were finishing up a game so they went over on the other court and hit some balls to warm up. It worked out good that Catherine and Dave came as Mike had to go home to watch the Clemson football game on TV. The 5 of us that were left played till about 12:30 and then called it a day. We're planning to play Monday morning at 9:00 back at Timmons Park. Hope to see everyone there. Lynn

Pickleball Friday Afternoon 11-13-09

John

Today was the first opportunity to play pickleball all week since Monday. The remnants of hurricane Ida came through and dumped rain on us Monday night, Tuesday, Tuesday night and part of the day Wednesday. Wind came with it and continued to blow the rest of Wednesday and all day Thursday so pickleball was out of the question. Today the weather was in the low 70's, sunny and the wind didn't seem to be much of a factor. It was actually hot out there. 15 pickleball players turned out today for the games. Present were Steve, Bob T., Mike, Johnny, Gary, John, Ron, Sharon, Catherine, Dave, Pete P., Joanie, Bob H., Ken and I. Gary came back after coming last Friday for the first time. He's a good player and we hope he'll be back. We hadn't seen Pete in a few months. He came for a short time. It was nice to see him. Of course Dave and Catherine are still kind of newbies but sure don't seem like it. They are both playing very well. We miss Carol and hope she is doing better. She has had some health issues lately but Johnny says she may come to p'ball next week. I hope so. A few of us are going to get together are McPherson Park tomorrow morning and play some. We've been pushed out of Timmons for the weekend by a disc golf tournament going on there. Looking forward to more fun and pickleball games..... Lynn

Pickleball Monday Afternoon 11-9-09

Jan & Johnny

There were 12 of us that turned out for pickleball on this cloudy, cool day. It was excellent weather for pickleball..... no sun and no wind. Joanie, Steve, Ken and I met at 12:00 so that Joanie and Steve would be able to get in some playing time before Steve went to bowling and Joanie went to work. We got in 2 or 3 games before anyone else showed up. The list of pickleball players today included Steve, Joanie, Ralph, Mike, Bob T., Jan, Johnny, Bob H., Ron, Sharon, Ken and I. We never had more than 3 players sitting out today as Steve left about 1:00 to go meet up with his bowling group. About 3:15 though, while I was in a game, I looked up on the hill and here comes Steve. He was done with bowling and came back for more pickleball as he knew that we would still be there. We were thinking about playing on Wednesday but the weather is not looking too good. The chance of rain is 100% for Tuesday and Tuesday night. Then 30% for Wednesday but breezy, with a northeast wind between 17 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. If that happens that pickleball will be going all over the place!! Well we'll keep you posted when the next play date is. I had a great time today and hope you all did too. .....Lynn