Mary Littlewood

Pickleball contagion is running deep across the US, Canada, Europe and Asia. Numbers of courts and tournaments are doubling. Players are all ages and come from all walks of life for the exercise, fun, friendship and competition. Sun Lakes now has three pickleball clubs with over 500 members.

Pickleball Fundamentals by Mary Littlewood is the first book written and endorsed by the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA). This book teaches the basics of the sport so effectively anyone can join the fun on the court right away. According to USAPA executive director Justin Maloof, “by combining key elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis, pickleball has become one of the fastest growing sports around. Pickleball Fundamentals will help you serve, volley, dink, lob and smash your way through a successful game.”

Mary is well known to many Sun Lakes and Arizona residents. Mary was the head softball coach and head volleyball coach at Arizona State University. In retirement she began playing pickleball competing in the Arizona Senior Olympics and Huntsman World Senior Games earning numerous gold, silver and bronze medals. Mary was instrumental in the creation and promotion of pickleball clubs in Show Low, Sun Lakes and Ahwatukee. She wrote The History of Women’s Fastpitch Softball: The Path to the Gold, Teaching for Success in Pickleball, Drilling for Success in Pickleball and Pickleball: A Guide for Teaching. She also published From Rags to Riches, a memoir of her experiences at ASU from the pre- to post-Title IX years.

When Mary needed high-level, experienced pickleball players to model the shots and strategies taught in the book, she called on Gigi LeMaster (multiple national open champion), Jaimi Foster (multiple national junior champion) and Sun Lakes’ very own top female and male players, Dianne Zimmerman and David Zapatka. Following one and one-half years of work on the book and several modeling sessions, the book was delivered to USAPA for distribution last month.

“I was honored to be asked to model for this project. It was a fun and exciting experience. I’m so proud of Mary and the entire team for completing such a wonderful book. Mary’s knowledge makes this an outstanding tutorial for players of all ages to improve their skills and strategies. This book is an important part of advancing this great sport,” commented Dianne Zimmerman.

“I have known Mary Littlewood for many years. Everything about her is first class and her dedication to teaching others is alive in this excellent book. The basics are sound and the illustrations are clear. I recommend every Sun Lakes individual interested in pickleball purchase a copy of this book for themselves and their friends. It will quickly become the standard in the sport,” said David Zapatka.

Pickleball Fundamentals may be purchased at www.Amazon.com, www.ebay.com or at a special Sun Lakes discount to save shipping costs from Dianne Zimmerman phone 480-883-9266 or David Zapatka phone 480-802-0954.