David Douglas
The summer heat has not diminished enthusiasm for Sun Lakes Pickleball Club at Cottonwood/Palo Verde (SLPCC), one of the largest and most popular clubs in the Sun Lakes’ community. As we enter the third month of our club’s fiscal year, our club membership has already grown over 10+ percent beyond last year’s record breaking season. It’s evident that Sun Lakers love pickleball and, why wouldn’t they?
Pickleball’s popularity is no longer limited to the USA as it has become a global phenomenon. Major league pickleball, which began just a few years ago, is now beginning to promote a world wide league. Yes, pickleball is still experiencing tremendous growth in players, but, that’s another article for later.
Let me tell you about some of the exciting things scheduled in the next few months during our fall season at SLPCC.
* SLPCC continues their popular weekly schedule that includes club play with skill level, training classes, and in-house skill level rating. In the next issue of the Splash, you’ll read more about the top quality SLPCC training classes for the fall. I must mention our wild and crazy club socials that occur on, off, and away from the courts. More on those in a later edition.
* This fall we begin our third season (two seasons per year) of our very popular SLPCC League Play. When I use the word “popular” I mean extremely popular. SLPCC has two different leagues per session. One is for beginners through 3.0 skill players and the second is for 3.5 and up skill players. While the competitors fill the courts, the surrounding court area is filled with spectators cheering on their favorite players. Typically, our SLPCC League Play will draw anywhere from 50 to100 spectators. It’s a lot of fun and it’s loud! If you’ve ever been to a MLPickleball (MLP) event, this is the Sun Lakes’ version (TLP).
* This fall we begin our third season of Ladder Competition. What we’ve discovered is once the ladder competition is posted on–line, it fills up within one to two days. For example, the ladder competition scheduled for Sept. was posted this weekend and all 35-positions are filled.
* This fall, SLPCC will be hosting our inaugural Veterans Week Competition in Nov. More info on this fun event will be forthcoming in a later issue of the Splash.
Also, two things that have happened in pop culture regarding pickleball recently that you should be aware of. One, a new movie called “The Dink” made its appearance on Apple TV. One reviewer called it a great movie and another reviewer called it the worst movie ever released. It’s somewhere in the middle, but gives a lighthearted view of increasing interest for pickleball courts in clubs across the U.S.A. Don’t expect to be mentally challenged on this one.
The second thing that happened was Charles Barkley talking publicly about pickleball. Let’s just say Charles was less than complementary regarding pickleball, however, the real story is how readers responded to his comments. Let’s just say the thousands of responses to Charles’ comments literally buried him.
SLPCC, a social and competitive club, invites you to come explore the pickleball phenomenon. Funny name but loads of fun. SLPCC sponsors free monthly “Intro to Pickleball” classes. Contact slpccweb@gmail.com.