David Zapatka Last month, we announced the 2019 female Player-of-the-Year mother/daughter duo of Anna Leigh and Leigh Waters. This month, we are announcing the 2019 male Player-of-the-Year. You will recall last year’s male Player-of-the-Year was none other than the Valley’s very own Dick Johnson, known to so many of us around pickleball in the Phoenix…
David Zapatka This was a changing year for pickleball. There are now 15 to 20 tournaments occurring every week, and our sport cleared three million players in the continued player growth explosion. You might think with this many players, the voting and choice for player of the year would be tough, but Pickleball Rocks says,…
David Zapatka Last month we introduced Hall of Fame inductees Robert Lanius, Earl Hill, and Fran Myer. This month each one of those inductees is sharing their personal pickleball tips with us. These tips are paraphrased from a video they created. Robert Lanius – Be patient on the court. Wait for the right time to…
Hall of Fame inductees David Zapatka If you’ve played pickleball around the Valley, you will likely know something about Bob Lanius and Earl Hill, two of this year’s three USAPA Pickleball Hall of Fame members. Robert Lanius is being recognized for his contribution to the sport of pickleball by creating and developing the PickleballTournaments.com software…
David Zapatka Lucy Kovalova and Dick Johnson are this year’s Pickleball Rocks Players of the Year. Why is this a special moment for pickleball players in the Phoenix metropolitan area? Because Dick Johnson resides right here in the Valley. Many of our readers know and have played with or against Dick Johnson in social and…
David Zapatka If you don’t know George Anderson, you should. Nearly everyone who plays tournament pickleball in the Valley knows this gentle soul who takes charge on the court as one of the best pickleball referees in all of Arizona. I think George has refereed more matches than all the other Sun Lakes pickleball players…
2018 NIT Mixed Doubles Tourney Champions, 4.0+ Division David Zapatka The 6th Annual Norris Invitational Pickleball Tournament, the NIT, Sun Lakes’ largest pickleball tournament of the year, returns this month, March 4-8. The NIT namesake is Dick and Maureen Norris who worked so hard on behalf of the pickleball community to have a place for…
‘Pickleball Rocks’ founder, Rodney ‘Rocket’ Grubbs David Zapatka Have you seen those really cool-looking pickleball shirts that say, “Pickleball Rocks, Let’s Play,” on them? You probably have and if you haven’t, you will likely see one soon. They’re the marketing genius of Rodney “Rocket” Grubbs of Brookville, Indiana. Here’s his story. In 2008, Rocket was…
Pickleball roundup Janice Golden, Sun Lakes, and Jamie Noblit, Sun Lakes, won gold in the Pickleball Roundup, Sun City, ladies doubles 4.5. Mixed Doubles 5.0 Janice Golden, Sun Lakes, and Doug Kelton, Phoenix, won the gold medal in the mixed doubles 5.0 at the Pickleball Roundup Tournament, Sun City. Mixed Doubles 65 4.0 Larry…
Promoting pickleball to hundreds of Chinese sports enthusiasts David Zapatka Yangzhou China – Dear friend, fellow pickleball player and International Federation of Pickleball (IFP) board member Carolyn Stevens presented pickleball to hundreds of urban department leaders, entrepreneurs and industry elite at the 2018 Chinese World Sporting Events & Tourism (WSET) Summit. The IFP was…