David Zapatka The Arizona Pickleball Players league (APPL) has now expanded its popular team-based pickleball league into its fifth region. After founding the first team-based pickleball league, East Valley Interclub League in 2012 (which has grown ever since), the Arizona Pickleball Players League was formally organized as a nonprofit in 2019 by a group of…
Tag: pickleball
Front Page, November 2021
Pickleball Welcomes Fall and Winter Season
The SunBird Pickleball Club has begun our fall and winter season, and we’re so happy to see so many of our friends returning to SunBird. The 2021-22 winter hours are essentially the same as last season, with the exception that we decided to make the afternoon start times consistently at 2 p.m. We will play…
Card Games & Sports, October 2021
SunBird Pickleball Club News
The SunBird Pickleball Club is happy that October has arrived—with cooler temperatures and friends returning from vacation and/or to spend their winter season back in SunBird. We’re hoping to see more of our northern friends returning soon. The club will continue summer hours through Oct. 31, 2021: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings from 7 to…
Card Games & Sports, October 2021
Relishing Pickleball
David Zapatka Are you looking for an enriching retirement activity? Are you interested in quality exercise while having a good time? Are you interested in a social environment where you can meet friendly, fun people? Are you interested in making new friends in your community? Consider giving the fastest-growing sport in the world, pickleball, a…
Card Games & Sports, September 2021
Relishing Pickleball
David Zapatka Is Pickleball a good bet? The Pickleball Players Association (PPA) and Genius Sports, a publicly-traded sports data and tech company, recently announced a “long-term” deal that sets the stage for sports betting in pickleball. Can you imagine walking into one of our local casinos, hearing raucous cheers, and seeing a pickleball match on…
Clubs & Classes, September 2021
Hello, September
Suzanne Lipke The SunBird Pickleball Club says, “Hello, September,” with hopes of cooler weather soon! We’ve continued to play in the early morning hours (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 7 to 10 a.m.) and on Saturday evenings (7 to 10 p.m.) We manage play and court scheduling using an online sign-up genius. If you would…
Front Page, August 2021
Pickleball Fun Through the Summer
Suzanne Lipke The SunBird Pickleball Club members continue to play—even during this heat! But it’s August already—another six weeks and we should be seeing some cooler weather—and some of our northern friends returning. We miss them all! We have had a small core group of players braving the heat in the early mornings and evenings,…
Card Games & Sports, July 2021
2020 Pickleball Rocks Players of the Year
David Zapatka 2020 was a crazy year. Many pickleball tournaments were canceled. Public pickleball courts were closed and padlocked. That being said, Arizona pickleball players found ways to safely play, and even through the pandemic, new players found pickleball in record numbers. For 2020, Pickleball Rocks Clothing and Equipment Company recognized a mixed doubles pair…
Card Games & Sports, July 2021
July Pickleball News
Suzanne Lipke The SunBird Pickleball Club continues to play throughout the summer—early in the morning or in the evening under the lights. Club times are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings from 7 to 10 a.m. (or whenever it gets too hot) and Saturday evenings from 7 to 10 p.m. We encourage everyone to come out…
Clubs & Classes, June 2021
Relishing Pickleball: 12 Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them (Mistakes 11 and 12)
David Zapatka This 12-common-mistakes column began after playing with some very excited, highly-motivated, new pickleball players at our community courts recently. After playing a couple games, this question was posed to me: “What should we do to improve and become 3.5 players?” We reviewed the first 10 mistakes the past five months. This month, we…