Suzanne Lipke Spring has arrived in Arizona, and the weather has been perfect! The SunBird Pickleball Club has had a busy couple of months. Pete Prucha, our local Gearbox representative and friend, organized a “Novice Clinic” for some of our newer players on Feb. 21 and 28. Everyone enjoyed the chance to work on some…
Suzanne Lipke The SunBird Pickleball Club has had a good beginning of 2021 and would like to welcome some new members: Judy Corkery, Mike Ohlmann, Tammy Ward, Bruce and Cindy Wilson, Jim Zaccone, and Gil Gilliland. We hope to see you guys again soon and often. And congratulations to Paul and Cindy Krautwurst on becoming…
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?” Last month, we reviewed the first two mistakes. This month, we take a…
Marianna Buescher The SunBird Pickleball Club had a day of fun festivities on the courts where everyone dressed in their Christmas theme! JD and Sue got the prize for most festive players! Many players have returned to SunBird, so there are all levels of play in our community from 2.0 to 4.0 play. If you…
Suzanne Lipke Happy New Year 2021 from the SunBird Pickleball Club. We hope everyone is well and ready to have a better year—and play pickleball. We’d like to say welcome to some new neighbors and pickleball players: Joe and Lisa Dingeldein, Robert Morris, Jeff Seaman, Eileen Sievers, and Brad Taylor. We look forward to lots…
David Zapatka While playing at the IronOaks courts in Sun Lakes for my first time last month, I ran into a group of very excited, highly motivated, new pickleball players. We played a couple games together, and when we departed, this question was posed to me, “What should we do to improve and become 3.5…
David Zapatka Often called the most important shot in all of pickleball, the dink is the critical shot aspiring players must learn to improve their game. The dink is a shot hit slowly and softly into the opponents’ non-volley zone as close to the net as possible. If the opponent hits this ball hard, it…
Suzanne Lipke The SunBird Pickleball Club has had a great summer—in spite of the COVID crisis, but we’re very glad for our cooler temperatures and the return of our northern friends. We played on Sept. 11, and wore our patriotic colors to honor the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001, and all of our firemen…
Christina Riley It’s been a hot summer, and we will continue with early hours: 7 to 9:30 a.m., Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Ad hoc games will be communicated via email sign up (SignUpGenius). Tentative winter hours: Tuesday: 2 to 5 p.m. Wednesday: 8 to 10 a.m. Thursday: 2 to 5 p.m. Friday: 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday:…
David Zapatka Are you getting tired of playing the bangers? They have one strategy; hit the ball as hard as they can. They rarely hit third shot drop shots. What can you do? There are two options. The first is the punch volley, a volley hit hard and deep. The second is the soft volley,…