Evergreen Park and Recreation District will conduct its own pickleball tournaments for the first time, on Feb. 24 for Intermediate players and on March 30 for Advanced players.

Our club has conducted tournaments at Marshdale for several years, including six events last summer. Jeff Sweet, EPRD recreation supervisor-Athletics, said the district hopes to offer six to eight tournaments and/or other events this year. “With the new facility we think there will enough interest for both EPRD and EPC to offer events,” he added.

The Icebreaker Games at the end of December was the first pickleball event (aside from instructional classes) that EPRD hosted. “With the mill levy extension last November, Coach Corinne's successful classes and the upcoming Marshdale renovation project, we feel there is a lot of positive momentum around our pickleball program and want to build on it,” Sweet said.

The February Freeze tournament on Feb. 24 is for Intermediate players (rated 2.0 to 3.0). There is space for 16 teams to sign up; one player will need to register and enter the names of both players on the team. Two-player teams may be mixed, female or male. Play is from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with rally scoring and a three-game guarantee. Cost is $25 per team.

The March Mayhem on March 30 is for players rated 3.5-plus and follows the same format as the Intermediate tournament.

Neither tournament will require an official rating to enter, Sweet said. The ratings are a guideline for players to use to select the appropriate level. USA Pickleball offers guidelines.

“We are very excited to offer these new opportunities and hope to continue with events and tournaments throughout the year if there is interest,” he added..

They Answered the Call, Whatever They’re Called

From left: Monte Poague, Bob Kerr, Jerry Beth Owen, Gary Owen, Todd Landrum, Linda Jacobsen, Nancy Pudwill, Bob Perkins

Name them Ice Devils or Snow Angels, Monte Poague’s troops and a couple of unwary blokes named Ted and Chris pitched in to pry Marshdale courts 2, 3 and 4 from the greedy grip of ice today.

Monte, EPC’s maintenance and facilities director, called in the forces to chip, hammer and shovel ice and slush off three of the four courts. Snow is expected tomorrow, but his hope is that the courts can be cleared Sunday before more ice settles in.

She Entered and We Won

Shelia Canfield-Jones has bulk-ordered ID bands from MyPadl, so she was intrigued when she saw they had a monthly contest for a free paddle rack. The recipient needed to prove they were deserving.

Her case for a paddle: ”Whose Paddle is this??? Next up??? We put our paddles down on the gym floor. So we took a couple of yoga mats from the yoga class and now we put them on yoga mats. There has to be a better way . . .

“We like to have fundraisers for the local food bank, we raise money to buy paddles for the high school PE class and we share our courts with everyone. Such a great group of people of all ages who work to promote pickleball in our community.”

The rack has arrived and is in the custody of Monte Poague until the Marshdale courts are refurbished. Way to score, Sheila!

Things Are Just Fine in AZ

As far as pickleball goes, this might as well be called Evergreen South. June and Bruce Flinn, trendsetters as always, started parking their RV west of Mesa for a few months of the year. Evidently, if you park it they will come, some with permanent “park model” sites and some to visit for a few days (looking at you, Jeri Herskovits and Linda Jacobsen).

EPRD Schedules Two Tournaments