The Sport That Could: Pickleball in Winnebago County

Last year, 2010, was a tremendous year of growth for Northern Illinois Pickleball. We saw the return of many NIP members to the courts.  In January, we met several new friends through the Rockford Park District’s program at Indoor Sports Center.

The snowbirds slowly began returning from their long winter holidays. It was a tough spring with the strong winds and intermittent rains. Many players stayed away from the Harlem courts with such inclement weather. Most days it was hard to get a game going with one court, much less two courts. Then, the temporary tape that was marking the court lines was torn up, possibly by vandals. The signs that were showing the reserved Pickleball court times were also torn down. We were left to play on the tennis courts with nothing but the residue that was left from the absent duct tape. It was all very discouraging.

We lost the leadership of Jackie Semtner as she decided to return to Texas, and Shalda was the left to lead the group alone for a short period of time. Joining Shalda’s ambassadorship was Chuck Kurt for Rockford and Jennifer Selchow for Winnebago County. Chuck brings southwestern Pickleball experience from Arizona, while Jennifer is a year round Illinoisan who played the game in high school.

With our continued growth as a Pickleball community, we needed more ways to communicate electronically. A new website, NorthernIllinoisPickleball.com was launched in the spring as a community center for NIP news, play dates, times, and locations. The site was originally launched for the Rockford area, but quickly grew to be a home for all of Illinois as directed by the USAPA Regional Ambassador, Dick Manasseri.

We finally had a reprieve from the spring wind and rain only to be greeted by the heat of summer. Sweltering days made playing very undesirable, even in the cooler evening hours. Heat exhaustion was a concern on some days, and players stayed away from the shadeless courts.

The Rockford Park District was still firm in their commitment to develop Pickleball courts. Their decision was met with opposition when the two proposed sites were voraciously protected by some members of the tennis community. The Rockford Park District scrapped the plans and went back to the drawing board. They met with the neighborhood residents near Sinnissippi Park and discussed the possibility of converting the two tennis courts into six Pickleball courts. Construction began shortly afterward, and the six courts were dedicated on September 18^th.

We started to grow player attributes in autumn when ISC was kind enough to grant us the space for a couple classroom clinics. Players of all experience levels gathered to watch Coach Mo’s DVD about how to improve their game. We also had a physical therapist who spoke on the importance of proper stretching and footwear to reduce potential injuries.

Last weekend we kicked off the first play of the year at ISC. We were greeted with some veterans as well as some newcomers. It looks to be another great year of growth for our Pickleball communities. We encourage you to lend a hand and give us your ideas of expanding this sport. We’ll look forward to seeing you on the courts in a game to eleven in 2011!