Shalda Nelson's Farewell

Many of us got hooked on pickleball somewhere else.  Like Shalda Nelson, who started the movement in Rockford along with a handful of her local golfing friends.  She and her husband, Roger, took up the game as snowbirds at The Villages in Florida  -- and loved it.  “Shalda got us up to speed on the rules and we started chalking courts and playing wherever we could,” says Susan Sallmen.  Shalda took the initiative to make the first contact with Jay Sandine at the Rockford Park District and get the ball rolling with an open house at the Guilford Tennis Center in July2009 to introduce pickleball to the public. More than 70 interested folks showed up on a cold, windy evening to see a demonstration and play the game. Shalda and many new, enthusiastic picklers dedicated their time and energy to recruit other players, attend Park Board meetings, participate in many local demonstrations to spread the word and promote this great game!  This August we said a great big thank you and good-bye to Shalda Nelson as she and Roger moved permanently to The Villages. Click here to see more photos!

Review of Northern Illinois Pickleball Round Robin Tournament 2011

Dear NIP players,

We had 52 participants in the Northern Illinois Pickleball Round Robin Tournament on Saturday, July 30, 2011. We hosted local players from Rockford and the Chicago suburbs. We also drew players from Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Utah and Louisiana. I appreciate your participation in making this a successful event. 

I would like to thank our sponsors for their donations to our event: 

• Culligan – Rock Valley
• Panera Bread
• Mary’s Market
• Great Harvest Bread
• Hinkley Spring
• Minute Man Press

Thank you to Connie Jacobs, Sherry Guzzardo, and Michael and Melissa Peterson for your personal efforts in acquiring these donations. 

Our tournament showcased the first class Sinnissippi Pickleball Center that was built by the Rockford Park District in 2010. The Rockford Park District showed great support for our tournament by partnering with us months in advance. They provided First Aid and AED training to Leigh Ann Heidemann, Sarah White, and me. They also provided the use of an AED the day of the tournament.  Our partnership afforded us the use of a 16’ x 16’ tent, public announcement system, and other needed equipment. Thank you to the staff of the Rockford Park District for your constant support of the growth of Pickleball in our community; we sincerely appreciate it. Jay Sandine, Tonya Reuber, Heidi Saavedra, Laura Gibbs Green, Lamont Jones, and all those that help to support your positions. Thank you.

The Mixed Generation bracket was the most popular bracket and all seemed to enjoy it. The bracket required that teammates be a minimum of 18 years difference in age. We had a wonderful turnout of family members. There were two father-daughter teams, a mother-son team, a father-son team and two mother-in-law and son-in-law teams. The bracket ran fairly smoothly and I was pleased with the results.

Lunch was provided to participants by Backyard Grill & Bar that performed on-site grilling. The food was first rate and we heard many compliments from participants. Their staff was on time, served early, and was very professional.

Next up was the Men’s and Women’s Doubles. We were short on referees and I pulled myself from the score table to referee games and literally dumped the score table on the volunteers. They had a large task with trying to pair scores sheets with faces that they didn’t know. A special thank you to Leigh Ann Heidemann, Kirshna Selchow, and Kelly Detweiler who did an excellent job of keeping the courts filled throughout the afternoon.

Thank you to the referees who were active all afternoon. Many of you were players, local and distant, and some were just spectators who volunteered throughout the afternoon. A special thanks to Amy Peil who was a diligent referee.   

We have come up with a few ideas to make the score table run more smoothly. I would like to request that more participants and non-participants take an active role in refereeing games to have future tournaments run in a more timely fashion. We need your help and support. If you need referee training, please contact me for a lesson.

The tournament started months ago with planning. It was far more work than I anticipated, but I had a great support team of volunteers behind me. We raised enough money to purchase four USAPA portable nets for use at ISC on East Riverside Blvd. The remaining funds were deposited in our account at the Rockford Park District Foundation. I hope that you had a pleasant experience and will return to future events. 

Respectfully,

Jennifer Selchow

Trading golf clubs for rackets and being addicted to Pickleball

Please see the link below about our upcoming round robin tournament at Sinnissippi Park. The article features some local players that will be competing in the tournament.

http://www.rrstar.com/carousel/x1009570967/Trading-golf-clubs-for-rackets-and-playing-lots-of-pickleball

Mike and Jude learn Pickleball - WREX.com – Rockford’s News Leader

Mike Morig and Jude Wilbers of WREX (Channel 13, NBC) joined NIP at the Sinnissippi Courts to learn Pickleball. They were great sports against some very good local players. Thank you for the great coverage of the sport and the upcoming NIP Round Robin tournament!

Mike and Jude learn Pickleball - WREX.com – Rockford’s News Leader

The Return of Ray Monroe

Friday night, July 15th, Ray Monroe came to the to the Sinnissippi Pickleball courts. He was extremely happy to see all of his Pickleball friends and it really lifted his spirits. He managed to play a couple games and was thrilled to be included. We went out to eat at Town Hall Lounge in Loves Park. I had a reservation, but we well exceeded that and overwhelmed their small kitchen. On the way home Ray said he had a "red letter day". Thank you all that came out in support of this event. It was very heart warming to see all the support that our Pickleball community gives to each other. Click here for more pictures.


Respectfully,
Jennifer

Rockford Park District visits increase in spite of economic slump

Participation is up in the Rockford Park District in part from Pickleball players! Good job guys!

Click here to read the full article by Kevin Haas of the Rockford Register Star.

"Dimke said there were programs, such as Pickleball, that were driven by resident request. There were six courts constructed last year in Sinnissippi Park for Pickleball, a sport that uses a wooden paddle and whiffle ball. It was also the first full year of indoor play at the Indoor Sports Center, with 960 visits from Pickleball participants."

Fickle Weather for Pickleball

Sarah and I stopped by the Sinnissippi Pickleball Center on Saturday afternoon to check on the condition of the courts. Unfortunately the courts were still snow covered in some portions and too wet to play. The surface of the courts and the nets appeared to have held up perfectly despite the fickle weather we have had this winter.

Saturday there were still remnants of the Blizzard of 2011 where  Old Man Winter had dumped 14.3 inches of snow on the NIP region. It's hard to believe that was just two and a half weeks ago on Ground Hog's Day.  It was the fourth largest storm in our history.


The extremely bitter -20°F cold that we had February 10th doesn't seem to have harmed the equipment at all. Then we were blessed with unusual 52° F on February 17th and a mass melting began. So in just seven days we had a 72° shift from low to high. I think Old Man Winter and Mother Nature are having a squabble. 

There is a lot of tree debris that will need to be swept before we  can play this Spring. And, it looks like there was some snow that was plowed across the adjacent open field and pushed up to the courts. These piles have buried one of the picnic tables. (Click on the picture to make it larger). It looks like the Park District has a bit of Spring clean up ahead of them.

It's one big muddy mess right now.  But, if we just hold on for a few more weeks we will be back to our home courts in no time!

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!

Thanksgiving Weekend Play

The weather was fairly mild for being the last Sunday in November. The mercury made a valiant effort and climbed to an admirable 46 degrees Fahrenheit.  Conditions were set to welcome the brave Picklers to the outdoor courts at Sinnissippi Park.

Today, NIP Picklers were eager to get in a couple extra games after the food binge that most experienced last Thursday on Thanksgiving. After playing indoors at ISC for several weeks, we were happy to be on our Home courts that have standard width lines, the proper height nets, and no drop-in fees. 

Most gathered about 1pm, despite some that were nursing mild hangovers from a festive martini Saturday night. We braved the fall weather with vests, ear muffs, hats, and scarves. Players wore  multiple layers of clothing and skipped the bulky winter coats. To protect their hands they wore gardening, motorcycle, and fingerless gloves.

The sun was shining, making overhead smashes on the courts’ northern sections a bit challenging with the low rising sun due to the Earth’s winter tilt. The bare trees and stripped bushes no longer provide a protective barrier. The wind screens have been taken down for the season and we are left alone to negotiate winds that were 16mph, gusting to 22mph. The wind forced many balls out of bounds that would have been fair under normal circumstances.  Some unpredictable hits were accomplished, but many misses were had with the wind bursts. Certainly much laughter was heard by the neighbors as we all took in the comedy of each others' wind falls. To have evenhanded games players switched sides when one of the teams reached six points. But, alas, it didn't make much difference in some cases. Regardless, everyone had a great day of playing.

We had a great turnout with four active courts and players waiting in the wings. Thanks to all who came out to play today. We had a good couple hours of play before dispersing to watch the Bears beat the Eagles! A great way to spend a Sunday!