City Beginner Workshop scheduled June 21

We had a Great meeting Tuesday with Idaho Falls Parks & Recreation Staff. Recreational Superintendent P.J. Holm (on right) and Recreation Specialist Chris Horsley (on left).The duo met for 70 minutes with IFPB blog Editor John Parsons and Wendy Cavan, the USA Pickleball Association Southeast Idaho Ambassador.

Every aspect of the meeting was a success. The primary topic was enabling P&R beginner workshops. The first such workshop will be June 21 from 2-3:30 PM. Cost will be $5. It will be conducted in the city's historic WPA-era gym at 520 Memorial Drive beside The Snake River.

Many other topics were also covered. Holm agreed to work to get the Lincoln Park courts resurfaced earlier than the contractor's July-August time frame. Holm was very interested in and supportive of the idea to stage a tournament this season at Lincoln Park.

Holm also said he will work to better "brand" the courts and provide a locked informational display there to help users better understand local and regional pickleball news.

Holm and Horsley said they would try to get the Lincoln Court night lights checked and working again. Holm agreed that city pickleball news was appropriate content for this blog.

Finally, both Holm and Horsley agreed it's time they learned to play pickleball. Wendy and JP will be meeting the duo on the city's indoor courts Thursday (May 25) morning at 8:30 pm to provide their "Intro To Pickleball".

Pickleball books at IF Library

Surprise! The Idaho Falls Public Library has two pickleball books on their shelves!

Last September, we put in an inter-library loan request for these two books.  Months passed before we heard back from the library.  By that time, we were in Arizona for our Snow Bird Season there.  We had a hunch the library actually purchased the books rather than get them on loan.  And so it is.

Here's what Barnes & Noble has to say about "Pickleball Fundamentals".  It gets a 4 star rating from 6,726 reviews.

"Fast, fun, and competitive: Simply step onto the court and it will be clear why pickleball is booming in popularity.

Pickleball Fundamentals is the first book written and endorsed by the USA Pickleball Association. It will teach you the basics of the sport so that you can join the fun on the court right away.

Learn proper execution of the sport’s essential skills and tactics. All the shots—groundstroke, serve and return, volley, dink, lob, overhead smash, and drop—provide a base for solid technique.

More than 40 drills and gamelike activities will speed your learning while improving performance. You’ll also find competitive tactics for various scenarios and strategies for both singles and doubles play.

So whether you are new to the sport or one of the growing number of pickleball fanatics, Pickleball Fundamentals is the best way to master the basics and compete with confidence."

And here's the synopsis for "Smart Pickleball"

"Just because you know the rules and have had a blast playing pickleball since the day you learned, doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re playing as well as you could be... Players of every age and ability can learn to play better and win more when they start to apply the principles of Smart Pickleball™. In this book, Prem Carnot, The Pickleball Guru, takes you along on an entertaining journey full of colorful characters and astonishingly familiar scenarios as he teaches one of his highly-renowned, frequently sold-out “Pickleball Guru Academy” clinics and a number of private lessons. With diagrams, drills, and a captivating allegorical style The Pickleball Guru uses case studies and personal examples to teach you the difference between just “getting the ball over the net” and playing Smart Pickleball™. This book will keep you turning the pages and have you raring to get back out on the courts to practice what you learn the minute you close the cover."

"Smart Pickleball" gets a 4.5 Star rating on Amazon.

Lincoln Park courts to be resurfaced

Huge Good News! The six courts at Lincoln Park will be resurfaced sometime in 2017.  By chance, we encountered Lorne Koch on the courts about 10:30 AM May 11.  Lorne has a $21,000+ contract from The City of Idaho Falls to resurface and provide new strips for the six existing courts in Lincoln Park.  Anyone who has visited or played on the courts knows  their deplorable condition.  Only one of the six courts is truly playable.  The other five courts would be great places to introduce children to the game of pickleball but that's about all you can say about them.

Lorne was scoping out the court condition Thursday morning.  He runs a very busy tennis and pickleball court surfacing and striping business based out of Missoula.  He covers all of Montana plus Eastern Idaho including Pocatello, Twin Falls, Jerome and Sun Valley.  Lorne's business is very busy and booked solid during 2017 so he doesn't know when he can get to the Idaho Falls job.

Lorne said it might be July or August before he can resurface the Lincoln  Park courts.  We quickly began the "full court press" to try to persuade him to come early.  We will provide status updates on what might be done to get Lorne here early in the season.

Nevertheless, it's great news to know that the actual contract has been let for this important work.  We are very proud of The City of Idaho Falls for their support for pickleball.  We hope to showcase more about the City's forward thinking leadership as far as facilitating pickleball.  Thank You, Idaho Falls!

Lorne Koch, above, has been in the business since 1993 and has a stellar track record.  Below is a sample from his photo gallery on Koch's Tennis Court Service website: http://kochscourts.com/

Below are two typical examples of the surface imperfections on the Lincoln Park courts.  It's so great to know that very, very soon these yawning cracks and widespread flakes will be a thing of the past!

APPLE Pickleball

The APPLE Athletic Club pioneered pickleball in Idaho Falls.  We all owe a huge tip-o-the-paddle to APPLE's consistent, long-term support for pickleball.

There are three indoor courts with portable nets set up in the APPLE gym.  Drop-in pickleball takes place five days each week:

• Tuesday/Thursday from 11:30am to 1:50pm
• Wednesdays from 12 noon to 2pm
• Fridays from 1pm to 3pm
• Sundays from 1:30pm to 3:30pm

Austen Felton

Generally about 16-20 players attend each session.  Player rotation is based on a winner-loser board that we will describe in more detail in a later post.  Skill levels among the APPLE regular players varies from Beginner to Advanced.  The bulk of the players are at least solid 3.0 players with many 3.5's and a sprinkling of 4.0 players.

Austen Felton and Liz Painter are in charge of the APPLE Pickleball program.

Here is the address for the webpage describing the APPLE Pickleball program:

http://www.appleathleticclub.com/pickleball

Idaho Falls Pickleball Blog

The Idaho Falls Pickleball blog was created at 5 PM, May 10, 2017, in Idaho Falls, Idaho.  The purpose of this blog is to help facilitate the growth, development and camaraderie of the Idaho Falls Pickleball community.
The primary focus of this blog will be on Idaho Falls facilities and players.  We may also, from time-to-time, include informative posts about pickleball news from our neighboring communities.  The blog was created and is maintained by John Parsons.