Welcome Back Pat and Suzi - and where are Rich and Dee?

Well the summer is winding down and those northerners are starting to head back to the "sunny south" for the winter. If you've been watching the weather reports, it's none too early. In some places the temperatures have dropped significantly and the cold and snow has already started to show is ugly face. If you can't play indoors - you have to head for the south, where the pickleball courts welcome you year round!


Pat and Suzi are back from Washington - where they continued to practice up on the pickleball skills with their group in Bellingham. We're glad to have their smiling faces and competitive spirits back with our Meadow Pointe Picklers. WELCOME HOME Pat and Suzi.

The Pagliaro's, ( or Piscatelli's, or Pagianos?) - anyway - Rich and Dee made it back from Main before Pat and Suzi - but..................off they went again? Where did they go? Well we found them just south of here at the Peace River Campground in Wauchulla, where Rich and Donna are. Here they are on a chilly Monday morning playing their favorite game. As you can see the courts here don't begin to compare with our courts at home - but we still have a great time. They played for about three hours that morning and then made it back to the courts around four in the afternoon for a couple more hours of play. And here they are, enjoying Happy Hour at Rich and Donna's site with some of the other Pickleball players.

Now, we're waiting for Bill and Judy to return from Red Hook, New York. We hope to see them back with our group sometime in November..........Hurry Back Guys!!!!

Tampa Bay Senior Games

Here are a couple of pictures of Rich and his partners taken at the Tampa Bay Senior Games which were played just down the road in Sun City Center.

Rich and partner Mark Telfer - great play at the non-volley line.

Rich and Mark getting their Silver Medal (Actually they only give medals for 1st place) So they are getting their second place ribbons. Paula Jory, tournament director and Meadow Point resident in the middle.

Rich and Linda Kramer effective at the non-volley line.

Rich and Linda with their second place ribbons.

Meadow Pointe Picklers - Medal at National Games

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Rich and Donna Donald participated in the National Pickleball Championship Games, sanctioned by NSGA. The Senior event was held in the Ft. Lauderdale area; pickleball was played at the CB Smith Park in Pembroke Pines. This was a four day event, starting with pool play on Thursday and Friday to determine seeding for the Championship matches on Saturday and Sunday.

Rich took the Gold Medal inthe men's doubles 55-59 age division partnering with Bob Huskey the USAPA Ambassador from Opelika, Alabama. He also took the Silver Medal in the 60-64 age division, partnering with Roxanne Ware from Texas.

Donna took the Bronze Medal in the ladies 55=59 age division partnering with Nancy Jordan from Arizona. She also took the Silver Medal in the mixed doubles 55-59 age division, partnering with David Jordan from Arizona.

For the complete story, pictures and all results click this link to the USAPA Atlantic South website.

National Senior Games Championship

Pictures from Pat and Suzi - They'll be back at MeadowPointe Soon!

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Here are pictures of our regular pickleball players here in Bellingham. The
first couple of shots shows us playing on our court in our complex (Sunrise)
and the last one is a steak dinner we had for the group at our place. We
leave Sun morning and home on Oct 15th.

The people are:
Suzi and I with our USAPA shirts
Anne Kauffman - the woman
Jack Kaufman - the shorter, balding guy; not related to Anne
Jim Trowbridge - the taller guy with glasses
Kerry Helm - the other tall guy without glasses.

Pat

Pickleball Tip of the Month from Coach Mo

"NEVER SACRIFICE PLACEMENT FOR POWER. A SLOW BALL AT YOUR OPPONENT’S FEET IS BETTER THAN A VERY FAST HIT TO THE WAIST.

NEVER SACRIFICE BEING IN THE READY POSITION FOR A BETTER POSITION ON THE COURT. ALWAYS STOP AND BE IN THE READY POSITION AT THE POINT OF CONTACT OF THE BALL TOUCHING YOUR OPPONENTS PADDLE.

THE TEAM WITH THE LEAST UNFORCED ERRORS USUALLY WINS, NOT THE TEAM WITH THE MOST WINNERS.

A GOOD VOLLIER WILL USUALLY BEAT A GOOD GROUND STROKER. THE GROUND STROKE IS JUST MEANS TO GET TO THE NVZ LINE AND WIN THE POINT.

YOUR BEST POSITION ON THE COURT SHOULD BE EITHER ONE FOOT BEHIND THE BASELINE OR ONE INCH BEHIND NVZ LINE. STAY OUT OF NO MAN’S LAND.

THE TEAM HITTING DOWN INTO THE COURT MOST OF THE TIME WILL WIN MORE POINTS THAN THE TEAM ALWAYS HITTING UP,SO KEEP YOUR HITS LOW TO THE FEET. IT WILL PROBABLY BE THE DIFFERENCE IN A CLOSE GAME.

NEVER EVER MISS YOUR SERVE OR RETURN OF SERVE.

MOST OF YOUR SHOTS SHOULD BE DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE COURT, OVER THE LOW PART OF THE NET, GIVES YOU A LOT OF LEEWAY RIGHT AND LEFT, AND CAUSES CONFUSION BETWEEN YOUR OPPONENTS.

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE WHEN DINKING. DO NOT TRY FOR A WINNER UNLESS BALL IS MORE THAN 12’’ ABOVE THE NET.

NEVER TRY AND HIT A WINNER OFF A VERY DIFFICULT SHOT. JUST PLAY DEFENSIVE AND TRY TO RETURN THE BALL LOW INTO THE COURT."

Read Coach Mo's Strategy Guide for more great pickelball tips. Click here for great pickleball information from Coach Mo - The Pickleball Coach.com

Meet MP Pickler Bob Koryus

Bob was born in Greenwich Village in NYC during WWII. His early yrs as a youth was spent playing stickball, stoopball, American and Chinese handball, baseball, boxball, horseshoes, botchiball, bottlecaps, some football and some basketball. His youth saw him as a Sea Cadet that elevated him to 1st Class Petty Officer. In JHS he completed in the citywide athletic competition at Randalls Island and won 4 bronze and 2 silver badges in the two yrs he competed... After JHS he went onto skin diving, archery and rifle shooting at Kings Pointe Merchant Marine Academy. After HS joined the US Army National Guard and spent his first 6 months on active duty and 7 1/2 yrs on active reserve. He was deployed during the Bay of Pigs conflict, the Brooklyn Riots and the US postal strike. Bob's full time employment career began in Aug 1962' with IBM and ended with his retirement in Jan 2009' from the IBM Corporation. While employed in his the 1st five yrs in IBM Bob attended nite classes at NYCCC, Queensboro CC and then Queens College. Bob and his wife Lorraine, son and daughter moved to Temple Terrace, Fla in the early 1970's. While a TT resident for 24 yrs Bob was on the TT Citizens Advisory Comm, the TT Optimist Club and Youth Director and was an avid racquetball player and always involved with youth sports with his children. Bob and Lorraine have been residents of MP1 since 1995. Bob and Lorraine have two wonderful grandchildren that reside in MPII and occasionally you'll see the (12) yr old playing Pickleball. Bob enjoys playing Pickleball "nice and easy" and enjoys the fellowship of the other regular players

New Atlantic Soouth Ambassador

Congratulations to Donna Donald for taking on the postion of Regional Ambassador for the Atlantic South Region. Donna replaces Dick, "Greenie", Greenfield in the position.


............................. Donna has worked diligently to produce an excellent monthly ambassadors' letter so that all areas in the Atlantic South have been both recognized and informed. She is individually responsible for the Atlantic South Blog and its content. She is a leader at her home club at Meadow Pointe.

Click here to read the complete article as written by Wayne Roswell on the Tanglewood Blog: Regional Ambassador

Hi Everyone,

Wish you all could have made it to the Labor Day Jamboree at Kings Point in Sun City Center. It was a great time. We all received our temporary tattos; either the pickleball bug, or the Pickleball Fever Paddle. There were some really good players that came from Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Poincianne (near Orlando), as well as the neighboring Sun City Center Pickleball Club.

Wish you guys could have been there.

Thought we would share a few pictures from the day!

These were the medals that were awarded to the first three place finishers. She gave the pickle ball fever pins to the highest scorers.

This two guys in the front are Clyde and Don and play with the Sun City Pickleball Club. The rest of the people in the picture did not play, but came with signs and pom poms to cheer on Clyde and Don. They were funny!

Rich and I were late to register, so we kind of filled in where partners were needed. This is Rich with one of his partners, Tom, and that is Mary in the back, who is the lady that I played with for the day.

I usually catch Rich with his paddle at his side......or with his back to me. Thought this picture came out pretty good. Here he is playing with Dino.

The weather was wicked - but we kept drinking the fluids. I hope you all will consider joining in on this event next year. Yes - you are all very good players!!!!! And you would have had a great time.

One Night at the Courts -

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These are just a few of our MP Players enjoying an evening of Pickleball....and stopping for Don's camera to say HI! We hope to introduce them up-close and personal, one by one, real soon. What a great looking group!!!

Meet MP Picklers, Ken and Penny Kauffman

............at the MP II Courts


Ken and Penny are two of our newest MP Picklers. Residents of Meadow Pointe II, they have one son, still single, who lives in Tampa.

Ken and Penny read our feature article in the St. Pete Times about our Annual Spring Pick-nic and Round Robin Tournament. (How could they resist not joining all those smiling happy faces??)

Pennyis a native Floridian, born in Tampa and then moved to Doylstown PA as a child, then on to Reedsville, PA where she met Ken. She retired from Time Warner/Comcast Cable as a Customer Service Representative - Reedsville PA after several years of working for J C Penny as the Sales Auditor - Lewistown PA. Ken retired first from CNH (Case New Holland) in Belleville PA as Production Manager in 2004 and then again in 2008 from LAMesa RV in Tampa as a driver delivering and buying motor homes all over the country. She and Ken also lived in Washington, DC, (during the tent city affair, for those of you who are old enough to remember what that was) where Ken completed his military service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after a tour in Viet Nam and in Nebraska for three years after being transferred from Belleville, PA.

When not playing pickleball, some of their favorite past times include: Quilting, Reading, Home Improvement Projects and Traveling. Both of them are former tennis players, and it wasn't hard to tell. They both picked up the game very quickly, purchased their new paddles, and come back most every night for some competive games and good fun with their fellow MP Picklers.

We asked them what they liked about Pickleball : "It is easier on the body than Tennis and the people we have met are great."