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Playing pickleball

Local communities embracing what’s called the fastest growing sport in America

By JANICE KIASKI 13 min read

Jerry Palmer is a pickleball person.

And his interest in what some call the fastest-growing sport in America makes him want to see Steubenville-area residents have a place to learn about it and play it.

"I have been playing pickleball for several years and became interested in the sport after I saw an article about it," Palmer explained of his interest in working with Lori Fetherolf, Steubenville's Parks and Recreation director, in starting pickleball lessons and play at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center at 905 Market St., Steubenville.

That started there effective Jan. 5 with lessons and play on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon with other days and times available depending on the level of interest.

For information, contact the Steubenville Parks and Recreation Department at (740) 283-6000, extension 4000, or (740) 264-0492.

"Our plan is for this summer to build some outdoor courts here in Steubenville, and so this is a great start to know that there's interest in the community," Fetherolf said. "I thought it was great for us to be able to offer this in one of our down times when we're not real busy between 10 and 12. When I was approached, it was a great opportunity for us to get other people in the building," she added.

"We have it budgeted in our capital fund this year to put in some courts, and I've gotten calls over the last few years weekly asking for courts, so it would be a good addition to what we have."

Palmer tried pickleball having previously played tennis and ping-pong.

"I thought that I'd try it. It's a great activity for all ages. The game provides some physical activity and encourages friendly competition and socialization," he said, explaining that pickleball's roots reach back to 1965 near Seattle, Wash. A mixture of tennis, badminton and ping-pong, pickleball is played with a paddle somewhat larger than a ping-pong paddle and a plastic ball with holes in it much like a wiffleball, according to Palmer. A pickleball court, he notes, is about half the size of a tennis court with a net 34 inches high at the center. It can be played indoors or outdoors and either as singles or doubles, though the latter is more popular.

Games are played to 11 points with the person or team winning by two points. Points are only scored by the serving team or individual.

In its early years, pickleball was popular with senior citizens in areas with warmer climates, but it has gained momentum in other not-so-warm places and among varied age groups.

"We here in the Ohio Valley have an opportunity to become involved in this fast-growing sport," Palmer said of what's a good aerobic exercise offering a number of benefits, including supporting a healthy heart, improving agility and balance, lowering blood pressure and toning muscles.

"I think it's a great activity -- it gets you out moving and gives you the opportunity to meet other folks and socialize. I just hope that we can generate enough interest in the area to keep it going, and I would like to see a pickleball club started here, and we could eventually get leagues and tournaments going," he said.

Palmer got no argument from several other area residents who showed up to play.

Brent Adams, however, said the first time he played, he was "totally confused. I didn't know where to get on the court or whose turn it was to serve, so it took a couple of times to kind of figure out the game."

But he's glad he did, citing his interest as "my age and just getting off the couch, having something to do. It's a low-intensity activity, and it gives me an opportunity to meet people and to have something to do," Adams said.

Diane Kotur used to play racquetball. "I thought I would enjoy pickleball. I have a basketball court at home. I set up a pickleball net on my court, and just hit around with my husband."

Linda Kamerer cited her interest as "physical activity. And I just retired, and I want to keep busy. I heard a lot about it, not so much here, but everybody talks about it. I looked around and I heard about it at the church (Wintersville United Methodist)," she said, noting she is playing at the center and the YWCA Wellness Center at St. John Arena in Steubenville.

"Friends got us to play with them, and we would go to the gym and play, and I love it," commented Rick Patterson. "To play a game is maybe 15 to 20 minutes so it's quick and easy and not hard to learn," he added.

There are indoor and outdoor courts and lots of interest in Ohio Valley communities.

Tom Gaudio is a pickleball enthusiast who established the Wellsburg Pickleball Club with the help of Mike and Karen Whetsell.

"I put a notice on Facebook in April 2021 about the game and to see if there was any interest in Wellsburg, and the response was very good," Gaudio said.

And it's grown "tremendously," he said, noting he first got interested after having read so much about it. "I said, 'Man, that sounds like a lot of fun,' and at the time, I didn't know it, there was no place close by to play, so I thought if I want to play, I'd better get it started, and that's how it all started in Wellsburg."

Gaudio said pickleball has been played in Bethany, however, for as long as eight to 10 years. "A lot of people didn't know that, but that's where I went to learn the game before I started this," he said of the club. "I started like three months before I put that notice on Facebook in April."

He credited Floyd McFadden with having brought the game from Florida to Bethany. "They play outside in their city park in the winter and then in the old Bethany High School in the winter. He's the guy who kind of started it around the valley," Gaudio said.

"That first year we started -- the summer of 2021 -- we had people from Weirton coming down, from Steubenville, Mingo, Rayland, Avella, so the response was not just in Wellsburg, but surrounding communities, too," he said of the Wellsburg club, identifying the over-50 crowd as the group it largely attracts.

"The problem in Wellsburg -- the only thing for senior citizens in the park to do was to sit in a chair and watch your grandkids play Little League baseball, so we started this so senior citizens would have something to do in the parks," Gaudio said. "We have people from 55 to 80-something playing."

As it's grown, however, it is appealing to younger people, too.

"You have a core group that shows up every time we play, but then we have a lot of people who play one day this week and one day the next. We're drawing younger people and new people continously," he said.

When the weather is good, pickleball is played at the 18th Street Park, better known as the Betty Carr Recreation Site.

"We had some old tennis courts down there that didn't have nets or posts anymore -- they were just a slab of blacktop, and we painted some courts on there, and the city of Wellsburg -- who has been tremendously supportive of this -- bought us some portable nets we would set up when we play," he said. "Since then, we have built four tile courts, plastic tile courts with a fence around two of them and hope to put a fence around the other two this spring, and we got permanent posts and nets installed."

In Wellsburg there are four outdoor courts, according to Gaudio, who explained, "The club was organized simply because it would make it be easier to ask the city for assistance on certain things and to apply for grants."

The protocol to play outdoors is a simple procedure.

"Just show up and play," he said. "The pickleball club plays on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings and the times are posted down there. When the pickleball club is playing, anyone can come and play with us. You don't have to be a member," he said.

"The only reason we have those times reserved down there is because say on a Friday and someone is playing they could stay on there for hours. This way, on nights the club plays, we keep rotating and play one game and other people come on the court and play. Anyone can come and play," he encouraged.

In the months when the weather makes outdoor play impossible, the activity moves indoors to Brooke High School on Sundays at 4:30 p.m.

"There are two gyms. We play in the back gym, and they were kind enough to let us tape off three courts, so we can have three games going at the same time," Gaudio said.

"We have probably 35 members signed up in the club, and we average 20-some a night when we play, and like I said, we get new people coming all the time."

Outdoor play is free; indoor play is usually $10 for the season. "We have to buy insurance to cover us in the school so everybody chips in to buy insurance, and if we have leftover money, we buy balls and a first aid kit," he said with a laugh in mentioning the latter item.

Pickleball play outdoors in Wellsburg generally runs from April to November then moves indoors from November to April.

Gaudio is as much a pickleball player as a cheerleader for its benefits.

"It's fun, it gets senior citizens moving. You don't have to be a great athlete to play. I don't know anyone who's come down and tried it who hasn't come back," he said in listing its redeeming qualities.

"All ages can play. I keep saying it is geared toward senior citizens but we draw younger people, and in between games, there's a great social aspect to it," he continued, "because you're sitting around waiting to play the next game and you're talking to people. You're talking to people of different ages and communities."

Add to that fellowship aspect an end-of-the-year picnic and a Christmas party.

Gaudio explained that the city of Wellsburg and the Wellsburg Lions Club donated $6,000 to build the courts -- $3,000 a piece -- and Main Street Bank in Wellsburg donated $1,000.

"Through the Wellsburg Lions Club, we applied for an AARP Community Challenge grant, and AARP awarded us $11,500. We got the grant in March 2022 and used that to build the third and fourth court. We only had two before we got that grant," Gaudio said, explaining that all the work on the courts was done by volunteers.

For information, contact Gaudio at (304) 479-2985 or visit the Wellsburg Pickleball Club Facebook page.

In Weirton, the pandemic actually had an impact on pickleball coming to town, according to Mike Veltri of the Weirton Pickleball Association.

"COVID hit in 2019 and by January 2020 all gyms were locked up," explained Veltri, a now-retired Weirton fireman for 28 years, accustomed to a work environment where fellow employees embraced fitness, weights, racquetball and running, for example.

Veltri said pickleball is popular in hot-weather places. "It migrated to the north because people came back for the summer, but couldn't play their pickleball, so they were still into racquetball and tennis," he said."

"Being a fireman for 28 years, our union got together with our chief, and our chief allowed us to put markings in our truck bay. The truck bays were big enough to house a court so we would pull the trucks out during the summer and play pickleball," he said.

"Each station has treadmills because firemen are all about their fitness and exercise. We have treadmills and weight rooms and play racquetball and tennis, but this was like a cross-training sport so this got everybody involved," Veltri said, noting the whole department was playing at one time.

Pickleball play happened all spring and summer of 2020 and through the winter of 2021.

"Some people came from outside the community and played with us in the truck bay," he said. "We needed a place to go outside permanently because even though the firemen were playing, the interest got bigger and bigger," he said, noting Wellsburg was the first one to start outside courts.

"They got funding and ended up getting some grant money and put permanent pickleball courts in Wellsburg so everybody was going to 18th Street to play. The Wellsburg group got larger and larger," Veltri continued.

"When you travel around the area, Oglebay always had pickleball courts, but nobody wants to travel there from up north," he said, noting that led him, Ray Gajtka and Norm White pitching the idea of outside pickleball courts at Starvaggi Park to the Weirton Board of Parks and Recreation.

Last summer, the park board encouraged Veltri to gauge local interest in pickleball.

"The park board gave us two nets and said we could use Starvaggi Park tennis courts," he said, noting one tennis court can accommodate four pickleball courts.

"The first night we had more than 35 people who showed up to play, watch and learn. It never has stopped," he said of the interest. "The Facebook page was created and 151 people joined within a week," he said of the creation of the Weirton Pickleball Association. "There were 60 people, consistent players with 18 to 32 people playing on six nets at Starvaggi Park under the lights from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.," Veltri said.

"It's an easy game you can pick up in an hour and once you get some of the rules down, you might watch a game and play and by the second or third game, you're going to fall in love with it," Veltri said, explaining why he likes pickleball.

"It's a cross-train thing because if you're playing racquetball or tennis or any other sport that's kind of rigorous, this is like the inbetween -- it's a lighter game for me. I like the cross training, I like the shorter court, I like the fellowship because not everybody can play on that big tennis court, but you can play on that smaller court," he said.

"It's a happy medium for the across-the-board individual and the people who come out and support it -- we meet so many people," he said.

"In our area, we have people from Avella, Burgettstown, St. Clairsville, East Liverpool, Wheeling, Wellsville, Wintersville -- they all come to Weirton," he said.

Veltri took the indoor pickleball idea to the Weirton Boys and Girls Club through George Vargo, director of the Weirton Housing Authority.

"We were looking for a place to go indoors after summer, and there are a number of basketball facilities but they're used for practices with time taken up, so the Weirton Housing Authority opened their doors for us and we play in off times at night," he said.

For information, go to the Facebook page for the Weirton Pickleball Association.

"We now post play times on Facebook -- Sunday at 4 p.m., Tuesday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 8 a.m.," Veltri said. New to that schedule are morning sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for pickleball are now available for open play at the Boys and Girls Club in Weirton from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

The indoor cost to play is $3.

(Kiaski can be contacted at jkiaski@heraldstaronline.com.)

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