03/08/2024
There are many of us who have been pushing the Pickleball Boulder up hill for quite some time locally, regionally, and nationally. It wasn't very long ago that it was a pretty tough sell trying to convince some location that a sport called PICKLEBALL would be helpful, supportive and in line with their organizations mission statement, and if given the opportunity, we could fill their gymnasium with bodies of seniors who would likely become lifetime members just because they offered Pickleball as a drop-in program.
These Bold Pickleball Ambassadors, (once given the green light by some non profit organization director), had to get busy fulfilling a hopeful promise made by the enthusiastic Pickleball Ambassador to fill a previously empty gymnasium between the hours of 7 or 8am to about 11 or 12 noon. A time slot which most gyms around the country had no way to bring people in because everyone was at work, or in school or college. Under the watchful eye of the hopeful, yet sometimes skeptical organizations wondering who these crazy Ambassadors were bringing in their painters tape (because painting lines was definitely NOT in the budget or even remotely possible for this unknown sport with the silly name that promised to create a new revenue stream that would dwarf any sports program previously offered during the morning hours. Without compensation, equipment, supplies, or anyone else to help them, these ambassadors went to work laying tape, setting up old beat up makeshift nets, a few balls, a small handful of paddles, and painters tape, or (only the real old timers will remember this one.... rolls of 10 and 20 foot tape that that had to put be put down in the morning, and taken up at the end of the day. And guess what. It was usually the same people who showed up early and the same ones who left last who had to roll down, and roll up the tape. That really sucked. Remember Highland Park Indoors? There are many other founding fathers and mothers around the country who remember doing this, and they were definitely saints.
Fast forward to today. There isn't an organization in the world that has a gymnasium floor that isn't trying to figure a way to add pickleball to their indoor and outdoor programming. We are no longer fighting with the Tennis Communities around the country that early on saw pickleball as a threat, ushered us out the door for mentioning pickleball as a possibility inside a tennis facility, but finally woke up and saw how pickleball could be a valuable asset to their present and future goals. Pickleball saved many of these Tennis Communities from going belly-up and out of business when COVID showed up. Pickleball was a Godsend for many of them, as four pickleball courts were added to each tennis court, to help bring in more members and players.
Hats off to the Binghamton and Apalachin BOCES administration, who took no arm twisting at all, and quickly helped to create indoor and outdoor pickleball for their employees and the community. Their vision allowed this Pickleball District Ambassador to create programs that supported their mission statements. They are not the only ones, but the ones being featured in this post. Congrats to these BOCES Employee League Winners and winners of the Women's 5:30pm League.
By now, everyone knows that this is true: IF YOU BUILD IT...THEY WILL COME!
Coach "Z"orano
SouthernTierPickleball.Net
WWW.Ovou.Me/Zorano
