If you are trying to make a court reservations or change an old one and you get the message "ACCESS CODE REQUIRED", it is probably sometime between 6pm Wednesday evening and 8am Thursday morning. That is when the Signup Genius is locked down for maintenance. During this time the new court reservations for the following week are being added. So be patient - you do not need a code - you just need to wait until 8am on Thursday when the SUG will be reopened.
The minutes for the Leadership Team Meeting held on June 13th, at the Aiken County Library, have been posted. Go to Forums or Click here to read the full report.
Want to know if anyone is playing outside this evening? Easy to find out - just download the application TeamReach. It's free! Go to Google or Apple, type in TeamReach and just follow the instructions to download the app. Once you are in the group you want to join is Outdoor Pickleball @ Odell Open Play. Code to Join: OUTSIDE7 This will give you access to a group of over sixty Aiken pickleball players who are also looking for someone to play with. Special thanks to Kiss Gunther for setting this up.
Aiken Pickleball Inc is hosting a free New Player Clinic indoors at the Gregg Park Civic Center on Saturday, July 8th. Click here to sign up. Schedule as follows:
830 - 9am - Check-in at front desk
9 - 10am - New Players Clinic Instruction
10 - 11am - Practice Play
In this sixty minute clinic you will learn everything you need to get started playing the sport of pickleball. Please wear tennis shoes and athletic attire, and bring something to drink. Balls and paddles provided. Class limited to eight.
Go online to AikenPickleball.com and click on the “Sign-ups/New player clinic at GPCC” tab on the main menu to reserve a slot. The clinic is free. Non-members are welcome to attend but must pay a $10 daily facility fee.
Our new teaching instructor, Lisa Barrett-Johnson, a.k.a. LBJ, is offering a series of eight Drills with LBJ every Wednesday evening from 6-730 pm, starting June 28th, at Gregg Park. Drills will be a different stroke each session using a ball machine to feed while LBJ instructs on proper technique. Wait list available. Click here to sign up. Schedule for first four drills as follows:
June 28 - Many Happy returns… Practice returning serve, where to return, why we hit certain returns and their effectiveness. Wait list available.
July 5 - “LOB-ster” A session of practicing lobs and why it’s a great shot to have. Wait list available.
July 12 - Overheads - Why they don’t always have to be bullets! Wait list.
July 19 - 3rd shot drop. Practicing the third shot drop and why it’s such a dang good shot. Wait list.
Cost is $15 per person per session. Each session is 90 minutes limited to a maximum of six players, minimum of three. Payment should be made at the Gregg Park front desk. The receipt must be presented to the instructor at the time of the drills. Non-members are welcome to attend but they must also pay a $10 daily facility fee. Note - Annual membership at Gregg Park is $20 for Seniors (Age 65 & up) and $65 for Adults (Age 23-64) .
Aiken Pickleball lost a great friend yesterday. Nelson Swartzentruber passed away yesterday after battling a rare form of leukemia. Click here for his obituary.
Nelson you are going to be missed.
Lisa Barrett-Johnson, a.k.a. LBJ, is our new certified teaching instructor at Gregg Park effective June 1st, 2023. In a couple of weeks, Lisa will be offering Drills with LBJ on Wednesday evenings from 6-7pm at Gregg Park. Separate news article to follow with more details and info on how to sign up. She will also be available for lessons at Odell Weeks on Tuesday and Saturday afternoons. For more information, to see a photo and contact details select Read more
A new transplant to the south (six years) and a former Wall Street trader from New York, Lisa came to Georgia as a longtime tennis instructor. The first day she saw a group playing pickleball she was hooked. The rest is history, as they say .
Certified to teach for over four years and an avid pickleball tournament participant, Lisa has won over 75 medals in the past few years. With a love of the sport and a penchant for exercise (a ten time marathon participant) she is super excited to be teaching at Odell Weeks and Gregg Park, and looks forward to bringing back some laughter to the sport! Her focus is on strategy, how to be defensive, and turning defense to offense. She feels you don’t have to be the best person on the court, you have to be the smartest!
LBJ will assist Mo with New Players Clinics at Odell Weeks and conduct her own New Players Clinics at Gregg Park. Email address is lisabarrettjohnson002@gmail.com
Thank you to everyone who came to the celebration of the new courts at Virginia Acres Park. And thank you to Mike and Loretta Beckner and the pickleball pioneers (also known as the Pickledillys) who started us on the road to being the thriving pickleball community that we are today.
Pickleball pioneers Jean Durkee, Sharon McMichael, Mike Beckner, Loretta Beckner, Ron Nelson, and Nelson Spitnale
Mike and Loretta Beckner
The next New Players Pickleball Clinic at Odell Weeks will be on Saturday, June 17th. The clinic is for people new to the game of pickleball. Clinic is full. Schedule as follows:
845-9am - Check-in at front desk
9-10 am - Instruction
10-11 am - Practice Play
Clinic will include proper court position, how to keep score, how to make the transition from tennis and other racquet sports to pickleball and much more. Players should wear tennis shoes and bring something to drink. Clinic will be held indoors on Courts 1 & 2 in Gym 2, at Odell Weeks. Balls and paddles provided. Maximum 8 players. Cost is $15 per person which includes the daily access fee. Sign up and pay at the Odell Weeks front desk. Bring your receipt to the clinic.
Note: Fee also covers attendance at the New Players Practice session to be scheduled later.
There will be a celebration of the new courts at Virginia Acres Park at 4.30 pm on May 23. Aiken Pickleball Inc. would like to show our appreciation to the City for building the courts and would be delighted to see our pickleball community show up to mark the occasion.
After the outdoor celebration, we will move inside for a potluck social at 5pm. All are welcome. To sign up for the potluck, click here.
We want to give special thanks to Mike and Loretta Beckner, who introduced pickleball to Aiken 13 years ago and changed our lives for the better. We are deeply grateful to the people who first showed up to support Mike and Loretta, some of whom are still actively involved in making pickleball a fun experience for everyone. The pickleball pioneers, who were also known as the Pickledillys, included Ron Nelson, Jean Durkee, Sharon McMichael, Bobbie Atwell, Leigh Maund, Maggie Ward, John Cox, Rob Bromley and Nelson Spitnale.
Our district ambassador, Mo Garcia, has worked tirelessly with the City to provide the initial 8 outdoor courts as well as the latest addition of the six outdoor courts at Virginia Acres Park. Thank you, Mo!