December 9, 2023
The Wayne Thornton Community Center at Grandview Park, at 3134 Jefferson (off of Alabama, near McKelligon Canyon), will have its opening ceremony next Friday, December 15, at 10 AM. Please come. A large pickleball community turnount would show the director how much demand there is for court time. At this time, only Galatzan gives us court time on Monday, Wednesday AND Friday, and it is crowded every one of those days with a line out the door when they open. There are nine gyms that give us Tuesday, Thursday or both. We need more MWF.
We are thrilled to be adding to our pickleball facilities in El Paso!
Galatzan Skills Challenge and Duo Tournament
Thank you Galatzan for your solid support! We have been given play time every weekday, Monday - Friday, the most of any gym.
Membership Renewal Time!
It has been a good year for Pickleball El Paso.
We held our World Cup Round Robin event last February. Thank you Kelly, Patty and your crew.
We made a lasting impression on City Council with a 30 member turnout for Call to the Public in April. It is important that we stay visible with the City, and this trip led to getting the spikes at Chamizal outdoor to deter those pesky pigeons (so disappointing the light fixtures were not also spiked - I must admit I did not think of that either).
We helped the City host the first Police Games in 40 years AND the first to offer pickleball.
We saw the futsal/pickleball courts dedicated at Ascarate.
Ben hosted more clinics than can be counted.
Taking care of our military, Sandy ran a couple of campaigns to send pickleball supplies to our troops overseas and ran pickleball clinics for them. Patty organized a food drive and with member participation moved furniture for veterans.
We saw Nolan Richardson facility opened with THREE sets of pickleball lines (first rendition had only two).
Grandview Recreation Center, opening Friday, December 15, will offer three indoor pickleball courts instead of the older floor pattern of two.
Pat O'Rouke, in downtown El Paso, will be offering two pickleball courts soon - we will keep you posted.
We are able to do this because of the support we get from our members, so please renew now and have your membership active for 13 months, through December 31, 2024.
Still $17, click here.
We continue to press for a dedicated pickleball facility and for evening hours for our working players - there is a lot of competition with gym rentals, but we have been able to get more Saturday events.
Events
Our Homepage is constantly updated with new events. There will be two beginner clinics the first week of January, a good time for teachers and anybody else still on vacation. Please let your beginner friends know.
San Juan Toy Drive Tournament
I am standing with Omar Ponce, the new Director of Programming for San Juan Recreation Center. An older building newly reopened, it adds to our pickleball facilities in El Paso, located near I-10 and Paisano. Omar came over from Chamizal. Please introduce yourself to him when you see him and tell him how much you appreciate gym time for pickleball. This gym is also one of the few to offer a boxing ring and equipment, if that is another sport you participate in.
County Survey - Let Your Voice Be Heard!
Thank you Pete Melendez for bringing this to our attention.
Some of you will recognize the format of this survey - same as last year and it does not take long to complete, so please advocate for pickleball.
Last year some members were confused about "county resident."Â Â If you live in the City, you are a county resident. Anyone residing from Van Horn to the New Mexico State Line is a county resident.
If you don't like to read, here is a cheat sheet:
There are approximately 5 pages of information about County responsibilities (be sure to mark county resident or business owner, whichever applies). The first big question is how to prioritize. Parks and Recreation is in the tourism box. Â There is a "split the dollar" part to allocate money. I increased Parks and Rec from 2.22 to 4.5 and took it off of a few of the larger categories.
Please do the survey.  This is why we organize - to be heard, and to get facilities. If you would like to share what you wrote in freeform please post it on our Facebook page or send me an email and I will include some of them in the next newsletter. The survey deadline is January 12, 2024.
Play happy,
Jamie Fisher
President, Pickleball El Paso