August 6, 2023
Saving Sunrise
Do you remember early this year, when the City started a new contract to resurface tennis courts? They painted only one set of pickleball lines that incorporated the tennis net at Mission Hills Park and Milagro. (Disappointingly, this IS an option in the USA PB Manual, even though the tennis net is 2 inches too high). I presented at the Parks and Recreation Board meeting in March asking them to paint 2 pickleball courts per tennis, and went back in April for a reply. Our VP, Ben Avalos, spoke with the Park Maintenance Superintendent (EG) and pleaded our case.
The last word we heard was that the City had signed a contract to resurface several tennis courts, the contract specified only one set of pb lines at the tennis net. We asked if the contract could be modified but did not get an answer.
Thank you Raul Hernandez and Bonnie Little for letting us know work had begun on Sunrise - there have been a total of four pb courts for years (on two tennis). We contacted the City and are thrilled to announce they will keep the four court layout. They also said they have repair work at Mission Hills (near UTEP) and "if there is money in the budget" they will repaint from the one court painted in December, 2022, to the two pb court layout.
Way to go PB community!
"Vigilance! Constant vigilance!" (Mad Eye Moody, HP)
Sunrise is closed for repairs - no timeline. We will keep you updated.
Galatzan Back to School Event Big Success!
Pavo Real Day Changes
Traffic on Tuesdays and Thursdays was nil so they moved us to Mondays and Wednesdays. We keep the popular Thursday nights and Saturdays. If you hear of any changes to gym hours please email the club at pickleballEP@gmail.com and I will update the Where to Play information.
Beginner Clinics
Ben will be holding his First Friday of the Month Beginner's Clinics at Nolan beginning at 9:00 AM.
... and a Wednesday clinic in September at Galatzan beginning at 8:00 AM. Tell your friends!
From Ruidoso PB, a Topic That Comes Up ... Do I need to hit HARD to win?
Excerpts from an article they emailed (credit "CJ and Tony"):
A common question is: why would I want to play a soft game? Let's talk about the court itself and how its design dictates strategy.
The most important part of a pickleball court, by a country mile, is the Non-Volley Zone ...
The hard game completely ignores this part of the court – as if it weren’t there. Thus, playing just a hard game is a unidimensional approach to pickleball that foregoes this critical area of the court ...
The reason why the hard game – alone – appears to work at rec play is because there is a disparity in level between these players.
(Summary: the hard hitter is a higher level than his opponent OR the opponent has not developed a soft game.)
The fact that hard-hitting players are able to overpower other players at your local courts should not be seen as a vindication of the style of play.
Rather, it should be seen as the underdevelopment of the soft game among your local players. If those players ever learned the soft game, the weakness of a single-dimension, hard-hitting approach would be exposed.
One last point, the best players on the planet – the pros – all rely primarily on their soft games to win ...
UTEP Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)
from Ben Avalos
These catalogs used to be called "Continuing Education." Play will be open, with beginners lessons the first Tuesday of the month. PLEASE NOTE: The "pickleball club" that they say you must join is NOT Pickleball El Paso Association (PEPA). It is a different club affiliated with UTEP.
Play happy,
Jamie Fisher
President, Pickleball El Paso
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