There is an article about local pickleball origins, health benefits, etc. on page 12 in this week's flagpole magazine. Click here to read the story.
 Congratulations to Tom Senyitko for achieving LEVEL II CPTP as a Certified Pickleball Teaching Professional via IPTPA.COM, International Pickleball Teaching Professional Association. Tom is a member of the Athens Area Pickleball Association and has contacted Steve Argo, director of Leisure Services, to get contractual approval by the County to be able to offer training to our 400+ players in the Athen's area through Leisure Services. He is currently available out of county for individual training and in county for Pickleball workshops. LEVEL II CPTP is the highest level of certification for a Pickleball Trainer that is recognized internationally.
 Pickleballers Roy Carroll, Bill Lee, and Kathy Smith present Clarke Middle principal, Tad Macmillion, a check for $1000 from contributions of summer players.
 Thanks to the money made at the Pickled Peach Valentine Classic these past two years, the Association wanted to help a few local charities with gifts of $800 each. Pictured above from left to right is Nelda VanShoick presenting to Joan Prittie of Project safe, Roy Carroll presenting to Rory Mathisen of Mercy Health Center, and Larry King presenting to Stacey Purdue of Interfaith Hospitality Network. Once again your hard work has helped make a difference in our community.
 The first annual FUNraiser Round Robin Tournament is on the calender for May 19 at Lay Park. This year’s proceeds will benefit the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program in our area. A suggested donation is $31 which is tax deductable and will give one child an age-appropriate book each month for a year. 60 players means 60 children get book a book each month over the next 12 months.
There will be 5-6 people in each group so get your friends and sign up with you. Click here for a pdf application form to join this event and let Nelda know that you’ll be playing. Can’t play but still want to donate? Contact Nelda VanSchoick 705-201-3313. Or mail a check made out to DPIL to Nelda at 1001 Hammond Creek Trail, Watkinsville, GA 30677. EDIT: Photos of the event on the Gallery Page. EDIT 2: $2551 HAS BEEN RAISED TO DATE!! CONGRATULATIONS AND THANK YOU.   For the second year, we've teamed up with the UGA Athletic Association to promote and play pickleball with the UGA women's tennis team. We hope you can come to play pickleball and watch the final home match against Mizzou on Saturday, April 14th. We'll start playing at 9:30 am, stop to cheer on the tennis team at 11 am, and play even more pickleball after the match ends. The Athletic Association will provide free pizza and t-shirts during the tennis match. Before and after watching tennis, we'll play on at least eight pickleball courts. Please reply here (jamiecalkin@gmail.com or schmidtm@uga.edu) if you are interested in coming and/or have any questions.  One of our goals for the tournament was to donate to local charities that aid those living in the greater ACC area. We asked the AAPA board and the tournament steering committee to come up with a list to chose from. Not wanting to spread the donations too thin, we deciced to divide it among three organizations that do great work in our community. Project Safe, Interfaith Hospitality Network of Athens, and Mercy Health Center will each recieve $800. Once again, thank you to all who worked so hard on the tournament which made this possible.
Update - April, 27, 2018: Dear Pickleball Friends, I work at the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Athens (IHNA) and want to express our sincere thanks for your generous $800 donation! Our organization supports homeless families, housing them in faith congregation buildings and providing wrap around support services. 80-85% of our families find jobs and permanent housing and get back on their feet. There are many working poor who provided a three month cushion of support can regain stable lives. Did you know that Athens Clarke County is one of the poorest in the country? IHN is a national organization. It is not a religious organization but has faith congregation partners. In Athens we have 38 congregations in our network and over 1000 volunteers. This includes Islamic, Christian, Jewish, Mormon, Unitarian, Christian Science, Quaker and other traditions. It’s a beautiful example of a diverse group of people serving together to make a difference! Thank you again for your contribution to support homeless families in Athens. Stacy Pardue  AAPA members Larry King and Bill Lee present Lay Park representative Melody a check for $250 to help with kids programs.
 AAPA members Tom Senyitko, Larry King, Craig Rudow, and Bill Lee present East Side Community Center representative Desmond Watkins a check for $250 to help with kids programs.
36 Athens area players participated which made up 18% of all players. 43 of the medals (20%) went to Athens area players. Congratulations too all. 
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Athens PickleballRoy Carroll 
“Two years ago at an annual physical, my physician asked me what I was doing differently. I told him I could only think of one thing… |
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