{"id":682,"date":"2018-09-18T15:05:26","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T19:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/recsports\/?p=682"},"modified":"2024-10-08T10:31:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T14:31:50","slug":"pickleball-for-fun-a-highlight-of-our-pickleball-workshop-and-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/recsports\/2018\/09\/pickleball-for-fun-a-highlight-of-our-pickleball-workshop-and-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"Pickleball For Fun!\u00a0 A Highlight of our Pickleball Workshop and Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States and Miami University is trying to keep up with the trends.\u00a0 Miami Recreation and Employee Wellness teamed up this summer to offer a Pickleball Workshop on Monday\u2019s and Friday\u2019s for our faculty, staff, and retirees.\u00a0 We had an outstanding turnout and we are so thankful for Celine Walton with Employee Wellness for setting it up.\u00a0 We also couldn\u2019t have been successful without our tremendous instructors, Tony S., Kathy S., Joanne W., Jim B., and David K.<\/p>\n

\"Pickleball<\/p>\n

On September 12th<\/sup> we also had the pleasure to host the Oxford 2018 Masters Pickleball Tournament.\u00a0 We had over 20 participants come out to compete in the tournament for fun and a big congratulations to the winners, Chris A., Tom K., Joyce H., and Joanne W.\u00a0 This was a great collaboration with our community and we enjoy hosting a portion of their Masters Games each year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We reached out to Tony Shepherd, one of our pickleball instructors, dedicated members, and the author of the weekly pickleball newsletter.\u00a0 He has been playing pickleball on a regular basis since 2014 in Richmond, Indiana.\u00a0 Prior to his retirement, Tony secured a $100,000 grant from the State of Indiana Division on Aging\u00a0in 2011.\u00a0 He used the grant to build pickleball courts in five communities in east central Indiana to promote health and fitness in an innovative way among older adults.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Tony retired in 2016 with over 40 years of experience in executive administration and the last 28 years were spent at Indiana University.\u00a0 He found the Miami Recreation website had indoor pickleball listed and was played most mornings.\u00a0 He immediately secured a membership and started participating regularly.\u00a0 Tony found that although there were few players at that time, they were friendly and welcoming.\u00a0 A list of interested individuals was developed from Oxford, east-central Indiana and surrounding communities and he began to send his weekly pickleball newsletter.\u00a0 He also created the Facebook page \u201cPickleball for fun and fitness<\/a>\u201d so everyone could stay connected and engage further interest.\u00a0 \u201cWith the wonderful assistance of the Rec Center management, we also began to offer clinics for new Players.\u00a0 These joint efforts have resulted in an \u2018explosion\u2019 in the number of players,\u201d says Tony.<\/p>\n

What has pickleball meant to you or changed your life?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPickleball has significantly improved my overall physical fitness health and social wellbeing. Specifically, my doctor visits show a reduced Blood Pressure rate, lower resting heart rate, weight loss with improved strength, balance and endurance. The individuals who play pickleball at the
\nRec. Center are great to be around and all very helpful and supportive to new players. Pickleball is a multi-generational sport and it is a bonus when some MU students, children and grandchildren join us for play.\u201d<\/p>\n

What would you recommend to someone who is interested in picking up the sport of pickleball?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are interested in playing pickleball at the Rec Center you can usually come on any morning Monday through Friday from 9:30 to 11:30 and\/or attend a pickleball clinic.\u00a0 Paddles and balls are furnished so all you need are “gym shoes” and an interest in fun and fitness.\u00a0 We also have weekly information on our Facebook page.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you have anything else you would like to mention about pickleball or your experience here at Miami Rec sports?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Miami Recreation Sports Center is \u2018state of the art\u2019 for fitness and the best venue in this region for playing pickleball year round, however, the best of all is the welcoming atmosphere exhibited by the
\nfriendly staff, administration, and pickleball players:\u00a0 You do meet the nicest people playing pickleball!”<\/p>\n

We want to sincerely thank all of the help of our instructors, Celine Walton, and the Employee and Wellness Staff and everyone who came out to the Pickleball Workshops this summer and a big congratulations to all of the competitors in the Oxford 2018 Masters Games.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

By Beth Keith,\u00a0Customer & Facility Services Assistant Director<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States and Miami University is trying to keep up with the trends.\u00a0 Miami Recreation and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2263,"featured_media":685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rec-center","category-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/recsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/recsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/recsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/recsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/recsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/recsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/recsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/recsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/recsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/recsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}