EHS Students Take On EPC Masters
Over the last two weeks 21 Evergreen High School students and their instructor, Beau Brake, visited Wulf Rec Center to challenge the true seniors. Andy Clark, Owen Ellis, Monte Estis, Eric Meyer, Marcia Larson, John Dunlop, Corrinne Jackson, Sarah German, Linda Jacobsen, and Jeri Herskovits coached and played the teenagers in games to 3, sometimes 5. No surprise, the only EPC members to go undefeated were Owen and Monty.
This group of students is the best we’ve played in the six years pickleball has been taught at EHS. If you remember, over the years EPC members have donated 33 paddles, a couple dozen balls and, with a USA Pickleball grant, three portable nets to the PE program. Beau has developed a solid pickleball instruction program, including a school-wide Spring tournament. We invited the students to come play with us anytime.
Look what we started.
Time to Replace EPC Club Paddles at EHS; Make Your Donation Now
New EPC Club Paddle for EHS PE Program
After six years of use by strong, overly competitive high school athletes, many of the EHS paddles have been rendered almost unplayable: loose handles; cracked, delaminating edges and dead spots.
So, EPC is asking for your $35 donation for a new Paddletek Club paddle. We hope to get 25 donors to replace most of the old paddles in the next week or so. With your donation you can have your message to EHS students inscribed on the paddle face.
Make your donation now.
Western Slope Gearing Up for Explosive Pickleball Growth
Craig City Park
A former Craig, CO Parks and Recreation director, Terry L. Doherty makes the case for more public courts to accommodate “a burgeoning number of pickleball players” and attract visitors to the small town west of Steamboat Springs.
In a recent letter to the editor of the Craig Press, Doherty points to the explosion of pickleball facilities in nearby communities. “Steamboat Springs is putting in a multi-million dollar facility to accommodate demand; Grand Junction will begin construction on 12 additional courts (adjacent to the current facilities) in 2023; two Grand Junction country clubs are working toward accommodating pickleball play; every Western Slope recreation center is at full capacity when pickleball play is offered (with 10-30 people waiting to rotate in),” he writes.
“If Craig and Moffat County truly want to put themselves on a map and increase visitation, then building state-of-the-art pickleball courts will do it.“
We couldn’t agree more. That’s why EPC is advocating with EPRD for additional indoor courts and expansion of the courts at Marshdale to accommodate the 700-800 players in the area. Also, if we were to have a first-class facility we could host regional tournaments and draw 300-500 visitors for a three-day event.
Check out the facility the pickleball club in Eugene, OR established a foundation to build. We’d like to see such a venue here in Evergreen.
Make Your Contribution to the EPC Newsletter
We need contributors to the EPC newsletter. Writers, photographers, gossips. Be the eyes and ears of mountain area pickleball players. This is the evening news, the TMZ, the front porch of all that’s pickleball in Evergreen.
If you’d like to create content, tell stories or keep us informed email Bob Taber. Immediate opening, no pay, no vacation time, but lots of fun.