Wes Gabrielsen Clinics

There are still spots in all of the clinic sessions that Wes will be teaching at our courts immediately after our tournament.

It’s hard to emphasize enough what an amazing opportunity this is. We all say we want to improve, but then we often prioritize playing games over working on our skills. This is your opportunity to change that — if you say you want to get better, this is your chance to learn from one of the best in the game, right here in La Pine. Sign up on Pickleball Planet’s website.

Calling all Captains!

There will be a mandatory captains' meeting May 26 at 12:00 at the Finley Butte courts. We’ll be doing a refresher on outdoor court responsibilities and what’s new or different this year. If you’ve been thinking about becoming a captain but haven’t yet, this is your opportunity. Let us know and so we can have you fill out the paperwork ahead of time.

If you are a captain, but can’t make it that day, please let us know ahead of time.

Summer Paddle Battles

For this summer, we’re trying out the following schedule for paddle battles:

• 4.0+ Paddle Battle: Mondays 5:00 pm - 7:30 pm; warm up starts 5:00, battle starts 5:30

• 3.0/3.5 Paddle Battle: Fridays 8:30 am - 11:00 am; warm up starts 8:30, battle starts 9:00

• 3.5/4.0 Paddle Battle: Saturdays 10:00 am - 12:30 pm; warm up starts 10:00, battle starts 10:30. Note that there will be some exceptions to which Saturdays we do this, such as occasional round robins or other club events.

If you haven’t ever played in a paddle battle, I encourage you to try one out. Ask someone to be your partner and then sign the two of you up. You can read more about how they work and the rules here. I like to think of them as a bit more competitive than open play, but lower stress than a tournament.

Frontier Days Volunteers

Thank you to those who have already signed up for volunteer spots for Frontier Days. There are still a lot of open spots, so please scroll ahead on Court Reserve to June 21-25 and sign up to help make our tournament a success. One of the reasons we want to get people signed up ahead of time is so that we can get your shirt size and make sure we have tournament volunteer shirts for you to wear.

League Play

After last year’s inaugural season of the Central Oregon Pickleball Players League (COPPL), we’re excited to get the 2023 season started this month.

In 2022 the league started with just a single division: Women’s 3.5/4.0. It was so successful that it has expanded this year to four divisions, and our club has teams playing in all of them: Men’s 3.5, Men’s 4.0, Women’s 3.5, and Women’s 4.0.

All of our teams open their season with home matches, the men on May 16 and the women on May 19. If you aren’t playing, you are welcome to come out and cheer on your fellow club members!

Outdoor Open Play Etiquette Reminder

As we move back outdoors, Open Play etiquette changes a bit from our indoor play, so we thought we’d provider a refresher for everyone. As it says on our website:

“During Open Play, members and visitors generally mix across courts and take turns playing with and against each other. Typically, once there are 4 players, play starts. After that, put your paddle in the holder at the court you want to play on to claim the next game. If all 4 players came onto the court together, the losing team leaves after the first game. Play no more than 2 games on a court before rotating off if other players are waiting.”

Open play means mixing is required on all courts, including the 4.0 courts for players at that skill level.  If a paddle is in the holder waiting for “next game”, please be considerate and rotate appropriately.

If you have a group you want to play exclusively with, please reserve a court for your group. You do need to arrive within 15 minutes of your court reservation, or else the court will be up for grabs for other players to use.

Thank you!

As you may have noticed, our outdoor courts have not fared too well over the winter, with many new cracks and expansions of old cracks. Huge thank you to Mike Patzer for leading the charge to get them repaired and to Randy Hart, Jim Gratreak, Carlos Soto, and George Shrum for helping him. The process is iterative, with crack filling, sanding, and eventually painting, so please be patient with them if they need to work on a court you were planning to play on.