12/21/2016
San Diego Union­Tribune ­ North
Pickleball picks up new players
Sport’s first youth tournament in county held at Carlsbad
church
Richard Tanaka,14, (right) and Kyra Allison, 14, play pickleball at the Youth Pickleball
Tournament at St. Michael’s by­the­Sea Episcopal Church on Tuesday in Carlsbad. The
game is played with large paddles and a hard plastic ball (below). (Eduardo Contreras U­
T photos)
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12/21/2016
San Diego Union­Tribune ­ North
BY PHIL DIEHL
CARLSBAD
A Carlsbad group devoted to the sport of pickleball is pitching the game to a whole new
audience — teenagers — and enjoying new courts that opened earlier this year at St.
Michael’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church.
The group’s first-ever teen pickleball tournament was held Tuesday at the church, which
sits on an ocean-view lot at Carlsbad Boulevard. The crowd was small — about a dozen kids
— but the enthusiasm was big.
“It’s quick, I like that part,” said player Nash Youngren, 14, a student at Potter Middle
School in Fallbrook. “It’s a small court, where the ball comes back pretty fast.”
Most of the participants were middle and high school students from Oceanside, Carlsbad
and Fallbrook who began playing at the church last summer.
Adult pickleball competitions, usually among people of retirement age, have been held for
decades, but the teen competition was a first in San Diego County, said event organizer
Trudie Stapleton of the Carlsbad Pickleball Supporters Group.
“We had other youths that wanted to play, but I had to cut it off because there’s not enough
courts,” she said.
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Pickleball originated in the 1960s on Bainbridge Island, Wash., near Seattle. Often said to
be a combination of tennis and badminton, the game involves two or four players with large
paddles, hitting a hard plastic ball over a low net. According to some sources, such as the
USA Pickleball Association, it’s one of the fastest-growing sports in the country.
Stapleton has been a pickleball advocate for years, urging Carlsbad city officials to build
public courts at local parks.
Regular games are held on indoor courts at Calavera Hills Community Park, and the city
plans to build its first outdoor courts next year at Poinsettia Community Park. Public courts
are also available at Melba Bishop Park in Oceanside, Castle Creek Pickleball Club in
Escondido, the Bobby Riggs Tennis Club in Encinitas, and a few other places. Most charge a
fee of $2 to $5 for non-members to play.
St. Michael’s by-the-Sea opened its two pickleball courts in May, in large part thanks to a
$24,000 grant from the Carlsbad Charitable Foundation.
The idea for the church’s courts came from its neighbors at Carlsbad by the Sea Retirement
Community in 2013, said the Rev. Doran Stambaugh, church rector.
“They asked to play in the parking lot,” Stambaugh said.
The lot is largely vacant most weekdays, so the leaders agreed to allow the retirement home
to resurface the pavement, paint courts and set up temporary nets and fences for residents
to use several days a week. Before long, Stambaugh was playing pickleball with his
neighbors, and he was hooked.
“It’s crazy how competitive it gets,” Stambaugh said, adding that some of the retirement
home players are in their 80s.
Once he saw the demand, he said, the next step was to build separate courts on a small
vacant piece of the church property. Church leaders thought long and hard, and prayed,
before deciding that building the permanent courts would be the best use of the site.
“It’s a better use of the property,” Stambaugh said. “This patch was a straight-up homeless
camp when I got here. It was an attractive nuisance.”
Court use has snowballed since the facility opened in May, he said. These days the courts,
which are right beside the church sanctuary, are used from sun-up to dusk most days of the
week. They’re only off limits — because of the noise — during Sunday morning services and
during special events such as weddings and funerals.
“What’s really cool about this sport is it’s easy to learn,” said Beverly Youngren, a long-time
player and ambassador for the sport, whose grandson Nash started playing as a child.
“It doesn’t take much equipment, just a paddle and a small court,” she said.
She’s glad to see more young people in the sport, she said. And while older competitors are
often former tennis players looking for a sport that’s easier on the knees, young players
often go the other way. They become confident at pickleball and move on to tennis.
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“You can see the glimmer in their eyes, and they say, ‘I can do this,’ ” Youngren said.
Youngsters also learn life lessons on the court about things such as teamwork, how to take
instructions, and to make quick decisions, she said.
“I came here one time, and I fell in love with it,” said Paige Hansen, 12, a student at Aviara
Oaks Middle School in Carlsbad. “I used to do soccer, but this is a lot of fun because I can
use my arms.”
Her father, Jason Hansen, is a member of the Carlsbad Charitable Foundation and the city’s
Parks and Recreation Commission.
“I’m a huge advocate,” Hansen said. “I’m a golfer, but I have more fun playing pickleball
than I’ve ever had playing golf.”
The winners of Tuesday’s tournament were Richard Tanaka, gold; Nash Youngren, silver;
and Kyra Allison, bronze.
[email protected]
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