USA Pickleball North Florida District 2023 V1

Florida North District

RULE CHANGES FOR 2023

The One-Handed Spin Serve is Out

The one-handed spin serve is now prohibited The server shall not impart manipulation or spin on the release of the ball immediately prior to the serve This applies to both the volley and drop serves

Replay for Violation of the Service Motion or Ball Release Rules

During specific tournaments this new replay rule must be called by the referee or the receiver The replay must be called before the return of serve

Wrong Score Called

If the server or referee calls the wrong score, then any player may stop play at any time before the return of serve to correct the score

Do Not Wear Distracting Clothing Colors

The sportsmanship guideline, pickleball players should “avoid wearing clothing that closely matches the ball color Avoid brightly yellow colors on the pickleball court!

Equipment Time-Outs

A referee can award an equipment time-out for any necessary equipment adjustment or replacement, so players are not forced to use their precious time-outs

Here is the link to the Official Rulebook to keep up to date on all rules https://usapickleball org/what-is-pickleball/official-rules/

The USA Pickleball website www.places2play.org/is a great resource for locating places to play pickleball. USA Pickleball encourages players to continually update the database with the latest information about places to play pickleball We encourage you to visit the website or download the app to find the courts nearest to your location. Use the provided Search box to search by city, state, zip code or location name. You can also search geographically by clicking the Map link. Click on “Add Place” to help USA Pickleball keep this resource up to date!

THE BUZZ ON PICKLEBALL

The New B

If you think abo

• Take Your Tim

• Strategically P

• Disadvantage the Opposition

The answer is…the Serve. The serve for much of the history of the sport was simply intended to start play However, as the sport continues to evolve, the serve has become the first among equals in helping make the game even more competitive It also is making many players reevaluate how they serve to the extent that this creates a unique disadvantage to whomever you’re playing against Taking the time to really premeditate the serve gives you an advantage as it disadvantages your opponent right from the start of play Strategically placing the serve immediately puts your competition out of balance and sets you up for an even better third shot

Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen different serves come and go; the chainsaw, spin-serve, and other manipulations In this new year, it would seem that the serve has again fallen into its previous identity of being something to just start the game But, nothing could be further from the truth

The way you make the serve meaningful is always about practice Going out on the court with some low-profile cones as targets helps you refine placement of the serve. Whether you’re playing against a lefty, or right-handed player. Practicing the serve is also an exercise you can do alone, working on placement in the corners, or backline, or even a soft-serve landing just past the kitchen line (or NVZ). But to consistently control your serve, you have to practice Also, there are a number of serves you can legally utilize to keep your opponents guessing; the lob, side-line serves, back-line serves, and yes spinserves The spin serve is still a legal serve under the newest rules, it just can’t be done using anything but the surface of the paddle With many of the paddles having surfaces capable of creating all sorts of spinning and manipulation, it’s just a matter of learning new ways to utilize this capability Hitting the ball with under-spin, over-spin, or slice, make the serve difficult to return as it’s flight, path, and landing, can be unpredictable or just flat-out difficult But, again, you will need to experiment during practice to learn how to do this.

Lastly, if you do get good at one particular serve, don’t lean to hard on it during a game as it can become predictable and thus ineffective. Mix up your serves to keep your opponents guessing including the speed of the serve. In other words, to have an effective serve you don’t have to crush the ball, soft off-speed serves are very effective as they have the app f b i i k h change-up the cadence of the game and throw-off many It’s your service make it count!

About BuzzBuzz Wood is a video podcaster, pickleball coach, playe who is constantly involved in helping grow and evolve t Catch Buzz on his YouTube channel “Pickleball BUZZ” https://www.YouTube.com/@pickleballbuzz for more about the people, products and players that m Pickleball the fastest growing sport in America!

HIGHLIGHTS

PICKLEBALL COMMUNITY SUPPORTING EACHOTHER

Richie is an 18 year old who lives on his own, has an AA degree he got while he was in high school, work’s construction to pay rent and has his own car.

He was playing at Pictona with holes in his shoes. He had to borrow used shoes to finish his day. Johnnie Shields posted about it asking for some used 10.5 shoes and the responses were amazing.

He plans to become certified to teach Pickleball. Some of the gifts helped set him up for becoming a coach. The community show of support for this young man is heartwarming.

PICKLEBALL CHANGES LIVES

Pickleball definitely has changed my life I moved here right before covid We were able to play through the pandemic and I gained a lot of friends I love playing at Ron Parker mainly because there's so many wonderful people with very supportive attitudes and even though it's competitive is fun But probably the biggest thing was that even at 73, I could still participate in this sport and do well As a yoga and pilates instructor I realized to play well, move around the court, and continue to play without injury, it was important to create a yoga and pilates routine that support pickleball

Naomi - Ron Parker Player

Johnnie Shields - Saint John's

Ambassador Jimmi Symonds has been working hard to bring Pickleball to Putnam County schools They recently started a program in Crescent City High School What a great joy to see young people being active and social Way to go Saint John's River Pickleball Group!

Jimmi Symonds - Putnam

DINK AND DINE

Successful Dink and Dine we had for Christmas We had a great turnout with 43 players We even had two Ambassadors from Ocala join us, Hohn Hunt and Artie Alwine. I raffled off several Pickleball items and we enjoyed good food and great people.

Mary Rossow - Alachua

FOOD 4 KIDS

Gainesville Pickleball Club also had another great food donation for our Christmas Food4Kids food drive. We beat our record from last year with a total of 573 pounds of food collected from Hal Brady, Jonesville, MLK and Northside Pickleball locations.

Mary Rossow - Alachua

LADDER LEAGUE

We finished the Fall season CoEd Advanced ladder at Treaty Park in December. It was held each Sunday for 10 weeks. Format for the ladder was rotating partner round robin for group of 4 or 5 players based on their rankings. Each week on average about 16 players (4 total courts) participated. The ladder was sponsored by Jacksonville's local pickleball store, Jax Pickleball Store, owned by Andy Zarka. The top 3 leaders in ladder were given gift cards from Jax Pickleball Store. Congratulations to the top 3 Sebastian Kirmse, George Gamboa and Divyesh Ravichandran.

Final tournament was held in 2nd week of December with MLP style draft chosen by top 4 players as captains This was a team event and each team played with other teams, total 4 games If the case of a tie-breaker they played to 15 points with rally scoring and rotating partners at each 2 points Sebastian's team won the team event with 4 players awarded gift cards from Jax Pickleball store

GROWING THE SPORT

The City of Gainesville is again hosting three community workshops on the city’s parks and recreation Feedback from the workshops will be used to update the master plan, so our main focus is recruiting as many pickleball players as we can to attend the workshops in support of more dedicated courts We are also preparing as much material as we can in preparation for our tion to the City Commissioners ry on the need for more d courts Most of our venues lowing with players, so we are h in need of more dedicated

- Alachua

ssow

Jignesh Shah - Duval

Ambassador Spotlight

Pam Pickleball Hatch • Saint Johns

I’ve been an avid tennis player since 2009. I’ve captained many level A, B, and C teams and chaired the InterClub Tennis League board. In 2018, I tore my ACL during a tennis match. When you play competitive sports and are sidelined with an injury, you start getting antsy watching everyone play when you cannot. The next year, I was approached by a friend who told me her hubby played Pickleball at a local church. There was a beginner instruction class on the upcoming Monday. I thought about it and decided to give it a go. Luckily, the transition was pretty easy, but I had so much to learn! Looking back, I had no idea what this little introduction to Pickleball would create and how competitive Pickleball could be! The church group was fun, but as I started to learn more and more about the sport, I had to hunt down more places to play. I traveled in upwards of 45 miles every weekend to play with different people just to hone my skills. I eventually got my hubby to start playing so he would go with me to different venues. I also taught my two boys, Carson (27) and Andrew (25) so they now play with me! Now that we all were hooked, I worked in tandem with the Duval County Parks and Rec to get public tennis courts lined with PB lines so I could concentrate on my local area. I taught many friends and neighbors on those courts! We moved to St. Augustine from Jacksonville in October 2020 and I earned my PPR Certification in July 2021. Now I teach many communities in NE Florida who are building courts in their area an introduction to Pickleball! I also volunteer at local tournaments, I run a beginner clinic on Monday mornings at our public park to help beginners learn the game and work on their technique. I help out the ActiveOver50 program with their Intro to Pickleball section. I also facilitate Round Robins with like levels and co-facilitate League play in the St. Augustine area. I would love to see Flex Leagues start up in our area where singles and doubles create their own twosome or foursome on their own time, document their scores in a central database, and have a playoff of levels. I would like to work towards helping schools foster their PB programs. Watching people thrive in their life and having a purpose through Pickleball brings me much joy! I can’t wait to see what is in store for Pickleball in the upcoming years. It’s a good time to be a Pickler!

UPCOMING EVENTS

January 13-16

Lake City Winter Blast 2023| Lake City, Fl

Come play in Lake City's 6th annual Winter Blast Tournament! Early bird pricing starts 11/5/22 and ends 11/15/22! Register at Pickleballbrackets com

January 14th

Turtle Shores Community, Ponte Vedra

Pam Hatch will be hosting a Pickleball Intro to the Turtle Shores community in Ponte Vedra Thanks to Go Pro Tennis and Pickleball, she will have plenty of paddles for players to demo Pam Hatch • Saint Johns County Ambassador • phatch5000@yahoo com

January 28-29

The Hope Cup | Ponte Vedra Beach, Fl

CHARITY PICKLEBALL TOURNAMENT to benefit THE VILLAGES OF HOPE Player lounge available with breakfast, snacks and drinks Spectators welcomed and encouraged! Food trucks and silent auction on site

VILLAGES OF HOPE

Our Vision is to provide a safe place for women to live, to connect with a community of care, and experience unconditional love

Our Mission is to be a sanctuary, a place of refuge, healing, and restoration for women seeking a life free from trafficking, sexual exploitation, and addiction Register at Pickleballbrackets com

February 4-5

Rookie Rally Round Robin | Pictona, Holly Hill

Player's age as of: 12/31/23

Minimum Age of Player: 8

Final Registration Deadline: 01/28/23

Tournament Sanctioning: Not Sanctioned Registration - $50 00 Register at Pickleballtournaments.com

February 8-12

APP Daytona Beach Open - Golden Ticket Qualifier for Amateurs and Pros Pictona, Holly Hill

Tournament Sanctioning: Sanctioned - MMP Register at Pickleballtournaments com

February 24-26

Pickleball Veritas in the Ancient City | Treaty Park, Saint Augustine, Fl

Registration Dates Register at Pickleballtournaments com

Open: 11/27/22 Closed: 02/13/23

Note: Tournament has a no refund policy Tournament Sanctioning: Not Sanctioned Registration - $50 00

Early Registration - Deadline: 01/28/23 - $40.00

North

Michelle Mallard