Pickleball Magazine 2-2 Courtesy of PickleballTournaments.com | Page 63

FROM THE USAPA
pickleball courts
in 2015 and is
leading the effort
for more courts
with the goal of
hosting the State
Senior Olympics in
2018. The largest
number of places
and players are in Rapid City and Sioux Falls. With a
population of less than 1 million, South Dakota offers the
Black Hills National Forest — Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy
Horse Memorial are must-stops.
North Dakota, with an even smaller population, still has
places to play—check USAPA.org’s list when you travel.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park lies in western North
Dakota, where the Great Plains meet the rugged Badlands.
We recently lost our District Ambassador and are seeking
volunteers!
Farther north, the region includes the Canadian
provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The population
of Saskatchewan is 1 million-plus with an area of 250
million square miles. Regina, the provincial capital, houses
the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, which features the
natural history of the First Nations peoples.
To the east, Manitoba borders Hudson
Bay, a destination for wildlife adventures,
including polar bear viewing. Similar to its
western neighbor in terms of population
and land area, Manitoba covers 21 pickleball
places to play around the provincial capital
of Winnipeg. Two must-visits there are
the Wildlife Sanctuary and the Manitoba
Museum.
Moving south, Wyoming, the least
populated state in the Union, concentrates
its places to play mostly along I-25 in
Cheyenne, Casper and Sheridan. Star
Valley Ranch RV Resort, south of Jackson Hole and the
Grand Tetons National Park, is a hotbed of pickleball in
the state. Wyoming, with a population of only 590,000,
offers premier sites for the traveler with Yellowstone
and Grand Tetons National Parks, and Devils Tower,
the very first National Monument. Arlie Johnson, the
District Ambassador, works to host monthly tournaments
throughout the state.
Heading west to Montana, there are 23 places to play
and 720 players. Karen and Dwight Spaulding and Zoey
and Barry Silverman are the District Ambassadors who
have grown pickleball exponentially. Places are along major
highways, including Bozeman, Helena and Great Falls,
with five in the area of Flathead National Forest. Special
notes for the homes of Vance and Donna Christiansen
in Whitefish and Zoey and Barry Silverman in Big Sky
— these couples have built pickleball courts on their
properties and welcome players as space is available. Also,
Montana offers the world-famous Glacier National Park
and the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument,
site of Custer’s last stand. The National Bison Range,
established in 1908, houses the largest remaining herd of
American Bison.
Colorado, the last Great Plains Region state we cover,
is the center of gravity for pickleball in our region. With
a population of 5.5 million, 152 places to play and over
6,000 players, it hosts the annual USAPA Great Plains
Regional Tournament in Colorado Springs, Olympic City,
USA. Pikes Peak Pickleball Association, the largest club in
the region, provides volunteers to host this annual event,
which had 342 players from 24 states, Mexico and Canada
in 2016.
Denver, 70 miles north, hosts the annual Tournament
of Heroes to raise funds for Traumatic Brain Injury – over
$70,000 in 2016 at the 24-court Apex complex. Chris
Beal, one of our local Ambassadors, reports that Denver
has grown from one place to play 11 years
ago to over 70 in the city and surrounding
area. She notes that many centers now have
paid staff that focus on pickleball and the
player population is well over 3,000. Her
observation about the sport is one that we
can all agree with, "A sport for all reasons,
all people, and all ages."
In the Western Slope and Summit area,
pickleball can be combined with skiing,
biking, fishing, kayaking and golf. Mike
Leathersby, Ambassador in the city of
Glenwood Springs, hosts the Battle of the
Paddle.
District Ambassadors Cindy Marino (Western Slope),
James Main (Summit Area), Mary Lou Gallup and Jay
Readinger (Ft. Collins), Ken Marquet (Denver) and Nancy
Steffy (Southern Colorado) help grow the sport and places
to play.
The USAPA Great Plains Region nonprofit 501(c)(3)
organization was formed last year to support regional
pickleball development. This summer several “Train
the Trainers” clinics to cover refereeing, ratings, skill,
drills and tournament tips will be held for our region's
Ambassadors. Lots of great play will be included.
So come visit this expansive region! •
MARCH/APRIL 2017 |
MAGAZINE
61