Regional matters
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KROC CENTER PLAYERS TEAM UP TO INVEST IN THEIR FACILITY
To say the Kroc Center in Camden, NJ, has an underserved population is an understatement. With an average income of $ 26,000, the inner city sports facility’ s demographic often struggles to come up with the $ 25 / month membership fee and even the $ 5 drop-in fee for non-members. But while money may be scarce, compassion and decency abound.
Recently, members donated a sports wheelchair— designed for speed and maneuverability— to one of the employees of the center, John Miranda, who has spina bifida and has been playing pickleball at the Kroc Center every Monday for the past three years.
The donation of the wheelchair, a $ 2,000 investment, was a huge gift for a facility where members don’ t typically have their own equipment and play with wooden paddles loaned to them during their visit. While many players drop in from outside of Camden, bringing their own equipment, the local demographic is always a priority, and gifts like the wheelchair show everyone’ s commitment to the community and the sport.
Denise Donald, USAPA District Ambassador for New Jersey-Eastern Pennsylvania, says John is an inspiration to the Kroc Center pickleball program and players enjoy seeing him improve his game.
“ John is technically playing at a 2.5 level, but played 3.0 in a tournament because no one else entered in the 2.5 level,” she notes.“ But he did get a medal. Outside of the tournament setting, he plays on the Kroc Center’ s beginner courts.”
And John isn’ t the only different-abled member the Kroc Center caters to. Another regular member with Down syndrome enjoys playing the game as much as anybody.
“ We’ re proving this is a sport anyone can play and enjoy, regardless of ability,” Donald says.“ Pickleball is truly open to all players.”
She adds that introducing pickleball to an inner city environment that serves everyone of every ability, where there is no viable tennis program to speak of, has been a huge success. The center’ s typical meetup size has grown to 36 people with a waiting list. Members will come in just because they see pickleball on the schedule. Other times, it’ s a group of teenage boys playing amongst themselves. Bottom line: the courts are always being used.
“ Pickleball is growing like crazy regionally,” Donald says,“ so our players change a lot. We’ re two minutes from Philly, and we’ ve seen eight venues start up since November— all pulling from the same group of 700 local players. They’ re building five more courts another town over. We need to teach teachers because townships keep calling for instructors. We only have three local ambassadors here and we’ re maxed out.”
For more information on the Kroc Center in Camden, or to sign up for one of its meetups, go to meetup. com / Kroc-Center-Pickle-Ball-Meetup online.
People on the Move
Karen Parrish Remember the Hollywood production of“ A League of Their Own” starring Tom Hanks, Madonna and Geena Davis, profiling women’ s professional baseball during World War II? Well, Karen Parrish lived and breathed it herself. For two years, Karen pitched and played first base for the Daytona Beach Sandsharks and the Lake County Tornados. Prior to playing hardball on the diamond, Karen played competitive slow-pitch softball and returned to the game after hurting her elbow playing pro ball. She recently retired as the USAPA Regional Director for the Atlantic South Region after serving in that post for four years. Now she oversees the Emerald Coast of Florida as a District Ambassador.
Karen is also involved in several tournaments throughout the area.
She is the Tournament Director for the Emerald Coast Pickleball Classic and Emerald Coast Pickleball Championships in the town of Destin, Florida. Her love of the sport of pickleball has taken her across this great country of ours, playing in numerous events where she enjoys making new friends and catching up with old ones. One of Karen’ s favorite
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