Station 31’s Kitchen
is
Heating Up!
BY PETER FISCHETTI
L
ike fire departments around the country, Station 31
of Panama City Beach, Florida, has a kitchen where
firefighters, who are known for their culinary skills,
prepare meals during their 24-hour shifts.
But Station 31, unlike most, has a second “kitchen”—this one
is part of a makeshift pickleball court outlined with gray tape.
It’s located in the garage under parked fire trucks, and is the
site of hard-fought matches among the 13 firefighters in the
battalion.
One of them is Joey Middlebrooks, 48, who has been with the
department since 2007. Tall and rangy, he plays volleyball so
well he’s been inducted into the Emerald Coast Volleyball Hall
of Fame. But pickleball?
“A couple of shifts were playing pickleball, so we decided to
check it out,” says Middlebrooks. “After one night of playing,
we were addicted.” While he and his buddies stay in good
shape and exercise regularly at a nearby gym, pickleball
proved a surprise. “In the beginning, we couldn’t walk the next
day. It’s a great workout, and works your body differently than
other exercises.”
Firefighters tend to be competitive,
and Station 31 is no exception. Pickleball has become so
popular there that the tape designating the kitchen and out-of-
bounds areas on the court replaced chalk to give it a sense of
permanence.
And then there are the tournaments. They started as double
elimination but during a recent one, firefighter Bobby
Demeester, who had already lost twice, insisted it should be
triple elimination. His buddies relented, and Bobby ended
up winning the tournament. Knowing I was arriving for this
article, Bobby proudly walked around the station house
wearing the winning belt with a big ”W,” which looked a bit like
the one Mike Tyson and other champs would wear. There, the
similarity ended!
Station 31’s court is roughly the size of a regulation
court, but the firefighters were not aware of some of the
rules. Fortunately, beach resident Bill Caravello created
floridapanhandlepickleball.org, which includes the rules.
Bill has been working with city officials to build more courts
in Panama City Beach, which boasts “the world’s most
beautiful beaches.”
JULY/AUGUST 2019 |
MAGAZINE
53