Living in the
Moment!
A GROWING INTEREST IN PICKLEBALL
AMONG VA COMMUNITIES IS HELPING
VETERANS RECONNECT WITH
THEMSELVES THROUGH A NEW SPORT.
s a Purple Heart and
Bronze Star veteran of the
Vietnam War, Frank Cali’s
no stranger to the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs health
care system, more commonly known as
the “VA.”
So when he was in the waiting room
during a visit in 2017, he noticed
a poster for an adaptive sports
program for disabled veterans. As an
avid pickleball player and certified
instructor, he thought it odd that the
poster didn’t include pickleball.
“They had bowling, archery, air pistols,
you name it, but not pickleball. There
was some contact information, so I
Veterans from the Phoneix Pickleball Program.
jotted it down,” he says. “I called and
told them, as an instructor, I’d be
With everything needed in hand, including a ball machine
willing to donate my time if the VA was interested. Johanna
donated by his doubles partner, Jay Kaplan, Cali was ready
Avilez, the Phoenix VA program coordinator, wanted to see
to teach.
what pickleball was about and we eventually got an ‘OK’ to
start a program in September 2017.”
His first 12-week clinic ran from January through March
2018. He started with a core of six to seven players, which
While it sounded easy enough, Cali had a lot of preliminary
grew to 11 to 13 players by the end of the run. A second
work to do—find a venue and equipment, and schedule
clinic was scheduled for the fall and the numbers continued
participants. “The challenge was finding a facility and
to grow as the session progressed. In January, he started
equipment. I belong to a pickleball club in the Scottsdale
with 16 to 18 players and those numbers grew to a max of
area, so I petitioned people in the club and cobbled together
24, proving that pickleball is a sustainable adaptive sport
10 paddles and 18 balls of donated equipment.”
program for the VA. “Working alongside the Marriott with a
Cali reached out to his pickleball mentor and USAPA board
growing program was wonderful,” Cali says.
president, Jack Thomas, who put him in touch with Brian
Soon, however, the original donated equipment began to
Thorfinnson, Director of Tennis & Pickleball at the Desert
break down. Again, serendipity blessed the program when
Ridge Marriott in Phoenix, a venue that has permanent
Cali was back home in Idaho, not far from Coeur d’Alene—
pickleball courts.
home of Selkirk Sports. He ran into some of the principals
“I called Brian and told him we had some disabled veterans
of the company, who stepped up and donated more than
who needed a place for a weekly program and he said, ‘Tell
three dozen paddles to the cause.
me how much court time you need, when and how many
Cali may have gotten the ball rolling for this program,
players you have.’ It was amazing to me how they just
but he’s quick to stress that it’s the veterans and
opened it up for us like that.”
“THIS IS A GROUP OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO GAVE A LOT FOR OUR COUNTRY. A
SIGNIFICANT BENEFIT I’VE OBSERVED IS THE CONFIDENCE IN THEMSELVES AND
THEIR ABILITY TO STEP AWAY FROM THEIR MILITARY EXPERIENCE AND BE IN
THE HERE-AND-NOW, ENJOYING THE PRESENT MOMENT.”
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