PLAYER PROFILE
GEORGE AVERY
It’s Never Too Late to Pick Up a Paddle.
By Robin Haney
USAPA District Ambassador for Sacramento Valley
S
ometimes in life, lost
opportunities can
become second
chances. Here’s one
man’s story.
Tustin, California, resident George
Avery, a retired San Bernardino fire
chief, was also a very committed
tennis player for 30 years. Four
years ago, his tennis buddy,
Christine McGrath, invited him
to try a game called pickleball.
Being a very competitive player, he
dismissed the small game as silly
and a waste of his time.
Fast-forward to June 2019.
Recognizing that pickleball was an
up-and-coming sport, John Letts,
owner of iTennis clubs, asked
George, his director of tennis at
the time, to learn about pickleball,
introducing him to Teri Carter,
USAPA Certified Referee Trainer
and Coordinator. George and his
wife, Rena, went to Bonita Canyon
Park in Newport Beach to try it out.
Rena was a bit intimidated, but local
USAPA Ambassador Tony Bruno
made them feel very welcome
and turned their experience into
the beginning of an obsession for
the Averys.
Thanks to the incredible training
he received from 5.0 player and
coach Mike Fischer and pro player
Regina Franco, George himself
has gone from a 2.5 beginner
to a Head-sponsored player in
just four months and spends 4
to 5 hours daily playing. Teri has
54
been instrumental in
George’s growth in the
USAPA organization as
well, having introduced
him to high-level USAPA
members Don Paben and
Mark Peifer. These mentors
have enabled George to
rise meteorically on the
court, but also behind
the scenes.
George Avery
On a trip to a Las Vegas
tournament, Melissa
McCurley trained him
Carlton service at Walmart prices.”
in running the tournament desk,
His home club in La Habra has built
and George kept things running
eight permanent lighted outdoor
smoothly at the highly successful
courts, which—due to word of mouth
West Regional. He attributes a large
and the social media promotion
part of that tournament’s success
skills of his friends Aaron Donofrio,
to Referee Coordinators Sandy and
Chris Gunnell, and Wendy Wimer—
Terry Brown. He has also been
are at capacity.
tapped by West Region Director of
Of his snubbing of pickleball
Ambassadors Steve Sidwell to run
four years ago, George says, “I
the West Regional in 2020. George
could kick myself! Imagine where
is a one-month-new Ambassador
I’d be today.” He adds, “Pickleball
for La Habra, under DA Mike Stahl,
is all about community. It’s about
who says George has done more
knowing, laughing and playing
in a month than others have done
with people, and being able to
in a year.
be competitive yet supportive at the
As if he isn’t busy enough,
same time. It’s the polar opposite
under Mark’s mentoring, George
of my previous sports life. I won the
has completed the first level of
lottery!“
referee training, and is on track to
He feels blessed to have been
become a certified referee. Makes
thrown into the deep end of things,
you feel like a slacker, doesn’t it?
and to have been taken under the
George Avery is now the regional
wings of incredible people. The
director of pickleball for the new
sky’s the limit for this up-and-comer,
division at his club, called iPickle,
and pickleball will be the eventual
which provides numerous benefits
winner. •
for members. He calls it “Ritz-
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