News-Fountain Hills Pickleball

News

October 19: The Fountain Hills Pickleball Club saw some action on Monday evening. Seven teams of men held an "in-house tournament" of Fountain Hills members. The pace was fast and furious and through a process of double elimination, the two teams left standing were Don Holdren, Craig Spungen, Cody Smith and Jason Yoder. Don and Craig emerged as the winning team. In attendance were several club members who cheered for all players. The celebration continued off the court in a local brewery.

Exciting News! Fountain Hills Parks and Recreation completed the addition of three new semi-permanent courts on the Fountain Hills High School Campus. The work took place over the past few weeks, with contractors and staff working to complete the new courts for a Labor Day Weekend opening. The new Palisades Courts East will be available from 3 p.m. until sunset on weekdays and from 6 a.m. to sunset on weekends for pickleball enthusiasts. The new courts feature a storage box for equipment and a bulletin board for posting pickleball news by Fountain Hills Parks and Recreation and the Fountain Hills Pickleball Club.

In other news, the Fountain Hills Unified School District issued a Memorandum of Understanding that allows for extended hours of play at the existing courts. The Palisades Courts West will now be available from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Pickleball players are asked to park in the south parking lot at Golden Eagle Park, as the driveway in front of the courts is a designated drop-off zone and fire lane. The change allows the public to play pickleball during school hours, so please adhere to the facility and parking rules so this privilege is not revoked.

The addition of the three new semi-permanent courts increases available hours of use on weekdays from an average of 35 hours to an average of 95 hours, and increases available hours of use on weekends from an average of 32 hours to an average of 56 hours; an overall increase of over 125% more availability each week. The Fountain Hills Parks and Recreation Department would like to thank Tim Leedy, Assistant Superintendent, and the Fountain Hills Unified School District for their cooperation in helping to provide pickleball facilities for Fountain Hills residents.

We now have a local vendor who sells pickleball equipment. Go Big Board Shop is located at the former Red Rock gas station at 11625 N. Saguaro Blvd. Phone: (480) 836-4448

Greg Woo has designed a rotation game plan for Saturday play. Please give him your support in trying out this plan.

Game Plan 4-4-2

When there are 4 or more on the waiting list, courts 1 & 2 will be designated 4 off the court when finished.
Court 3 will be a challenge court with the winners staying on the court and 2 challengers will face them. The winners will stay on until they lose or decide to change partners for the new game. Can play with any gender or combination.
There will be two waiting lists to replace the players leaving the courts. One list for 4 players for courts 1 & 2; the other list for court 3 to replace 2 players.
If a player's name is next on either list and chooses not to play, the player will add their name at the bottom of either list of the players just rotating off the courts. As players come to play don't see any problems with playing with the same foursome. Again, any combination of players.
As play dwindles on Saturday, you can set up your own matches.