Late October Pickleball Status Update

Greetings, Teton Valley Pickleball Players!  Thanks for your interest in pickleball.  As you know, the Fall Season  always brings about changes for those who call Teton Valley Home for a part of the year.  Many seasonal residents move to different locations.  Meanwhile, other more permanent residents travel far and wide during the Fall Season.

Dring the Fall Season Teton Valley Pickleball Volunteers are doing their best to keep pickleball up and running in The Valley.  Here is the current situation.

Outdoor pickleball ended October 30.

Pickleball will not be played on the original Driggs Elementary School courts until sometime next Spring 2018.  Since school is in session, District  Officials will allow pickleball there only after 5 PM each day.  As a result, daytime play was taking place at the two outdoor courts in the Huntsman Springs Public Park.  Tuesday & Thursday at 4 PM and Saturday at 10 AM.  That schedule will probably resume in the spring as weather conditions permit.

The Volunteer contact person is subject to change during the Fall Season. Please consult the USAPA "Places To Play" database for the most up-to-date contact information.  Arrangements have been made to play on one indoor court at the Alta Elementary School (15 School/SkiHill Road at 4:15 on Wednesdays.  Volunteers hope to gradually expand the Alta schedule when winter fully arrives.  Once again, checking with the Volunteer Contact is a wise thing to do.

OK, here is how to see the most up-to-date Volunteer Contact information.  First, go to this website:

https://www.usapa.org

There are lots of fun things to see on the USAPA website.  Howeveer, you are looking for the "Places To Play" link shown in the graphic below:

Once you have clicked on the "Places To Play" link, you will need to click "Places To Play" a second time and then you will see the screen shown below:

You will enter either Driggs or Alta into the search field shown by arrow.  Once you click "Search" you will see a drop down menu with the local options as shown below.

When you click on any of  the three listings, you are brought to the webpage that contains the data for each site.  Initially, you will only see the venue's name and the top of a map.  You must scroll down to find the information you're after.

The graphic below shows you the important sections of each listing: the contact name, phone and email, plus the comments section.  We will endeavor to keep the comments section as up-to-date as possible throughout the transition from fall to winter and then again from winter to spring.  (Note that the red box was added to showcase the comment section.  We sure hope this helps. Thanks for reading & Happy Pickleball!

Teton Valley Pickleball expands

Teton Valley Pickleball (TVP) volunteer organizer Dick Schaible announced that drop-in play has been expanded to three days each week.  Nets will be set up for play to begin at 6 PM every Monday and Thursday evening until the weather turns.  Meanwhile, 9 AM-Noon Play continues every Wednesday until September 13.  Two more courts will be striped in possibly as soon as July 20.

USAPA approved a $250 grant for more supplies and Pickleball Central has donated 8 paddles.

Victor player brings back medal to TVP

Dick S. is the instigator of Teton Valley Pickleball.  It's too long a story to tell here.  Today Dick and I played in the Southeast Idaho Senior Games in Pocatello's sparkling, sprawling new Mountain View Event Center.  Dick's wise and astute knowledge of pickleball overcame the blog author's youthful exuberance.  However, together, the duo brought a bronze medal back to The Teton Valley!

First TVP News Article

Teton Valley Pickleball received its very first news coverage on July 6th in the 108-year-old "Teton Valley News".  The fine article by Managing Editor Scott Stuntz appears on page A9 of the newspaper.   Stuntz did an outstanding piece of work distilling pickleball down to its fundamental essentials while also including links to TVP's online resources.  Stuntz provide several quotes from local TVP Organizer Dick S.  When you see Scott Stuntz out and about making his rounds in Teton Valley, give him a shout out and THANKS for his fine article.

Above is a scan of the article.

Teton Valley News Managing Editor, Scott Stuntz.

And, finally, here's the link to the Teton Valley News: http://www.tetonvalleynews.net/

TVP Organizers meet

 These five friendly Teton Valley folks are the organizers of Teton Valley Pickleball.  They are really putting their heart and spirit into getting pickleball established in that wonderful, wanderful valley West of The Tetons.  Top photo (l-r) Janine, Dick, Jim Marie and Rex.  Bottom photo (l-r) Jim Dick, Janine, Marie and Rex.

The group met July 6th to discuss plans for the valley's first public drop-in pickleball event 9-11 AM, July 12 at 481 N. Main St.  Lots of important topics were covered.  All five agreed that beginners will always be welcome and encouraged to learn hands-on aspects of the game.  Meanwhile, two regulation pickleball nets have been purchased at a cost of $169 each.

We are very proud of these five fine folks.  They represent loca, grass-roots volunteerism at its Best!

Thank You for your enthusiasm and energetic efforts on behalf of Teton Valley Pickleball!

TVP Photos from July 6

Teton Valley Pickleball organizers got together for a planning meeting Thursday, July 6th.  Of course,  a little pickleball was in order prior to the meeting.  We captured 220 images and chose a few to put into a Facebook album.  If you're not a member of the Teton Valley Pickleball Facebook group, you can't see that album.  So, we decided to also put the photos into a Flickr album that everyone can view.  Here's the link: https://flic.kr/s/aHskZJpEn1 

TVP Court Location

Teton Valley Pickleball (TVP) is located at 481 N. Main Street in Driggs, Idaho.  The GPS coordinates are 43.72959 -111.11070. Here are three graphics showing the location.  Comments below each graphic.

TVP is located in the 5th block north of Ski Hill Road which is the main intersection in Driggs.

TVP is located directly across Main Street from the Best Western.

Ample parking is available as indicated.  A well-maintained portable toilet is very nearby.