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Chesterfield Pickleball News - June
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- Pickleball Court Updates
- New League Commissioners
- Calendar
- Donate Paddles for Youth
- PCCC Apparel – Order Now
- Wrap ups from Our League Coordinators
Pickleball Court Updates
CTC - The new permanent canopy will be installed around the last week of June if the weather holds. The interior walkway will need to be closed for several days so that the new concrete, which will support the pillars, can cure properly. Gates will be locked so players will use the outside gates. If your ball lands in the center area, please leave it there until the gates are unlocked. Hopefully, they will fix those gates to open properly at the same time. It may be better to use courts 1, 2, 3,10,11, 12 to ensure that doesn't happen. Several net issues have been reported and, in some cases, "jury rigged" to allow them to work until replaced.
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Harry Daniel (HD) - As many of you know, the lights have been out at HD for several nights. At first, it was due to the rain and wind tripping a switch, but right after that, a person drove into the big power box and broke the whole thing loose. Parks and Rec has been coordinating with Dominion Energy for repair, and the plan is for a temporary fix to be installed June 6, with a permanent repair to follow.
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Huguenot Park - A whole net is missing. This has been reported to Parks and Rec.
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New League Commissioners!
We are so pleased to welcome Deborah Murphy and Maggie Wojtowicz as PCCC League Co-Commissioners effective immediately. Their organizational skills and love of pickleball will ensure our leagues continue to be tremendous competitive and social outlets. Maggie and Deborah will be revving up this summer to roll out the Fall League Registrations in August. Welcome!
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Check Calendar for Courts
Check our website to view the summer calendar. This is updated each month, and shows the many places to enjoy pickleball in Chesterfield and court hours. http://Chesterfieldpickleball.club
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Donate Paddles for Youth Players
Here is a great way to give back to the Pickleball Community that we all love so much. Carol Bechtler (former Elementary PE teacher and current CTC pickleball player) and friends were watching a school PE teacher teaching some students at CTC. She noticed they were using plastic paddles and questioned the teacher, who explained that their school budget would only allow for the cheapest paddles. Carol's idea (a good one, we think) is to ask our pickleball players to donate old paddles to be given to the schools for students to learn to play pickleball. The Brown Box under the awning at CTC is a suitable location to leave them. Text Carol at 804-839-0989 and let her know if you have left some. All Chesterfield Elementary Schools are now offering pickleball, and they need our help. Rather than leaving your former paddles in a closet, let's put them to good use and donate them to our schools. Thank you.
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PCCC Apparel – Order Now!
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You will see a lot of new Chesterfield League apparel worn by our League Coordinators. These are gifts of appreciation for all they do to enhance the enjoyment of pickleball in Chesterfield through league play. If you would like a league shirt, hoodie, hat, visor, or any other of the lovely apparel that The Dink Shop offers, here is a discount code for Pickleball Club of Chesterfield Members.
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Wrap Ups from Our League Coordinators
Our spring League Season has come to an end, and we offer a big thanks to our amazing league coordinators. We recognize this takes a bite of time out of your weeks, but thanks to you over 500 participants enjoyed league play. Here’s some notes from our coordinators:
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Senior Men’s / Rick Phelps and David Chase
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Another action-packed season of exciting and competitive play is in the books for Spring 2025 Senior Mens League.
The new Open Play format with winners and losers splitting was well received.
Hope to see you in the Fall.
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Fixed/Mixed Partner/ Dwight Gordon and Jack Grace
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The Fixations (Mixed Fixed Partner) League, coordinated by Dwight Gordon and Jack Grace, benefited from good weather throughout all eight weeks, with reasonable attendance despite three holiday weekends. The season began with two weeks of open play round robins before the league was split into two divisions. The season concluded on a beautiful Sunday, showcasing remarkable parity among the teams. In the RED Division, all teams finished with records of 4-3, 3-4, or 3-3. The BLUE Division also demonstrated close competition, with four out of seven teams ending at 4-3 or 3-4. To further enhance the competitive spirit, we implemented Rally Scoring after the initial 12-13 minutes of each round, which resulted in several exciting finishes and dramatic comebacks. Overall, everyone had a great time, and we are hoping to reorganize in the Fall, hopefully on a different weeknight. Congratulations to Greg Lemite and Yoselin Valdes, our overall league winners!
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The Middle Men – David Kupstas
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The Middle Men (3.5+) had its strongest level of top-to-bottom competition in recent memory. The league operates in a ladder format with rotating partners. After initial placement based on DUPR ratings, players move up and down in groupings based on previous week's results. While this format does not allow the crowning of a true league champion, newcomer Ben Reese was the clear frontrunner, with a .811 winning percentage, 10.55 points per game, and average margin of 4.25 points. Runners-up in these categories were Stephen Hepper (.623 winning percentage and 9.34 PPG) and Danny Li (average margin of +1.52).
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Everything worked well this season. It was a nice mix of familiar and new faces. We always had enough people to use all our courts but not have excessive byes. Competition was strong in all groups. It was a joy to be part of this league.
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Fun, Drill and Play, Social League - Linda Scott
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This was a highly successful league, and it was very easy to coordinate, with approximately 90% of the players who signed up attending each week. I kept it very simple and didn't even use a signup. Those who could come came, and those who couldn't didn't.
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The first 20 to 30 minutes were spent on basic drills, after which the remaining time was used for rotational play among all players. This involved using the Winners Walk to transition to the next court and splitting up to play the next round. Players were encouraged to apply the skills they had practiced in the drill session during their playtime, and some did. All had fun and came away more skilled and with new friends after participating in this league.
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Friday Night Paddle Party - Marianne Kaufmann and Jennifer McCarthy
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Spring 2025 marked the launch of the Friday Night Paddle Party — a vibrant, mixed social pickleball league that quickly reached full registration. Each week, a spirited group of players gathered to share their love for pickleball, mix up partnerships on the courts, and simply enjoy the game and each other's company.
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More than just a sport of skill, pickleball also challenges memory and strategy. Our league celebrated this by welcoming players ranging from quadragenarians to octogenarians — proving that fun, competition, and camaraderie are truly ageless.
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We are deeply grateful to everyone who participated in these memorable Friday nights, even as we all kept a close eye on the forecast, hoping the spring rains wouldn’t call off play!
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60+ Daytime Fun League - Intermediate - Dave Scott
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The League for senior players age 60 and above had a full roster size of 30 players (21 women and 9 men) for Wednesday mornings/afternoons at the CTC courts. We were blessed to have 7 sessions (one rain-out) during the spring season with usually between 20 to 24 players participating each week. The group was divided into "sub-groups" of rating levels 3.0....3.25.....3.5 to to ensure players getting competition each week with players of very similar rating levels. Each week we had round-robin play within each group with players playing rounds of regulation games and with a different partner each round. There were no scores or stats tallied each week in keeping with the informal and fun nature of the competition. A fine and fun time was had by all with the relaxed league play format !
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