Rhody Pickleballers hoping to continue statewide growth of sport

Jacob Marrocco
Posted 8/27/15

When the summer hits, pickleball season heats up in Rhode Island.

That’s the time of year when members of the Rhody Pickleballers make their way to the tennis courts at Mickey Stevens for games …

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Rhody Pickleballers hoping to continue statewide growth of sport

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When the summer hits, pickleball season heats up in Rhode Island.

That’s the time of year when members of the Rhody Pickleballers make their way to the tennis courts at Mickey Stevens for games Monday through Thursday. The group started last summer with Art Sulmasy and his wife, Nancy, along with six other players.

Since then, there are more than 40 people on the mailing list with about 25 people attending the First Annual Rhody Pickleballers Game and Social Night on Tuesday night. The event featured food, pickleball, socializing and a farewell to some of the players before they head back to Florida. Pickleball has been growing in popularity throughout the country, with 700 national ambassadors according to the United States Pickleball Association website.

The Ocean State has seen especial growth. Leagues have developed in Bristol, Westerly, Hope Valley, Cranston, Lincoln and East Greenwich, according to public relations coordinator Jim Martin. Most of the Rhody Pickleballers have homes in Rhode Island and in Florida, which along with Arizona is one of the most popular states for pickleball.

“I’m pretty addicted to it,” Martin, a West Warwick native, said after a game at the Social Night. “Once you get into the game you’re addicted, that’s it. I visited a friend in Pittsburgh and he got me into it. And it’s really an easy game to play, especially for us senior people. It’s low-impact, and there’s not a lot of running unless you really want to. It’s a fun game, it’s really social, and a lot of fun people play it.”

Art Sulmasy said that the Rhody Pickleballers welcomed some players from Bristol to Mickey Stevens last summer, but improvements to the courts in Bristol allowed the sport to expand there. The new players keep flowing in, though, as Sulmasy pointed out that the Social Night attracted a person from Coventry.

The game is fairly simple. Pickleball is played on courts about 44 feet in length commonly with teams of two. Each side of the court is divided into two sections. The “kitchen,” according to Martin, is the seven-foot section in front of the net where there is no spiking or hitting allowed unless the ball bounces. The back section, which is about 15 feet in length, is fair game for hitting and returning serves. Games go up to 11 and when one group of four has completed a game, they exit the court for the next four.

“People love to play it,” Martin said on why pickleball has been able to grow so quickly in Rhode Island. “It’s a cheap game, it’s not expensive. The paddles are not [expensive], the balls are not expensive, and that’s it. That’s all you need. [Also] a good pair of sneakers and you want to have fun.”

However, in order for the sport to grow more in Warwick, restorations will have to be made to the tennis courts at Mickey Stevens. Art Sulmasy said that he has had members say they will not return after slipping on the cracks down the middle of the courts. He said he has spoken to the Highway Department, which told him it would be filling in the cracks.

“What we’re trying to do is bring the quality of the level of the playing surfaces up,” a relaxed Art Sulmasy said. “We need to get these gaps filled in. The Highway Department has promised us several times that they would take care of it. The latest now obviously being delayed by the results of the [macroburst]. But we’re trying to get those fixed so that we can further paint the lines so that the lines are more clear.”

Sulmasy pointed out that the Warwick Recreation Department was kind enough to spray off the pickleball courts within the tennis courts, while Martin thanked them in a letter for allowing the group to use the courts. Sulmasy did acknowledge, though, that the sprayed lines are too thick for regulation-size playing surfaces. That problem can be solved once the cracks in the court are taken care of, Sulmasy said.

However, these limitations have not deterred the Rhody Pickleballers and their rapidly growing game.

Sulmasy said that once the lines are filled in and the courts are improved, the group wants to hold an open house. The Pickleballers were promised help from the Rhode Island representative of the United States Pickleball Association in hosting the event.

“We figure if we have four presentable courts, we can really bring this up into Warwick,” Sulmasy said. “We know that the future of these courts is foggy because of a bond issue to re-do the whole Mickey Stevens complex. At what time that happens, I don’t know, but in the meantime we probably will have three years or four years that we can dress these [courts] up and try to make Warwick a bit of a center for the state. The sport itself is growing leaps and bounds.”

“Tonight is an intro for our hopeful gala that we’ll have,” Sulmasy said with a smile.

Anyone interested in joining the Rhody Pickleballers can contact Martin at jimmydm28@gmail.com. Players of all ages are welcome.

“We have no dues, nobody owes anything to go out here and play,” Sulmasy said. “It’s just fun.”

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