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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Great times at the Pickleball Posada at La Calaca restaurant

Thanks to the generous support of the pickleball community, 45 kids received presents at the La Manga Posada and enough money was raised to buy a pickleball net for the court that the Management Team is going to set up at the school in La Manga.

The GLP Tournament was a huge success and everyone loved playing on our beautiful new courts. Thank you to the tournament sponsors and court maintenance sponsors (listed below) – your support is very much appreciated.

Helle Sparre Dynamite Doubles clinic, January 21 & 22

Pickleball Pro, Helle Sparre, is widely recognized for her Dynamite Doubles training program which she will be conducting on January 21 & 22 and 24 & 25, 2023 in San Carlos.

Helle Sparre will offer these four, 4 hour clinics:

  • Group A: 9am – 11am on Saturday, January 21 at Mirador Courts and 12:00pm – 2:00pm on Sunday, January 22 at Ranchitos
  • Group B: 9am – 11am on Sunday, January 22 at Mirador Courts and 12:00pm – 2:00pm Saturday January 21 at Ranchitos
  • Group C: 9am – 11am on Tuesday, January 24 at Mirador Courts and 12:00pm – 2:00pm on Wednesday, January 25 at Ranchitos
  • Group D: 9am – 11am on Wednesday, January 25 at Mirador Courts and 12:00pm – 2:00pm Tuesday January 24 at Ranchitos

There are 8 spots available in each clinic. First come, first served, so please register now by completing the form and clicking the payment link.

Closer to the clinic date, we will let you know if you’re in Group A, B, C, or D. If you can’t do a particular date, make a note in the comments and we’ll accommodate you.

The cost for the 4 hour clinic is $125 USD. Helle has very generously volunteered to donate all proceeds to our new court construction.

Skills & Drills and Lessons

The following Skills & Drills and Lessons are open to all San Carlos Pickleball Members at no extra cost:

  • Skills and Drills with Deb three weeks in a row Mondays at 11am at the Ranchitos Courts, starting January 2. This is intermediate skills and drills (no beginners please). Max of 12 participants. Please register by emailing Debbie at d_forrester@yahoo.com.
  • Beginner Pickleball with T. Tell your friends that always wanted to learn pickleball that this is their chance! On Wednesdays at 11am at Mirador courts, T will be teaching beginner pickleball. The total class is two days, one hour per day. After that you will be ready to play! Starts on Wednesday, January 11. To register, email T at theresamelius23@gmail.com.

Round Robins

Tuesday Round Robin

Tuesday afternoon Round Robin with Kevin. Back by popular demand — the Round Robin that fills in minutes! Don’t hesitate to Join.

WHAT: rotating partner skill level round robin

WHEN: every Tuesday at 3:00pm (arrive 15 minutes early to check in and warm up)

WHERE: Ranchitos courts

WHO: open to all San Carlos Pickleball Club members

COST: 100 pesos to support the San Carlos Pickleball Club and to compensate the organizer

Players interested in participating in the Tuesday Round Robin should join this WhatsApp group for more information and for registration instructions.

Sunday Round Robin

The Sunday Round Robin has returned! Thank you Art Linblad. It’s the best way to spend a Sunday morning.

The round robin starts at 8:30am at Ranchitos Courts. It’s open (no ratings) play, open to the first 35 to show up before 8:20am.

The Sunday Round Robin is open to all San Carlos Pickleball Members at no extra cost.

After 8:20am, any late comers will be able to join only IF there are fewer than 28 prompt picklers AND if the tardy pickler eliminates the need for byes. In all fairness to those that arrive on time, that would apply only in the circumstance that fewer than 28 people arrive on time. For example, if there happens to be 27 prompt picklers and one tardy pickler, that person could join the rotation. If, on the other hand, there are 27 prompt picklers and 2 tardy picklers, only one of the 2 could join the rotation.

Tournaments

Mark your Calendars! We’ll have a lot more information on these 3 tournaments soon, but for now, save the dates and find your partner(s) for the Grand Opening Tournament.

Valentines Day Blind Date Round Robin

A fun format that hasn’t been done in San Carlos. Don’t worry, you don’t need a partner. You will be paired up with similar skilled players in a grouping of 10 players: 5 men and 5 women. Once you have met your “date” you will play the entire Round Robin with that person. We will play one game to 21 — regular scoring with a record kept of wins/losses. You will play a minimum of 4 games in this format.

When: Tuesday, February 14 at the Ranchitos Courts. Check-in will begin at 8:15am and play begins at 9:00am.

Sign Up: Please email T at theresamelius23@gmail.com. In the email, list your full name, a phone number and your email address and what you think your skill level is. We would encourage all levels of players to join in for a fun day on the courts. We are looking at levels of 3.0-3.49; 3.5-3.99; 4.0-4.5+

Grandes Ligas de Pickleball Tournament

The Next GLP 3 day Tournament will be February 24 – 26 at the Ranchitos Courts. Guapos are going down!

Each player is guaranteed 4 matches (8 games) plus the Round Robin on Friday.

Cost: $1000 MXN

Register here.

San Carlos Grand Opening Tournament

March 16, 17, 18, 19 San Carlos Grand Opening Tournament! The San Carlos Pickleball Club will be partnering with the Gearbox Tour to bring you an amazing International tournament.

Mirador & Ranchitos Schedules

Ranchitos Schedule:

  • Open play, all 7 courts, Monday to Saturday, 8:00am – 12:00pm.
  • Tuesday: Round Robin with Kevin. Starts at 3pm. Join the Round Robin WhatsApp group.
  • Friday: GLP, starting at 3:00pm. Register at PickleballTorneos.com. You can register for the next one, Friday, January 6, here. And join the WhatsApp GLP group to stay up to date on all things GLP.
  • Sunday: Round Robin with Art Linblad. Starts at 8:30am

Mirador Schedule:

  • Book a Court. Monday to Saturday: 8:00am – 12:00pm and 2:00pm – 6:00pm on HoldMyCourt.
  • Monday – Saturday, the courts are closed from noon to 2:00pm and closed for the night at 6:00pm.
  • Sunday, open play from 9:00am – noon, then the courts are closed.

To participate in any of the above, you need to have a valid San Carlos Pickleball Membership. See below to purchase or renew your membership.

Summary of Groups to Join and important Links:

Changing of the Guard

The Board would like to wish James Main and his wife Kim all the best on their next adventure and thank James for all that he has done for pickleball in San Carlos. As you can see from James’ note below, he has resigned as President of the club. Until our next annual Board meeting in January, Carlos Dessens will be interim President and Christa Thomas will be Vice President.

What a ride ~ by James….

As many of you heard, Kim and I will be spending far less time in San Carlos. Because of that, I feel it would be unfair to the Pickleball community to continue on as President.

I wanted to take the time to thank the Pickleball community for everything. It has been an honor and a privilege to be a part of the growth of the sport here in San Carlos and I hope that my minimal contribution had a positive impact on the community, the sport itself, or your own personal journey. In trying to author this little note, I wanted to find a picture that would help sum up the past 5 years for me here in San Carlos. I couldn’t find just one….

When I first started with the board, I was tasked with bringing pros down to do clinics. Scott Moore was a frequent visitor to San Carlos, but it was time to introduce some new pros to the area as well. This photo always makes me laugh. Scott Crandall was supposed to be joined by Jessie Irvine for a week long clinic session. She forgot to check her passport expiration date and was turned away at the airport. Scott and I made the best of it. The Bacanora that Steve and Hillary gave him later that evening made everything better!

Helle Sparre has come to town several times with her Dynamite Doubles technique.

Ben Johns and Christine McGrath came down for Pickleball and Tetakawi. Ben made the climb to the top look about as easy as his backhand roll shot.

Coach David Alexander was fun to entertain. He loved the tacos and Daquiris at Hammerheads after playing more than I think he liked the playing.

Takako Tourangeau is always ear to ear smiles!
Irina Tereschenko loves San Carlos. After a long day of kiteboarding, Sunset Grill at sunset hits the spot.

First time playing in San Carlos. Mirador wasn’t open yet so we played on the one court at the Old San Carlos Gym. It was August! Hot hot hot. Thank god the pool was right there.

I spent a lot of time my first year in San Carlos here at Art’s house. A lot of good times and tequila were had. What great times and memories!!!

A couple of years ago, Pickleball in San Carlos started to experience a boom. The Las Tinajas crew and others started expanding and Pickleball became an addiction to an entirely new group of people. Time to start looking for new courts!

Skills and Drills as well as private lessons were always fun. Skills and Drills brought out the crowds and the popular phrases: Stroke it, Don’t Poke it; Down the Middle Solves the Riddle… Until it Doesn’t; Close the Backdoor, etc.

There are so many more pictures and memories that could be shared but I’ve already taken up too much time. Time to get back to the courts. A new chapter in San Carlos Pickleball is about to begin.

New Court Construction Update

On December 9, we opened the first 7 courts and we’ve been happily playing on them since. I’d be surprised if there are courts that have a better sunset than ours.

The court building crew arrived from Mexico City and started on the next 7 courts in mid December.

We received the architect’s plans and will get quotes for the center area and hopefully start work on it in January.