Category: SJPA Sponsored

Are you new to Pickleball?  Would you like to practice skills to advance your game?  

Christine’s Beginner Round Robin is open to men and women that want to learn pickleball and improve their game. We will focus on serves, volley’s, dinking and much more. You do not need to be rated to participate. 

According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association’s report, pickleball is the fastest growing team sport in America. So come see what all the fuss is about and join us for a great time learning and improving your game!

This Event will NOT be available on the FIRST Wednesday of every month. It will be scheduled for the remaining Wednesday’s of each month – SIGN UP WILL START SEPTEMBER 5.

Play starts on September 13th.

The St. James Pickleball Association (SJPA) provides a “New to St. James Pickleball” event each month. This event is starting back up this Wednesday, September 6, 2023.

Registration starts now.

ABOUT THIS EVENT:
This clinic provides the basics of the game from serve to volley and dinking.  It is a foundation for playing.  If you don’t know if pickleball is the game for you, this is the way to find out.

This event is an introduction to pickleball, you can only attend this event one time.

IS THERE A FEE?
You do not have to be a member of the St. James Pickleball Association  (SJPA), however, you must be a member of the Clubs at St James.  You must be a Signature Sport or Golf member. This time only, if you are only a Social Member, you will be assessed a $10 fee to use the courts. 

I’M A MEMBER OF THE CLUBS AT ST JAMES VS. SJPA MEMBER
–Your Signature Sport or Signature Golf membership is with Troon, the country club management company, also called The Clubs At St James. Fees paid to The Clubs At St James are your country club dues.
–The St James Pickleball Association (SJPA) is also a members only association working with SJPA members hosting events and socials throughout the year. The SJPA has a $20 yearly, per person fee. Almost ALL events on our calendar are for SJPA members only. The events listed on the calendar will always specify otherwise.

Play starts: Wednesday, September 6, 2023

It started out windy, but that was OK because the wind was a welcome relief from the heat.

The music from DJ Tim Axiom created the beach party atmosphere.

We had a great crowd from both the pickleball and tennis associations. The wind subsided about an hour after the party started. This turned into a perfect night to be listening to music on the beach. Friends, music, and sunsets, make life on the beach the best.

Pickleball in St James….In the beginning
The short story, is our St. James resident Fred Ammann and a small group of residents started playing pickleball over on Oak Island in 2015. By spring of 2016, at Fred’s suggestion, Troon management reappointed the tennis hitting wall space at Seaside into two pickleball courts.

St. James Plantation is no exception to the popularity of pickleball. In the Spring of 2018 Cindy Hettinger and a group of pickleball enthusiasts quickly signed up 277 people who were interested in pickleball. Today, our St. James Pickleball Association (SJPA) has over 570 (updated since the article) and is still growing for 2023.

Our Growth…
After many growing pains, we now have eight beautiful, lighted courts at the Greg Rymer Memorial Pickleball Courts and the two courts at the Seaside Wellness Center available for Sport and Golf members.

The SJPA volunteers run an event once a month called: New To Pickleball. This clinic teaches the basics of the game from serve to volley and dinking.

In September of 2020 our first president, Scott Hettinger, contacted Al Hausmann to create a logo, develop a website and an SJPA facebook page. SJPA website is an active, up-to-date, interactive website hosting all communications, events, socials, pictures, and external pickleball news. Alerts are sent out to all members regarding SJPA projects:

• Invitations to parties and social events, including our annual holiday party.
• Tournaments.
• Leagues.
• Round robins.
• Ladders.
• On-court and social events.
• SJPA sends notifications about local pickleball events and camps.
• https://stjamespickleball.com

 Events for local charities:

• Winter Dance featuring The Salty Dawgs raised $3325 to benefit Matthew’s Ministry.
• Our Social Committee ran our 2^nd Annual Spring Fling (music festival) raising $4309 for the Southport Oak Island Interchurch Fellowship Food Pantry (SOIIFFP).
• Make a Wish Social Fundraiser.
• We are providing volunteers and donating paddles for a summer camp for under-served kids in Brunswick County.
• Sneaker drive collected over 1,100 pairs of sneakers which converted into nearly $1000 for Waves 4 K.I.D.S.
• Our Sunshine Committee provides a little sunshine to SJPA members who’ve experienced an illness, injury, or loss of an immediate family member. They also sponsor food drives at many of our events to benefit SOIIFFP.

SJPA Board of Directors is our advocate and directly represents our members with the Clubs At St. James management (Troon).  

Our current board consists of: Deb Chiarello, and George Johnson, Kathy McArthur, Mary Heatherly, Al Hausmann, Jeff Franken, and Liz Wilson.

Membership and Benefits: A SJPA membership costs only $20 / year per person. Social events: pool parties, progressive dinner, beach parties, and more.

• Organized on-court social events, fundraisers, round robins, tournaments, and leagues.
• Beginner pickleball instructional play.
• Other opportunities to mix and mingle with fellow SJPA members.
• Direct communication with our club owners, Troon, via the Sports Advisory Committee, where the SJPA continues to advocate for improvements, expansion, programming, etc. on behalf of our membership.

On May 7, the St James Pickleball Association (SJPA) held its annual Spring Fling fundraising event at the Woodlands.  All proceeds were given to support the Southport, Oak Island Interchurch Fellowship Food Pantry (SOIICF).  On June 1, members of the SJPA, Kathy McArthur and Liz Wilson, presented a check in the amount of $4,309 to Linda Dutry, Director of the SOIICF.

SJPA greatly appreciates the generosity of its members and all St. James residents who came out to support the food pantry and the vital service it provides to the surrounding local communities. 

Please join us on Wednesday, June 21st, for this special fundraising social event open to all SJPA members. There are two sessions – 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm and 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Come join the fun, stack your paddles, donate to a worthy cause, PLAY WITH A PRO, and maybe win a great prize!

Find out more and register for the 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm event

Find out more and register for the 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm event

St. James Pickleball players of all skill levels had the opportunity to play with the St. James Club’s Pros, Kim Mihan and Adam Greene, Wednesday evening, May 17th, in the SJPA Mixed-Up Doubles Paddle Stacking Event. 

Thank you to Kim and Adam for volunteering their time for this Event!  Every player had the opportunity to play with the pros and got some great tips from them too!

It was great seeing players on the court with others they have never met, playing Pickleball, making new acquaintances and having a blast!

Thanks to Chris Camplin, Ron Walters, and Andrea Velez for volunteering their time and ensuring that the event ran smoothly!  And special thanks to DJ Chris for supplying the music! 

The beautiful weather – absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Fantastic music provided by Cat-a-tonic’s. Dinners provided by the 2Bros and A&M Red Food Trucks – DELICIOUS and Chuck’s Ice Cream – ALWAYS A FAVORITE.

Of course, all who attended – made for a wonderful evening and VERY successful fundraising event. With great attendance, generous donations and a hefty 50/50 drawing, we raised $4309 for the Southport/Oak Island Interchurch Fellowship Food Pantry (SOIICF).

This year’s event took place on the lawn at Woodlands, and we heard good things about how nice it was to spread out, easy to venture around, say hello to friends and neighbors, and play a game or two.

The SJPA Board and Social Committee thank you for supporting our efforts to provide, not only a great social event for our membership, but more importantly help our local community with a substantial donation that is so very needed.

Once again, we would like to thank Carolyn for the excellent pictures:
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/Z1IWvhmRSE2rjKXzDVcH7w.grrhTBtylLIVg9fTJ2QCbp

The Ladies’ 3.5 Competitive Ladder completed its 8-week spring season on April 17th with a round robin social play event. The ladies competed against each other and earned points for each match. There was lots of great Pickleball play by these ladies with some great rallies and fun games!

Congratulations to all the ladies who participated in our first SJPA Ladies 3.5 Ladder League.

A special congratulations goes to the top 3 players – 1st place – Pat Allred, 2nd place – Brenda Badis, and 3rd place – Alicia Mastropietro

View additional photos taken by photographer, Carolyn Gaziano

This volunteer group just wrapped up at the end of March. What a wonderful experience for the kids.

A great big thank you to all the Pickleball Volunteers who gave pickleball instruction to the children at Southport Elementary.  You were so giving of your time and patience! 

For those who weren’t at the school during the second week, you should know that the students cheered when they saw the pickleball nets up and realized they were going to get to play again. 

It was amazing to see how many hands went up when we asked who had played pickleball before and how many were going to play over Spring Break!  The children were truly grateful. You all need to be recognized for your hard work. I know there were some naps taken on days you volunteered!

-Alicia Mastropietro
-Joe Mastropietro
-Scott Hettinger
-Marilou Rubright
-Cheryl Giese
-Joe Giese
-Sheryl Hill
-Mary Heatherly
-Scott Nasiff
-Katy Nasiff
-Leslie Saralino
-Nancy Jorgensen
-Karen Fania
-Jim Fania
-Eileen Kopunek
-Kathy Kunze
-Sandy Schach
-Wendy Casterline

Extra thanks from Cindy Hettinger for your help and flexibility!

Nothing but positive feedback.  Even the very strong gusts of wind could not put a damper on the day.  

People brought great food and great fun.  It was really fantastic to see all the SJPA members having such a fun time playing. 

Great job to Andy and Kathy Goliszek for laying all the groundwork leading up to this event.  We were sorry not to see them there due to a last-minute illness and sincerely hope all is well.

A very big THANK YOU to Joe Bietz, Andrea Velez and Robyn Smith for jumping right in to save the day.  They did a wonderful job of getting the day all set up and keeping things running smoothly.

We all also owe a big THANK YOU to Carolyn Gaziano, who took a lot of pictures during the event. Here is a link to all of the photos that Carolyn took:

Again, many thanks again to Andy, Kathy, Robyn, Andrea and Joe for a fantastic team effort putting together a great event.

Hello to all of our 503 St. James Pickleball Association (SJPA) members, at this early point in the year! Here we are nearing the end of February with a few fun, successful events behind us, and lots more to come. 

Our Winter Dance was fabulous with lots of dancing to great music provided by The Salty Dawgs! To top it off, we raised over $3,200 for Matthew’s Ministry! Thanks to the Social Committee for a well-organized event. The beautiful raffle baskets were a huge hit! We are looking forward to many more awesome social events this year.

Mother Nature did not cooperate for our Winter Classic Pickleball event, which had to be canceled. Almost a wash-out, our Valentine’s Pickleball Social ended up being a big success! (Many thanks to the Events committee members who spent more than an hour rolling the courts!) Laughter, yummy food, and fun pickleball ensued – and the weather cooperated. Our Events and Tournaments committee is hard at work planning more excellent activities to enjoy this year.

Coming in March, Kim has a pro-night planned on the 2nd, so, mark your calendars.

The popular Progressive Dinner is on the 16th, a St. Patrick’s Day Pickleball Social on the 17th, and then something new to our repertoire, “Mixed Up Doubles” social pickleball will be on the 22nd. More details will be on our website. 

Our awesome webmaster and Board member, Al Hausmann, and his side-kick Diana Kelly, keep us all “in the know,” with a jam-packed website, http://www.stjamespickleball.com.   One feature we’ve recently added is a “ST. JAMES PICKLEBALL ASSOCIATION – 2023 CALENDAR of EVENTS,” so you can see the activities that our committees have planned and easily update your calendar! Be sure to check out the website frequently, so you don’t miss the latest happenings on and off the courts planned for this year.

Membership is still growing! Every month, Christine Cournoyer and her army of volunteers, welcomes 20 or more folks to the “New To Pickleball” event. Then Christine runs a “Beginners Pickleball” every week, teaching the basics to those who catch the pickleball “bug.” This wonderful service provided by our volunteers helps our newbies learn the game and find other players at their level, so they can enjoy the game we all love to play!

Our Sunshine Committee, Chaired by Kathy Goliszek, has been very busy, and we hear great reviews from our members who are recipients of their cards, meals, and support when injuries, surgeries, illness, etc. arise. This committee also coordinates food collections at different events throughout the year on behalf of the Southport-Oak Island Interchurch Fellowship Food Pantry (SOIIFC), who is so grateful for the generous donations and support of the SJPA. 

The roll out of the new, Troon Chelsea reservation system (is that a groan I hear?) has been challenging, to say the least. That being said, it seems like folks are getting the hang of the system, in spite of the frustrations as we adjust to this new product. We will be approaching our Club Management about the possibility of some improvements to the system, to make it more user friendly, and will keep you updated.

Another recent addition is the Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating (DUPR). We are optimistic that this system and its complex algorithm will assist with obtaining reliable ratings that will be useful for our players as they participate in SJPA events, as well as tournaments, ladders, and other events outside of SJPA. Since DUPR is new to most of us, we are anxious to get to that 60th game entry that will (hopefully) give us a realistic rating.

Your SJPA board and committees are working diligently on your behalf, to make 2023 a momentous year. As we strive to provide a well-rounded pickleball program, Board Members: President (me): Deb Chiarello – oversee the various events and activities, VP: George Johnson, Treasurer: Kathy McArthur, Secretary: Mary Heatherly, Communications: Al Hausmann, Tournaments and Events: Jeff Franken, Social: Liz Wilson. 

I continue to represent the SJPA on the Troon Sports Advisory Committee, where we work with our Club management to provide an excellent pickleball experience for our Club members. We are listening to you, and continue to make recommendations for expansion, improvements, and maintenance at our facilities.

Most importantly, we are thankful for each and every one of you, and appreciate your enthusiasm and support. Please feel free to contact me, or any of our board members, if you have questions, concerns, or suggestions. I look forward to seeing you on the courts! 

All the best!
Deb Chiarello,
SJPA President

November 16 @ 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Kim & Adam invite you to challenge us.

There will be 2 opportunities for you to teach us a thing or two. We look forward to your challenge and having fun with you on the court. You have an advantage
because Adam and I have never played together! We encourage all levels of play to take advantage of this opportunity. We, as the pros, promise to play in a way that challenges your level of play, whatever that may be.

Both events: Challenge the Pros, Drop Shot Challenge will be held at the Greg Rymer Courts. The Franklin Ball will be used. Prizes will be on hand.

EVENT #1: Challenge the Pros – Wednesday 16th from 3:30 – 5:30 pm

There are many ways of winning, the first is by participating! I want this to be fun for every challenging team/player.

Kim & Adam invite you to challenge them to a 10 minute game. Challengers can be:
— Mixed team
— Women’s team
— Men’s team
It’s up to you!!

*Our schedule will have 1-2 minutes between games
*Our time will allow for up to 10 teams to challenge
*You may play on 1 team only
*As each team arrives, we ask you to use your paddles to determine order of play
*Arrive early to be one of the first challengers
*You can place your paddle in queue once both of you are present

For this to run smoothly we’d like to see at least 3 teams in queue
by 3:30, and 3-4 after that.

ONLY TEAMS THAT HAVE SIGNED UP CAN PLAY.
ONLY 10 TEAMS CAN SIGN UP.
Play will begin promptly at 3:30pm.

I have my partner’s information I want to sign up now to Challenge the Pro!

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EVENT #2: DROP SHOT CHALLENGE – Thursday 17th from 1:30 – 2:30 pm

Kim & Adam will feed balls & provide targets which are tomato cages, for you to hit &/or sink your drop shot from various areas of the court.

How we will play the game:
–If you, the player, successfully hits or sinks a ball at or into the
cage from a particular area, then the pro is given 3 chances to do the same.
–If the pro can match the shot, then the score is even (think Corn Hole).
–Pros feed all balls and pros alternate turns to even out the score.

There are four time slots and eight people per time slot.
First start time:
–1:30pm (sign up)
–1:45pm (sign up)
–2:00pm (sign up)
–Last: 2:15pm (sign up)

Open to ONLY 8 different players every 15 minutes. Please sign up for a time
slot.

REQUIREMENTS:
–Sport or Golf Membership
–SJPA paid member

When you don’t have to think about which shot to hit, you just naturally hit it, you are a 5.0

When you don’t have to think about which shot to hit, but you can’t successfully hit it 2000 times in a row, you are a 4.5

When you have to think about which shot to hit, and when you figure it out, you can successfully hit it, you are a 4.0

When you have to think about which shot to hit, but then still hit the wrong shot, you are a 3.5

When you have to think about which shot to hit, but by the time you decide on the correct shot it’s too late to hit it so, you just go with trying to get it back over the net, you are a 3.0

When you don’t bother to think about which shot to hit, and most of the time don’t hit it in the court anyhow, you are a 2.5 and guaranteed to be having a lot of fun.

-credit to Pickleball Ontario