Golden Gate Pickleball September 2024 Newsletter
Welcome to the first edition of the new Golden Gate Pickleball Newsletter. Within its digital pages you will find information about upcoming events. We are also launching two new columns. One is called "Paddle Tales" in which readers share some humorous, interesting or appalling stories from the pickleball courts. The second column is called "Having Your Say," which is an opinion column in which readers who want to see change can make suggestions. We hope many of you will contribute to one or both columns.
Felix Evangelista
Memorial Tournament
Felix Evangelista was Golden Gate Pickleball’s resident crooner, and Louis Sutter's friendliest host. Over the years Felix took countless newbies under his wing and patiently taught them the game. He encouraged them, and yes, at times, literally sang their praises as their skills improved.
His message was all about inclusiveness and community–we are one big pickleball family and those who were fortunate enough to know him will never forget that bright smile, his kindness, humor, and generosity, while sharing his light and his joy of the game with everyone he met. Felix wanted everyone to have a chance to learn and grow to love pickleball.
So, in his honor, GGP created “The Felix Evangelista School Fund”. All donations from this event will go to this fund and support the GGP Youth Program. (more on Youth Program below).
We have Felix to thank for his dedication to beautifying the courts, making it a home by building custom benches and coat racks for everyone’s use and enjoyment. In one way or another, Felix has left his mark not only at Louis Sutter but in the hearts of the many regular players and visitors who came by.
Please join Felix’s pickleball family at Louis Sutter on September 28, 2024, as we remember him (and perhaps sing his praises!). Aside from the tournament we are hosting a BBQ Potluck and you are all invited to join us!
We encourage you to please sign up and support the Felix Evangelista School Fund by participating in the (MLP style) tournament “Pickleball Hoedown” on September 28, 2024, at Louis Sutter Pickleball Courts, (University Street & Wayland Street, SF 94134). Sign up here on Pickleball360.
Drill and Play
Huy Lê, GGP Director of Operations and resident teaching Coach & Pickleball Pro has done a great job with the continuous Drill and Play at Louis Sutter four days a week, culminating improved player skills and knowledge of the game, and added a performance evaluation at the end of the month.
Kudos to Huy and all those supporting Drill & Play. We earnestly look forward to your continued support and donations so we can continue this beneficial community service to all who participate and love the sport of pickleball.
Drill and Play continues at Louis Sutter, Monday through Thursday 7am-9am.
Sign up at playtimescheduler.com. Find the sessions on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays that have Golden Gate Pickleball on it.
Mondays - 3.0
Tuesdays - 3.25
Wednesdays - 3.5
Thursdays - 3.75
Bay Padel & GGP
Joint Ventures
GGP will be hosting an open house on Sunday, September 8, 2024. You are all invited to this free event which will be held at Bay Padel, located at Avenue G, San Francisco, on Treasure Island. Come check out this wonderful pickleball facility. We will have the use of three courts from 9am to 11am. and four courts from 1pm to 4pm.
During the 9am to 11am time slot, we will have a challenge-the-pros event. Come and test your skill against Huy Le, Jonas Satuito & Carolyn Wei.
Then from 11am to -1pm we will be cooking up some delicious BBQ, and Carolyn will show you the wonders of the island if you are up for a little hike.
This is your opportunity to check out your prospective new winter pickleball home. SIGN UP HERE for the open house so we know how many are coming.
Note that you will need to sign a waiver to play at Bay Padel. The form will be available at the entrance when you arrive.
If you like the facility and want to become a member of Bay Padel, we have negotiated a $5.00/month discount for all GGP members.
Looking to the future, we hope to continue our Drill-and-Play Events during the winter at Bay Padel.
Also at Bay Padel, we will host monthly Saturday night pickleball events with various activities such as mini MLPs (GGP will place you in teams), black light pickleball (if dark enough), and dink, dance and play.
Get ready to have a BLAST!
Challenge Court
Saturday Challenge Court continues at Louis Sutter Pickleball Court on Saturday mornings. Donuts, coffee and other snacks will be provided courtesy of GGP.
Youth Program
GGP is working on a pilot program to integrate pickleball into PE classes at local schools, and we also want to help set up after-school pickleball clubs.
The Felix Evangelista School Fund will help cover the costs of this program. We will be supplying high schools with nets, paddles, balls, chalk, tape, court laydowns, and instruction. The estimated costs, including coaching, will be $1000 per school.
GGP worked with two high schools last year. This year, GGP is helping Philip Burton High School obtain equipment for their club. We will continue to support Philip Burton with equipment and instruction.
Paddle Tales
Swearing on the PB Court
by Twila Slesnick
Do you know that if you swear on a pickleball court during a tournament, you could receive a technical foul, which would cost you a point? Tournament players get around this by swearing quietly at their paddles.
If you swear on a pickleball court in rec play, you won't be docked a point, but you might offend some people... and make new friends.
Either way, court etiquette suggests we should practice verbal restraint when frustrated or annoyed.
This is a big problem for me, because I swear. It's ingrained. That's not to say I object to sportsmanship rules, or to generally accepted courteous behavior. It's just that after all these years, those bad words have become part of my lexicon. It's like trying to exercise a verbal tic.
My journey to this point was strange. I grew up in a household where curse words simply were not used. It wasn't that we weren't allowed to use them, we just didn't know they existed. My parents didn't swear (although my father had been a Marine in the war), and apparently the kids we hung out with in high school didn't either.
The result of this deprivation was that I seemed to feel the need to make up for lost time when I went to college. I picked up every swear word I heard and attempted to incorporate it into my vocabulary, sometimes to hilarious effect because I usually didn't know what the words meant.
But I learned. And I have never looked back.
So...fast forward to the pickleball court. When I started playing, I didn't hold back on cursing when the need arose. Then one day, I was playing with a buddy and enjoying myself immensely, when I missed an easy shot. Naturally, I tossed out an "Oh s___, sorry partner," whereupon he lifted his finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.
I was surprised and, of course, worried that I had offended him. I said, "But Sebastian <not his real name>, "s___" isn't a swear word, "f___" is a swear word." He rolled his eyes and put his finger back to his lips, as if to say he remained unpersuaded.
Indeed, by now, those words do not seem like swear words to me. My ears are much more likely to twitch at the word "crap," which was my mother's favorite expression of extreme frustration. But I'm definitely trying to be a better citizen. It's good for my aging brain to be aware of my surroundings and the behavior that is appropriate for those surroundings. Focus focus focus.
Nonetheless, it's a giant relief to me to occasionally invite some like-minded pickleball friends to enjoy a game with me on a court that's off the grid, and where the words can fly freely from all of our mouths.
Having Your Say
by Suzy Safdie
Is It Fair? The Unchecked Privileges of Private Schools on Public Courts.
Did you know? For over 25 years, private schools in San Francisco have been using public tennis courts free of charge—a privilege that continues today. This raises a crucial question: Why is there a consistent bias in who the Recreation and Park Department (RPD) chooses to charge, and why does tennis seem to always be the favored sport?
Consider this: Certain non-profits are required to pay hourly fees to reserve pickleball or tennis courts for events. The Tennis Coalition is a non-profit organization, enjoys free access to courts on a monthly basis for their events. Meanwhile, private schools, which are technically non-profits but charge tuition fees as high as $65,000 a year, are granted free access to public tennis courts. These courts are used by private school coaches to conduct lessons and run team practices, benefiting the schools without any cost. Most would agree that this is not a fair or equitable use of public resources especially since every day at 3:00 the public gets kicked off the courts so private schools can use them.
The RPD claims that it cannot charge private schools for the 14,000 hours of annual court usage because a recent fee proposal was voted down. However, this is misleading. The current permit system would allow for a fee, as evidenced by the fact that other nonprofits are indeed being charged. So why the discrepancy?
A New Concern: The RPD’s Pilot Program for Private Coaches
There’s another issue that deserves attention. For years, both pickleball and tennis coaches have been using public courts to offer private lessons, often against regulations. Rather than enforcing these rules or creating a system where coaches could simply pay for court usage, the RPD has launched a new pilot program. This program effectively takes over private coaching businesses, requiring coaches to sign up with RPD turning them into contract employees. Under this system, coaches must give up 20-25% of their earnings, in addition to an hourly court fee. The RPD claims this percentage is necessary to cover program costs, but this seems excessive. Is this truly fair to the coaches who are simply trying to make a living?
What Do You Think?
These policies highlight a troubling inconsistency in how public courts are managed. It's time to reconsider these practices and advocate for a system that treats all users fairly—whether they are private schools, nonprofits, or individual coaches.
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