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The Buhl Club recently held an open house/demo day for Pickleball. Bill McCullough is the Pickleball Director at the Buhl Club.

The Buhl Club recently held an open house/demo day for Pickleball. Bill McCullough is the Pickleball Director at the Buhl Club.

The Buhl Recreation Center recently hosted its second annual Pickleball Open House/Demo Day to the delight of 100 players and visitors. From the time the doors opened, players were grabbing paddles from the tables of the various paddle suppliers to give them a try and see if they were ready to upgrade to a new paddle.

Pickleball paddles have changed over the years from a plain wooden style to a high-end Polymer Honeycomb core with a blend of fiberglass and carbon fiber hitting surface. Prices also can start as low as $50 to a high of $333, which is why players want to try the paddles before making a purchase.

Buhl Club Pickleball Director Bill McCullough added a new twist to the event with games of skill. Throughout the day, play was stopped for a short time on one court to give contestants chances to win prizes, which included gift certificates from Quaker Steak & Lube and T-shirts supplied by local sponsors.

One of the games started by bouncing the ball on a paddle and then the contestants were told to do it while hopping on one foot. Another game was trying to hit buckets at the baseline with serves.

The third and final game pitted contestants directly across from each other at the no volley zone in a battle of who could keep the ball between the net and a line of caution tape 2’ higher than the net. This again started slow until players were told to go live, and a battle ensued until one player either went over the tape, in the net or missed.

The Buhl Club was able to bring in six different paddle manufacturers as well as Mila from Pickleball Rocks Clothing in Columbus, Ohio.

The lineup of paddles started with Tracey Flynn, who is a highly-decorated local Pickleball player, coach, certified instructor and is sponsored by Team Selkirk. Next in line with Gamma paddles was Jeff Gehm, a former collegiate tennis player and current ambassador for Gamma sports.

Following Jeff was Marlene Sandberg and Oto Hlinick from Royal Pickleball in Erie. Sandberg is a former tennis player and coach who decided to step into the Pickleball world. She is an avid tournament player in the 4.5 skill level. Hlinick played hockey at Mercyhurst University and in the Ontario Junior Hockey League. They both traveled from Erie to support the Buhl Club even after a big snowstorm hit the Lake Erie region and Buffalo.

The final paddle manufacturer, Engage, was represented by Brooke Peters who is also Buhl Club Pickleball player. Brooke was a collegiate tennis player at Clarion University and stepped onto the Pickleball courts three years ago. She was recently signed by Team Engage to be a sponsored player.

Players from Pittsburgh, DuBois, Cleveland, Erie, and the Shenango Valley attended the event to showcase their talent. The area has a wealth of good Pickleball players and more continue to discover the game.

McCullough reported that volunteers and sponsors made the event a huge success. He thanked the Buhl Club, Buhl Park, Sideaht Pickleball from Pittsburgh, QS&L, and 2 J’s and A Bee in Hermitage. Each supplied the event with enough prizes that everyone walked out with something.

The Buhl Club is currently working on its Pickleball schedule for the upcoming year and plans to continue clinics with certified instructors. It also hopes to put together some tournaments to pass the time until the competitors can venture outdoors.

“Thank you to everyone that supports Buhl Club Pickleball,” wrote McCullough in an e-mail to The Herald. “Check us out on Facebook to see what is in the works for the future as well as some new exciting news to be released in the near future.”

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