New Board Members
The 2026 new year brought changes to the SaddleBrooke Pickleball Association (SPA) Board of Directors (BoD) with two new members, Holly Bukes and Kurt Wallin joining the Board. Holly stepped in immediately as Board Treasurer and as board liaison to the Membership Committee and Picklr liaison, and the always upbeat Kurt has assumed board liaison responsibilities to the Social Committee and Player Development Committee. Welcome both Holly and Kurt as they begin working with BoD members Ron Flanders – Board President, Nancy Maglio – liaison to the SPA Webmaster, Gary Pelphrey – liaison to the Publicity and Communication Committee, Peggy Downs – Board Secretary and liaison to the Court Scheduling Committee, and Bill Gray – liaison to the Tournament Committee.
All the members are grateful to the BoD for their work and effort in keeping SPA an organization we can be proud of as members.
Snowbirds Departure Provides Opportunity to Meet and Play with Other Members
It is the time of the year when SPA members remaining in SaddleBrooke find their favorite pickleball partners have departed for cooler climates and vacation adventures. That makes it a great time to meet new members and play with members you have not played with in the past. SPA offers a variety of ways to keep playing at your level and schedule. Consider the new Summer Ladder Experiment, or the Drop-in Single Stacking and Foursome Drop-in if you can round up three playing partners. And once the court reconditioning project is complete, Round Robin and Group Play will return.
Annual SPA Tournament
SPA’s annual Dinking in the Desert tournament, the only SaddleBrooke intra-community pickleball tournament and therefore considered by many as the club championship, was held at the Robson Pickleball Center on April 7, 8 and 9. Congratulations to the 108 participants competing in women’s doubles, mixed doubles and men’s doubles. What a fantastic three days!—well-fought matches, great competition, and plenty of fun on the courts.
Gold medals were won by the women’s teams of Jen Wilkin/Amy Benson – 3.0 Women, Janet Jensen/Susan Schweitzer – 3.5 Women, and Diana Giljohann/Kristy Johnson – 4.0 Women. In the mixed doubles competition, gold medals were won by Craig Stutzel/Lisa Stutzel – 2.5 Mixed, Brian McGeorge/Anne Romeo – 3.0 Mixed, Susan and Jay Schweitzer – 3.5 Mixed, and Diana Giljohann/Dirk Anderson – 4.0 Mixed. And in the Men’s competition, gold medals were won by Lindsey Douglas/Kurt Wallin – 3.0 Men, Wendell Olivier/Art Busby – 3.5 Men, and Dirk Anderson/Joel Ficke – 4.0 Men. Congratulations to our Champions!
Thank you to all of our members who gave up drop-in courts to support the tournament—and to those who came out to cheer on the competitors. A huge thank you goes to Peter Canon, Missy Roberts, Cindy McAlbin, and Teresa Lawless for volunteering their time to help the event run so smoothly.
This and That
If you’re not a paddle nerd or haven’t been listening to the courtside chatter, there are big things happening in the pickleball paddle world. There has been a patent infringement lawsuit filed and 12 paddle manufacturers are involved in the legal issues. For a detailed dive into the issues, here is a good article from pickleball.com. Enter pickleball.com into your browser and search for ‘Joola’s patent lawsuit’.
In the national arena of pickleball, new pickleball facilities are springing up across the country, and Arizona is not being left behind. We have our recent addition of a Picklr facility in Oro Valley, and the greater Phoenix area is adding several new, large facilities; one to be the largest in the country. Take a look at google.com and search for ‘new pickleball facility in Phoenix’ for an overview of what’s coming.
Revitalization of Robson Pickleball Center Courts 9 to 14 with Court Resurfacing, Freshly Painted Poles, New Nets and New Fencing
The revitalization of courts 9 to 14 began on Monday, June 1 and is scheduled to be competed in 30 days. The contractor’s crews were on-site the first day and the poles have been repainted, new fencing installed and the resurfacing scheduled to start June 15. Barring any delays, SPA will be back to full court use by Wednesday, July 1.
