History

The Evolution of the Lake Chelan Pickleball Club

In 2015 there were a few women who started playing pickleball at the lookout. In the following years these ladies were instrumental in taping Don Morse Park and Chelan High School tennis courts for pickleball play. Soon this activity encouraged others, including tourists, to join the play group until they were playing every day of the week with an average turnout of 25-30 players and growing rapidly. The wait times to get in a game became increasingly long at these few courts. This is when Marilyn Raines and Darnell’s Resort stepped up and converted their 2 tennis courts into 6 pickleball courts for the community to gather and play. The beginning of Chelan Valley Pickleball and the social committee were formed.

As of 2022 we now have 123 active members in the pickleball club with many more in the community who also regularly play. As of the spring of 2023, Lake Chelan Pickleball Club LLC was officially formed and became a USAPA member complete with a board of directors.

Year by year timeline of "where we played" and how the membership has grown

  • 2015 – (4) women (Sue Chappell, Kathy Teigen, Jan Reese, Wendy Ross) started playing pickleball at The Lookout. “We started to play in early spring a couple of times week and then we were asked to limit our play as the courts are reserved for the owners.”
  • Spring 2016 – (4-5) women met with then-mayor Mike Cooney to ask if volunteers could apply pickleball court tape to the existing tennis courts at Don Morse Park. Mike agreed to let the taping happen. Pickleball saw an increase in players as many vacationers at the adjacent campground joined in.
  • Winter 2016 – court time at the Chelan Community Gym was reserved – pickleball continued to grow – about 15-30 players participated on Sunday mornings.
  • Spring 2017 – Chelan Parks and Recreation budget was approved to have the 2 tennis courts resurfaced and permanent pickleball lines applied at Don Morse Park.
    • At the same time, the pickleball group contacted the Chelan School District and asked if the tennis courts at the high school could have permanent pickleball court lines. “There was a contractor re-surfacing the courts at Don Morse Park, and it was the perfect opportunity to add lines to the high school courts if the Chelan Pickleball Club paid for the work. The school district agreed, money was raised, and the courts now have pickleball lines which gave us three more courts with lights so we can play in the evenings. (Can only play there after school hours and summer months)”
    • “We hung laminated signs with the play days and times on the courts at Don Morse Park and Chelan High School. It worked great for the limited number of players (5-15) we had.”
  • Spring 2017 to 2019 – “Organized play was set for five days a week.  The average turnout was 25-30 during the morning play not counting tourist participation. With the busy tourist months, the number of players increased significantly.  More players made for long wait times between games at Don Morse Park and the Chelan High School tennis courts.”
    • Marilyn Raines was part of the original group who played on a regular basis. She was dismayed at the long wait times and decided to re-configure the tennis courts at Darnell’s Resort into 6 pickleball courts.June of 2019 there were 85 players on the email list and the ‘Club’ was formed.
    • A Chelan Valley Pickleball group logo was created, and 50 t-shirts were sold for the first of many fundraisers. Email distribution lists were created, and the club created a Facebook page with play days, times and location. A Social Committee was formed and organized monthly potlucks and year end club celebrations.
  • 2019 – to Current: Darnell’s Resort is now the home of the Club which now has 120+ members and 277 followers on Facebook. The Club has organized clinics, Club tournaments, plays six morning and two evenings a week.
  • Winter 2021 – players had opportunity to play in an apple shed in Chelan.  Two courts were resurfaced, lined, and organized by Mark Milner of Omak.
  • Winter 2022 – North Shore Bible Church opened their gym with three courts for use of the Club. We were able to utilize their facility three mornings and three evenings a week for a reasonable cost of $5 per person per session. The Club introduced some competitive ladder play in the evenings throughout the winter.