544 Picklers Hit The Courts

“Let’s pickleball,” city youth and rec director Gwendolyn Busch Williams called out, her words carrying through the rafters of Floyd Little Athletic Center and eliciting cascades of cheers and hoots.

Thus launched a scene unprecedented in the 385-year history of New Haven: hundreds of picklers pocking, popping, and dinking across a sea of orange nets in the 100,000-square-foot athletic space. 

It was opening day on Friday at the 2023 USA Pickleball Atlantic Diamond Regional Tournament, which continued through the weekend at both the Floyd Little Field House at 480 Sherman Pkwy. and the Newtown Youth Association facility in Newtown.

Formerly held in Portland, Maine, the tournament constituted the sport’s largest competition in New England, with picklers of all ages and abilities from every corner of Connecticut, as well as 15 other states, according to managing director Win Oppel. 

“We’re trying to bring the pickleball experience here to New Haven,” Oppel said, amid the air of giddy excitement. The inaugural Friday afternoon was reserved for women’s doubles in a round-robin format, he said.

Oppel, who’s from Shelton, said he was playing pickleball in Milford with Felicia Shashinka, the recreation coordinator for city youth and rec, when she introduced the idea of holding the tournament in New Haven. They agreed to meet at the field house. That was in August.

From there, things gradually came together. ​“We agreed that some of the proceeds would go to the youth and rec department, and then it was a matter of logistics, how to create 20 courts across here,” he said, gesturing at the six-lane 400-meter oval track that surrounds the space. 

Oppel said he got into organizing because of his passion for pickleball. He started playing the tennis-ping pong-adjacent sport 12 years ago in Arizona where he was vacationing. ​“We were at an RV park, and someone said ​‘we’re going to have pickleball lessons.’” 

“It is truly the most addictive sport ever,” he said. ​“The beauty is that I can play with someone who learned the game yesterday and both of us will have a good time.”

At the far end of the track, where runners enter the home stretch, Susan Comito was returning a screaming drive from her opponent. It barely skimmed the net. Her doubles partner, Kyleen Dye, tapped paddles with her. 

At a slight remove from the action, their husbands, leaning back in folding chairs, looked on. The couples made the three-hour drive to New Haven from Clifton Park, New York, which is outside of Albany.

“The two of us are playing tomorrow,” said James Dye, as his wife finessed a drop shot at the net. It bounced one, then twice. Another point was won. Again she tapped paddles with Comito.

Jim Comito, Susan’s husband, said Susan and Kyleen were certified instructors at Upstate New York Pickleball, and were in the competition to win it.

“I got into it through my wife,” he said. 

“Leave the pencil in the bin for the next person,” a circulating volunteer was saying to a player on a nearby court. ​“Serving bands in the gift bag.” 

“It’s a good time,” Comito went on. ​“The community is very welcoming. It’s almost like golf, you can just have fun with it, or you can get in deep, learning about techniques and strategies and all that.”

Over at the vendor village, Carmela Senese approached Judy and Amy Dillingham. The mother and daughter team, who are based in North Carolina, were representing Pickleball Bella, the first-ever pickleball clothing label which offers ​“quality activewear for the pickleball lifestyle,” according to its website. 

Senese, a pickler who plays on Unity Park in Trumbull, said she was injured and cheering on her friends. She was admiring a skort patterned with colorful martini glasses and polka-dotted pink pickleballs.

“I don’t know,” she said, as Oppel’s voice rose above the thrum. ​“Please bring your score sheets to the red tablecloth, and pick up score sheets from the blue tablecloth,” it boomed.

Judy Dillingham said she and her daughter travel nationally for the company, ​“Vero Beach, Delray Beach, Alabama, it is blowing up,” she said. ​“In Florida and Alabama, it is state of the art, but it seems like everywhere there are places starting to have pickleball.” 

Nearby came a volley of laughter from a group of women.

“We just played,” said Wendy Marx, no relation to Karl, she added. ​“We lost. We don’t care. It was fun. We’re going to review our strategy. We need to figure out what the other team is doing so that we can counter it.” 

Her partner, Kathy Kelly, said she and Marx started playing at Unity Park in Trumbull a year ago. They heard about the tournament in December.

“Wendy was the only one who said yes, she’s the risk taker of our group, and then Kathy decided to do it with her,” said Westport’s Karen Howitt, seated on the floor with Angela Bradley, who’s from West Haven. 

Marx nodded. ​“It’s just a great game,” she said. ​“The learning curve is not that steep compared to tennis and it’s a very light ball, not a heavy tennis ball where you have to use a lot of muscles, it’s not expensive to play — ”

“And it’s not a country club sport,” Kelly said, as she and Marx set off for their next match.

Howitt and Bradley, having designated themselves as the cheering squad, followed. ​“We’ve all known each other forever. We probably didn’t need pickleball to bring us close us together. We’re just wonderful friends.” 

Williams, the city youth and rec director, expressed gratitude to Shashinka for making the tournament happen.

“She’s an avid pickleball player, she’s played all over the country in different tournaments, and I’m always down for trying new stuff, so why not,” she said.

With over 500 registered participants, ​“it’s like a double banger because they’re staying at hotels, they’re going to restaurants, they’re going to be here all weekend, they get to see how great New Haven is,” she said.

The long-term plan, she said, ​“is to generate interest with our younger folks and take pickleball out into the community. We have pickleball courts in Edgewood Park, in Scantlebury, and usually where we have tennis courts, we can make room for pickleball courts as well.” (You can almost fit four pickleball courts onto one tennis court.) 

“We can also just take these nets into parks or even streets where we can just draw the lines so they know where the boundaries are,” she said, adding that youth and rec will be offering three free introduction clinics to residents in April and May.

On Monday morning, Oppel pronounced the tournament a success. He thanked the city for its hospitality, and ​“a great group of volunteers — non-playing players and kids needing community service time,” he said, as well as the referees and players for ​“their dedication to the sport of pickleball.”

While acknowledging the challenges of internet outages and website crashes, ​“at the end of the day, we had over 500 players competing at the highest levels in multiple age groups,” of which ​“a lucky few may punch their tickets for nationals.” Click here for the tournament’s results.

Asked if he would like the tournament to return next year to New Haven, his answer was plain. ​“Yes!”