I hope everyone had an enjoyable 4th of July.  I put a lunch date on my calendar for next week and noticed it is festival week in Centre County.  With a major segment of the Arts Festival occurring on campus I worked many overtime shifts meandering about the booths and entertainment venues.  The one theme that seemed to be constant in 30+ years was the heat and humidity.  It wasn't until late in my career that a few buildings in the festival zone were air conditioned so when you were walking an 8 hour shift there was little respite.  The best part of those shifts (other than payday at the end of the month) came when you got back to the locker room.  Step one to Nirvana was to take off the duty belt.  One time I weighed my belt with gear and it came in at about 16 pounds so getting that off the hips felt good. Step two was removing the polyester cotton blend shirt. The best part however was step 3.  Ballistic vests at the time were two panels connected at the shoulders by two elastic straps and the sides had 4 similar straps that you could adjust  via their velcro ends at the front panel.  Because you don't want the vest to be shifting around you would set it up each day to be snug around your torso.  So now it is time for step 3.  You reach down and grab an end of one or two straps and pull.  As you hear the velcro tear apart cool air rushes up over your sweat soaked undershirt.  You pull the last two straps and the cool air fully wraps around you.  I would just stand there for a moment and enjoy the sensation.  It's funny how for all the years there that moment is one memory that I have always retained.  That was quite the rabbit hole, let's veer from memory lane and see what is happening in the Pickleverse.

1. ITPTA Instructor School: The last I heard there was a space still open at the Level 1 instructor school being held later this month in the Altoona area.  If you are interested, see the flyer below.

2. Congratulations: Congratulations to Cyndi Lyn and Kevin O'Brien for scoring silver in a pickleball tournament in Annapolis, Maryland.  A photo of the medalists can be found below. 

3. Tournament: The Tyrone Pickleball Club is hosting a mixed doubles tournament on August 3rd.  See the flyer below.  Anyone can enter as an individual but if any of the Briners or Centurions want to band together to enter 6 teams they could compete for the Central PA Pickleball Cup.  IMHO most everyone reading this would qualify for either the beginner or intermediate group.

4.  New Courts: Walker Township and Faith Church projects are moving forward.  In both projects pickleball court tape will be put down to assess how much use the courts get.  If the courts are well received then the plan would be to paint lines.  As soon as a court comes online I will announce it..

5. Bellefonte Area High School: I attended the pickleball/ badminton session at the BAHS auxiliary gym this past Wednesday and it was poppin'!  At one point there were 3 courts of pickleball and 3 badminton courts running with people on the side waiting to rotate in.  A big shout out to TIna R. and Josh D. for making this opportunity available.

6. Rules For 2025: Need some interesting reading, check out some of the rule changes suggested to the USAPA for next year.  Don't miss the one about blowing on the ball.  Here's the link: https://rules.usapickleball.org. 

7. Tip Of The Week: So the new knee has done wonders for me, except I may have forgotten I ain't 30 years old anymore.  This is my first and hopefully last hamstring injury.  I just got the OK to start hitting in place, so I can stand on the court and drill as long as I am staying within a one step circle.  It stinks so my tip is to make sure to properly warm up prior to playing.  I know we all want to rush out there and start dinking and driving and most times we escape without issue but man, when it doesn't it is a pain.  Think about how you can work some stretches into your warm up.  Some side lunges while dinking perhaps.  Trust me you body will thank you.

So I hope to see you on the court soon if only to do some drills..  Until then have a great week and enjoy a festival or two if you get a chance.

The Centre:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0B4BA5AA28AB9-50245702-nvsc

Randy Hoffman

Holbrook PIckleball Ambassador

https://holbrookpickleball.com/

Discount Code = RANDYHOFFMAN20