It was in the summer of 1965 on the Island of Bainbridge Washington USA, that three fathers, Joel Prichard, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum got together to invent a game that would keep their bored children entertained.
Little did they realize, that across the other side of the world in a beautiful little sleepy fishing village,( a description made by a trendy Melbourne tourist) called Noosa Heads, that in this day and age their invention, which they called Pickleball, would be consolidated and now played by 155 members of the local Noosa Pickleball club: and also, in our country, we would be rated as number 7 amongst the top playing countries in the world. The game is now one of the fastest growing sports.
Now for the third consecutive year it is also the fastest growing sport in the USA. Regarding age groups for players, the largest age group is the 18 to 34 years. The game is definitely on the move.
Now after a long tough struggle, President of the Noosa Pickleball Club, Bob Bleicher said, ‘’Although we don’t own it, we now have a venue where we can play: a venue that we can call home: the Olive Donaldson Pavilion in Tewantin. The Olive Donaldson Pavilion (the Olive) pickleball courts have become very popular with our members and the weekly use of these courts is continuing to grow. Member are using the courts almost every day.
The Management Committee lowered the court hiring fee which stimulated use of the facility and of course, was very popular with members. The club continues the Free Friday Night Social at the Olive, originally organised by Miriam Brace.
Free Come and Try lessons for newcomers to the sport, organised by Woody Dass, have been offered every fortnight. Follow up sessions, are held to allow newcomers further practice and lessons as beginners. Rod Edwards has offered several free Tournament Readiness sessions, which have been attended to encourage members to enter tournaments.
Woody Dass and Glenice Ault, ran free Workshops for Trainers to grow a group of club members who can run the newcomers and followers, up sessions. This was a very successful workshop providing both training and take- home workshop, resources that will allow attendees to run newcomers sessions.
Gina Foster secured a Queensland Active Women and Girls Grant ($7,500) that will provide a specialised training program for our female players. This will subsidize coaching by renown coachers such as Gail Aiken. Noosa Leisure Centre (NLC) is an important venue for club play: this includes a very popular Tuesday and Thursday sessions.
The Tuesday round-robin sessions for intermediate and above players, is receiving very popular feedback. Thursday League format is a great opportunity for players of all levels to play competitively and grow their skills. Keith Bing, a long-time club member, runs a popular newcomer and beginner on Sunday at NLC.
Noosaville State School provides another venue of club sessions on Monday nights thanks to the efforts of Miriam Brace and Gina Foster. The Management Committee just run the day-to- day business affairs: but cannot do this without the tireless efforts of a dedicated team of volunteer members.
We have created a President’s Circle Volunteer of the month page on our website that highlights outstanding volunteer service to the club. There are several active volunteers that are doing a wonderful job of making things happen both socially and at our NLC and Olive sessions. Next week we talk to Pickleball regarding Social Events, Player Development and Competitive Play.
Little Athletics.
Last weekend saw eight of Noosa’s club members, head to Seaworld on the Gold Coast for the annual Little Athletics Queensland Conference. Noosa’s Head Coach and Life Member Mick Hooper was very happy with the results.
“It was a great learning experience with workshops, guest presentations and networking with fellow clubs throughout Queensland. Saturday night was the annual awards dinner which each year has a dress up theme. This year being the year of the Paris 2024 Olympics Games, our members embraced the theme, dressing up as French Artists for a memorable night.”
For the Noosa Club, a major highlight came when club Life Member Val Hooper was recognised by Little Athletics Queensland with a Distinguished Merit Award for serving in various capacities for more than twelve years at Club, Regional and State Level. This included eight years serving on the Board of Little Athletics Qld. “This award,” said proud husband and Head Coach Mick Hooper, “had to be kept secret: I don’t know how the Board achieved it but they did. It came as a total surprise.”
The following morning was the AGM which saw Noosa’s latest Little Athletics Life Member Michelle Moore voted back on to the Board of Little Athletics Queensland for another two years’ service. “Our Noosa club is very proud of the achievements of these two incredible women.” Coach Hooper. Once again, we have yet another success story from within the ranks of our Noosa sporting community: it’s good to be able to acknowledge those who work behind the scenes, not just the athletes. Without these people there would be nothing.
Rugby League
Last weekend saw Noosa Pirates A grade team sitting out a bye: however Reserves played Bribie Island, Women’s played Caloundra and third grade played Mary Valley. In the Third Grade they travelled to Kandanga to play the Staggs. Noosa started well holding their own but errors proved costly and ball control was erratic. This resulted in a 26to 12 win for Staggs. Best on field for Pirates was young front rower Joe Dwyer.
For Noosa women’s it was a must win game against Caloundra and they answered by coming out strong in both attack and defence. Led by hooker Maria Graf and Tigerlily Livingston, they started strong but it was Kiara Woods who stole the show again scoring a double and defending strong at the back. This resulted in a 20 to 16 win for Noosa thus allowing them to leap frog Caloundra on the ladder and keeping their finals hopes alive.
In the reserves Noosa came out firing against Bribie crossing their line twice in the opening minutes with tries to Will Cousens and Chanse Wilson. Noosa continued to dominate the first half by controlling the rucks. The return of club legend Terry Carrol, provided stiff defence laying out a few opposition players. Tries to Jai Turner and Glen Jarrett gave us a commanding lead going into half time.
The second half was much the same, turning away the Bribie attack with strong defence. Fullback Ashar Buckman sealed the game with a 90m line break. Then continuing his try scoring ability front rower Jake Bullen, crossed the line again just before the full- time hooter. This great win by the reserves saw them tied in third place on the ladder with a 12 points gap, to head off Maroochydore.
This weekend will see the still undefeated Noosa A grade playing at home against Stanley Rivers. Early games will be Reserves playing Stanley Rivers at 4pm and Women kicking off the day against Maroochydore at 2.30pm.
Outriggers.
Last weekend was a very busy time for members of the Noosa Outriggers Club as they put in a big day at Chaplin Park with a massive working bee to get the fleet ready for the final races of the year. The season has reached an exciting climax with the last round deciding the champions of 2024.
Mooloolaba has a slender lead over Noosa with 1610 points to 1591. The Brisbane Club 1338 points, Scarborough are on 1140 and Surfers Paradise 980 points. The last round will be at Talobilla Club in Redcliffe on July 6th and coming at the end of the month is the GC30. Here’s hoping for a great finish for our proud Noosa Outrigger club: a club that has definitely had a good season.
