Set Up

(Edited 5/19/17) Camp Verde Pickleball (CVPB) is served in Camp Verde two days and one evening each week at the Community Center Gym, from 9:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. Wednesdays and Sundays, and from 5:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. Thursdays.

There is no fee to play pickleball at the Camp Verde court in the CVCC gym. Donations are welcome.

Three USAPA-approved tournament-grade nets are available to set up on the historic hardwood floor of the old basketball gymnasium. The floor was recently refinished and is in excellent playing condition.

Three regulation pickleball courts have been laid out and marked by adhesive court tape.  The tape lies flat and does not present a tripping hazard.

Twelve wooden paddles are available for free (in gym) loaner use during the Tuesday and Wednesday time slots.  Many USAPA-approved balls are also available for free use by participants. If desired, the same participants may play as part of the same foursome for the entire session.  Every effort is make to facilitate a speedy and equitable rotation during the session.

Netting is placed between the three courts to help cut down on stray balls interfering with play on an adjacent court.

CVPB is played according to USAPA Rules.

Participants must sign in on Camp Verde Parks & Recreation's official sports sign in sheet. with their full name.  By signing in, you acknowledge Camp Verde's various sports activities waivers and liability forms.  Signing in also provides your consent to have your photo used on this blog for the purposes of promoting CVPB.  Please inform a CVPB coordinator if you wish to opt out of photo sharing.

An email address is requested but is optional.  If you provide your email address it will be used ONLY for purposes of community important information about CVPB and will NOT be shared with anyone for any reason.

Other than following USAPA rules, the only other rule is that non-marking shoes MUST be wore on the gym floor.  If you shoes leave marks on the hardwood, you will not be allowed to participate in CVPB.

A short introduction to pickleball may be provided free-of-charge prior to or following the normal CVPB play during posted hours.  Typically, the CVPB coordinator will be in the gym setting up an hour before officially posted playing time and will remain for at least a half hour afterwards.

If you have never played pickleball, please read the basic information posted on this blog prior to attending your first session of CVPB.

http://pickleballprimer.blogspot.com/

Thank You for your interest. We look forward to playing pickleball with you soon!

Location

Camp Verde Pickleball action takes place in the Camp Verde Community Center Gym.  This fine, historic facility once served for decades as the old Camp Verde High School gym.  Online information lists the address as 385 S. Main Street.  While technically correct, that address is a little bit confusing.  The entrance to the gym faces Hollamon Street and that's where you should enter.

There is ample free parking across Hollamon Street from the gym entrance.  Do not use the Main Street door of Camp Verde Parks & Recreation Offices to access the gym.  Please go around to the Hollamon Street side of the facility to enter the gym.

Above is a map that shows the CVCC Gym's location relative to many well known landmarks.

The above view clearly shows the side entrance to the gym in relation to Main Street and Fort Verde State Park.  Note the large free parking lot across Hollamon Street from the gyn.

This view above shows the driver's view looking down Hollamon Street toward Fort Verde State Park.  The small building on the left is the historic 1930's Camp Verde Jail.  Simply pass the jail and turn left into the large free parking lot.  Cross Hollamon and use the main gym entrance.

One more view above showing the relationship of the parking lot of the gym's entrance.

Contact

John Parsons & Shawna Figy

There are three primary contacts for your inquiries, ideas, suggestions, input and concerns about Camp Verde Pickleball (CVPB): Camp Verde Parks & Recreation Department Divisioin Direction Mike Marshall, CV P&R Recreation Director Shawna Figy and CVPB volunteer John Parsons.

Mike and Shawna can be contacted at the Camp Verde Parks & Recreation Department during regular business hours 7 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Thursday and 7 AM to 11 AM on Friday.

The Department's address is 395 South Main Street in Camp Verde and the phone number is: (928) 554-0820

Parsons can only be contacted via email at: happytrailsforever@gmail.com

Mike Marshall

Mike, Shawna and John are dedicated to "all-inclusive" CVPB play.  Both continually invite & welcome any and all comments about the conduct and future of CVPB.  THANK YOU!

Camp Verde Pickleball greatly appreciates the awesome assistance and gracious hospitality of The Town of Camp Verde Parks & Recreation Staff, especially Division Manager Mike Marshall and Recreation Director Shawna Figy.  Without their help CVPB simply wouldn't be happening!

History

Camp Verde's inaugural pickleball games were played December 1, 2016 in the Community Center Gym.  The facility was once the high school gym and the basketball floor has been lovingly maintained for many decades.

Below the photos is a narrative of the December 1st event.

We first met with CV Recreation Director Shawna Figy (third from right in top photo) on November 22 to discuss pickleball possibilities.  Shawna indicated she and Division Director Mike Marshall had already discussed the topic.  Over the Thanksgiving Holiday, we ordered a net and some extra paddles.

We met again with Shawna on November 28 and agreed to stage Camp Verde's first pickleball games on December 1st if the net arrived on time.

As of Monday, the net was in transit near Seattle.

Luckily, the net arrived at the Rimrock Post Office Wednesday afternoon. And twice as luckily, two additional paddles also arrived separately Wednesday afternoon. So we spent a couple of hours late Wednesday laying out the court on the Camp Verde Community Center Gym basketball floor.

The remainder of Wednesday was spent hurriedly getting all the gear and some paperwork together. We were up and at 'em about 6:30 AM Thursday and left home at 7:45 AM. Susun and I worked as fast as we could laying string lines and marking court lines with pieces of blue painter's tape.

We didn't have enough tape to lay down solid lines so we used dashed lines. Shortly before 9:30, Dear Friend Babe Daley (second from right in top photo) strolled through the gym door to see what pickleball was all about.

Next in was CV Economic Development Staffer Sebyul Choe (far right in both photos). With her extensive experience in ping pong, tennis and racquetball, Sebyul might ultimately become CV's best pickleball player.

The CV Economic Development Director (and Dear Friend) Steve Ayers then arrived (far left in both photos).

And not long afterwards, Karen DuFresne and on Ryan (second & third from right in lower photo) walked in fully ready to play pickleball.

Babe threw out the first pickleball and Sebyul, Steve, Clair and myself played a first short game. Meanwhile, Camp Verde Mayor Charlie German dropped in to assess the pickleball hub-bub.

Sebyul and Steve had to return to their day jobs so Karen and Ryan stayed and eventually played the full two hours. Not long afterwards, Jane and Marshall Whitmire checked in to watch the action.

About 10:30 AM, former Camp Verde Major Tony Gioia came to take a peek at the action. He was not going to play but relented after being harassed and needled by all those on hand. It turned out that Tony has some awesome natural-born ability and he played great.

Karen's game steadily improved throughout the session and she ended the day by scoring a string of points with her serve. Son Ryan had played before and will soon be a formidable player. Karen later commented: "I was hesitant at first about playing but I ended up having a blast! I can't wait for the next game!!"

Toward the end of the session, two Camp Verde employees dropped in and had a delightful time volleying the ball back and forth. CV employee Maria said she hopes town employees will be able to play during their lunch hour.

All the tape was removed from the floor and the various stuff was packed up well before noon.
All-in-all, we consider the very first pickleball games played in Camp Verde to be a great success and we are pleased. It was well worth the time and expense. Now we will see what the future holds in terms of a possible regular weekly time slot.

Many HUGE Thanks for Susun for helping make the December 1st games happen!

(Additional comments follow each photo below.)

 Here's the location of the pickleball net in the gym. Technically, three courts could be set up in the facility but they would be cramped.  Two courts would be a much better idea.

 We are very appreciative of Camp Verde Parks & Recreation's willingness to "just say yes" to pickleball. 

Butler Park Outdoor Court

OK, here's a look at a very logical choice for an outdoor pickleball court...as long as it is used for informal and beginner play.  One constraint of the court makes it unsuitable for intermediate and advanced play.  We'll get to that later.

In the meantime, here's how this post works.  First, we're going to show you where this court is located and then drill down to look closer at the layout of the court itself.  Then we're going to go onto the court itself and show you how the actual pickleball court would lay out with respect to the pre-existing tennis court.  It's a very long post so be patient or be gone.  All photo captions and narratives are below each photo.

 The above photo shows just how far away the outdoor court is from the courts inside the Community Center Gym at Hollamon and Main Street.  Basically, Butler Park is located west of the High School.  We haven't measured the actual odometer distance but we're guessing 2-3 miles.

 The above photo shows where the court lies with respect to the Camp Verde High School on Montezuma Castle Highway north of OTCV (Old Town Camp Verde).

 It's a long walk from the  parking area to the Butler Park Tennis Court.  As far as we can tell, this is Camp Verde's ONLY tennis court.  Please correct us if we are wrong on that.  Anyway, you'd want a gear carrier of some sort.  A wheel barrow or an appliance truck would work fine to carry gear from the parking area to the court--it's quite a long way.  Eventually, we will get a measuring wheel and tell you precisely just how far it is in feet, meters and yards.

Technically, there's enough room on either end of this tennis court for a pickleball court (with caveats, of course).  But in reality during winter, there's only one logical court--the one at the north end that gets all the southern sun.  The south end is shaded by a thick tree cover and is not suitable for winter play---standing water stays forever there.

Here's a look at the north end of that tennis court.  Note that it is definitely wide enough for a pickleball court.

The end of the net would butt right up to the chain link fence.  And, yes, that's why this court is only suitable for informal/beginner-style play.  You simply couldn't chase a ball out into this area as you would run head long into the cyclone fence!  Not a good idea.

There's plenty of room on each end of the pickleball court.

Yes, the court surace needs some work but it's not really a big deal.  Just a little bit of elbow grease.

And finally, we'd be marking this court with sidewalk chalk--nothing permanent...yet.  Meanwhile NONE (repeat-after-me: NONE!) of the tennis court lines would be affected by having a pickleball court on one end.  ALL tennis court lines would remain unmolested!