Pickleball Places to Play: British West Indies

Growing pickleball while on vacation – in the British West Indies

This report was sent to the USAPA by John Hall, USAPA Ambassador from Hiawassee, Ga.

Two of our players from the Georgia Mountain Pickleball Club, Nancy and Carl Byxbee, recently vacationed in the BWI on the island of Provodeciales, which is located in the Turks & Caicos in the British West Indies. Since they were going to be away for 10 days the thought of no Pickleball for that length of time was more than they could bear, so they packed several balls, paddles, masking tape and checked in their portable net as luggage and flew to this enchanted island, which was voted the “Best Island in the World” by Trip Advisor.

Since they had all this gear along they decided to try and introduce the game to the island. Soon after arrival they searched out the local recreation center which happened to be the Graceway Sports Center (Centre, their spelling) (www.gracewaysports.com), a stateof-the-art operation with a 12,000 square foot indoor court, 4 beautiful tennis courts, badminton, squash, martial arts, group fitness classes, a very well equipped gym, basketball, soccer, hockey, and more.

They approached Adina Ciurar, General Manager of the Center and she was very excited about this “new game” and immediately put out an email message to all their patrons as well as posting the information on Facebook. Needless to say, the sessions were a big hit and they taught numerous islanders and some tourists how to play.

Nancy and Carl decided that, since it went so well, they would leave as a gift to the islanders their four paddles, a dozen balls, and their portable net. This was a great and selfless gift Nancy and Carl gave to these remote island dwellers. This is one of those gifts that keeps on giving. Pickleball is now well established in the BWI and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it flourish and spread throughout the island chain. The Georgia Mountain Pickleball Club is very proud of these two enthusiastic supporters and for their generous gift to the people of “Provo.”