If you've been reading along on this blog for awhile, you might have noticed that I like using pickleball related alliterations in my titles.
Today's alliterative word is Shadowing: The strategy in Pickleball of moving in tandem with your team partner, keeping roughly 10 feet between each other. Both players move laterally, approach the net or retreat to the baseline together in sync. It's definitely something I need to work on!
Ky and I couldn't see our shadows on the way up Hood Canal to Sequim (pronounced "Skwim") because it was raining. Not uncommon in the Northwest, but Sequim is known to be in a rain shadow, and in the middle of a Blue Hole which is a geographic anomaly. It is in a small region northwest of the city of Seattle, and it experiences significantly dryer and brighter weather than surrounding locations.
We checked in to Diamond Point Inn Bed & Breakfast and we were happy to learn that it is co-owned by a pickleball fanatic, Sandi, and Bob who is a gourmet chef and organic gardener. Bob makes the most amazing breakfasts for guests daily. Their beautiful home is on ten wooded acres, and they rent it out primarily through Airbnb. They have a spacious duplex cottage separate from their home at the back of the property.
Bob and Sandi are members of a group which could be poster children for how to get courts built by creating a public/private partnership. A group calling themselves the Sequim Picklers, raised funds to build high quality courts on land owned by the city. For a history of how they did it, read a well written article which does not have the author's name, but it has been attributed to Debbie Madden (please correct me if this is incorrect) at:
Here is a good pictorial overview of their journey to inspire you: https://www.sequimpicklers.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/merged-pictorial-2.pdf
Our first morning in Sequim, we optimistically went with Sandi to the courts, but they were wet and it was misting lightly. Despite being a "blue hole" they have to have rain sometime to keep everything so green!
We had much better luck the second day and we joined in fun play on the high quality purpose built courts. Members have developed a calendar that allows for open and rated play. See link to the calendar below.
Sequim has so many stunning views and activities that on those few hours a day that you're not playing pickleball you can walk for miles on beaches, visit lavender fields that rival those in France, eat Dungeness crab to you hearts delight and much more. Give it a go!
If you go:
Google Plus Code 3WJ8+9M Sequim, Washington, USA
As of the time of writing, the location of the pickleball courts still shows on Google maps as a dirt pile.
Happy Shadowing from Sequim :-)
Stay tuned for my next post about another private court in the area!