You might say that I have become obsessed with pickleball.

If you haven't heard of the sport, pickleball, you are not alone. I had never heard of it until one day a few months ago when I was chatting with Precy Tamaki, who said that she and her husband were so excited about the new Pickle Ball Court at Franklin Park.

My 8-year-old daughter, Willow, and I played a set at the park and fell in love with the sport. We now have our own pickleball paddles and balls and Willow has given us a nickname for our Mommy-Daughter pickleball duo, "Team Star-Fans". Her nickname is "Wolffie" and she said my name is "Mommy Shark". (How cute!) I even became a member of the newly-formed Yakima Pickleball Club (you can become a member for $30).

There was a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Franklin Park pickleball court yesterday (Wednesday, September 11, 2019) and I was so excited that I canceled my other plans so that I could attend it. When I showed up for the festivities, I was shocked to see the event had brought out quite a few Yakima-area "celebrities"!

Present at the new Franklin Park pickleball court ribbon-cutting ceremony was Yakima Parks and Recreation's Ken Wilkinson along with Board Chairman Rod Bryant, Yakima mayor, Cathy Coffey, Senator Curtis King (who promised he'd learn how to play so that he could take down one of his friends on the pickleball court), Representatives Gina Mosbrucker and Chris Corry, City Councilwoman Kay Funk and Interim Assistant City Manager, Cynthia Martinez.

Court #3 was dedicated to my friend Precy and her husband, Blaine Tamaki, and Court #1 was named after the husband and wife team, Bob and Kelley Guchee, who run the Yakima Pickleball Club.

You can also play pickleball at the Yakima Tennis Club for $12 a day if you are not a tennis club member and I heard that the new YMCA Aquatic Center will have a pickleball court, too. Indeed, pickleball is taking over Yakima by storm!

Someday soon, I would to start up my own youth pickleball club so that my kiddo Willow can follow one of her dreams to "become a legendary pickleball player!"

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