People naturally assume that it is difficult to grow young plants in the Arizona desert, but in fact, those plants can grow well here — if taller plants stand alongside them, providing valuable shade, humidity and protection.
Turns out, the same type of growing is found in the world of pickleball.
A healthy junior program recently has sprung up in Northeast Mesa, and thanks to the support of enthusiastic older players, young players now are gravitating to pickleball like roots gravitate to water.
Red Mountain Ranch Country Club pickleball director Ryan Trefry, himself a California transplant to Arizona, had a dream of bringing organized competitive pickleball to junior players in the Valley. In March he invited Mesa K-12 students to participate in four USAPA-sponsored free junior clinics held at RMRCC.
Almost overnight, the clinics filled up.
“Kids love to be active, love to play games, and love challenging themselves,” Ryan explained. “That’s what the clinics were all about.”
Ryan said he had many positive takeaways from those clinics, which in turn reaffirmed his hopes for building a strong foundational program for junior players.
“Coaching juniors is different from coaching an adult. Juniors are a little more raw, and oftentimes easier to teach because they have no prior experience. They are blank slates, not bringing any bad habits to the game.”
Because so many juniors signed up for the free clinics, Ryan knew he needed help to give the players the attention they needed. He turned to his adult players, and eleven RMRCC picklers immediately volunteered to register kids or coach a group of their own.
Kathy Hawthorne, one of the volunteers, said she saw happy faces — both young and old — everywhere she looked during the clinic.
“I thought it was fabulous first of all to see all the adults who normally wouldn’t be interacting with such young kids have such big smiles on their faces,” Kathy said. “It was amazing how quickly the kids picked up the game, and the adults almost had more fun than the kids, just giving them ownership — showing them that this is going to be their game, and that they could do it.”
Eight-year-old Marley Snider said she had a great experience at the clinic she attended. “I felt good because of all the big kids that were there,” Marley said. “I liked playing the games with them”
Marley, who now says pickleball is her favorite sport, said she loved the drills she got to practice with her fellow junior players. “My favorite part was playing from the baseline. I really like to practice hitting from the baseline and making volleys at the kitchen,” she explained.
To continue the momentum started by the free clinics, Ryan is now offering beginning, intermediate, and intermediate/advanced junior clinics on Mondays and Thursdays. The clinics run for an hour and begin either at 4 p.m. or 5 p.m.
In addition, Ryan will be offering a junior pickleball summer camp in June and July. “At camp we will have different units covering different skills,” Ryan said. “It will be a different experience for every kid. And we will also have water balloon fights and games on the grass. We want to give them a chance to be kids while learning the sport of pickleball.”
Parents can register their child for the Monday/Thursday clinics or the June/July summer camp sessions by going to pickleballforjuniors.com. For more information, call or text Ryan at (623) 444-0987, or email him at TrefPickleball@gmail.com.