Pickleball in Big Sky
Country—
Missoula, Montana
“ZooTown”
S
I presented the idea and role at the Ambassador’s Dinner
during Nationals and it took off from there.
What has been your primary focus with the USAPA over
the years?
My initial focus was to work with cities in the Phoenix Metro
area to build public courts. In the first two years we had
meetings with the cities of Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Tempe,
Mesa and Phoenix. My goal as a District Ambassador was to
see outdoor courts built for public use. Phoenix Metro has a
huge number of places to play, but nearly all of them are private
communities. If the sport were to grow in this area and others,
we need public facilities. Since our involvement, along with a
great team of ambassadors, we will have grown the number
of free public outdoor courts from 0 in 2016 to more than 60
by 2019. That paradigm shift in accessible places to play was
seen as astronomical growth of new players and current player
development. It also laid the foundation of the most common
question we get from schools—where can students and their
families play? We now have that answered.
Where do you see growth coming from in the world of
pickleball?
From students, their parents and the general public. No
longer do we get the question of ‘What’s pickleball?’ Now the
question is, ‘When is the next class?’
Are schools, secondary level, colleges and universities
beginning to embrace pickleball? Schools are clamoring for
a chance to learn and build the sport. The most interesting
part is the development of another new ambassador type—the
Collegiate Ambassador. Arizona has the first two in Andre
Mooney and his wife, Tanya, and also Matt Hampton. Both are
faculty members at Grand Canyon University and they developed
the concept of how to build pickleball as a club sport and
intramural sport. They, along with Ernie Medina, an ambassador
ix years ago, several snowbird couples
approached the Missoula Parks and Recreation
Department about finding a location for pickleball.
Parks and Rec were more than happy to “serve,” as they
found a place to play during the summer and winter
months.
As with many communities, the new organizers
were anxious and started chalking lines and setting up
temporary nets. Weather being what it is in the spring
and fall in Big Sky country, led to a modest fundraiser to
obtain $1,300 to permanently paint lines on the outdoor
Fort Missoula tennis courts. Indoor play was set up in
a small gym, also with permanently painted lines for
courts. For a small fee, play was established nearly seven
days a week.
Plans for permane nt pickleball courts were soon
realized with the bond-funded Fort Missoula Regional
Park. Initially, the plan was to build four pickleball
courts, but Parks and Rec went the extra mile and added
two more for a total of six. Through various activities,
the local pickleball community rallied behind the new
project and raised the necessary funds to build the two
additional courts with donations, raffles and t-shirts and
lapel pin sales. The new facility is affectionately called
“ZooTown” and has hosted clinics and lessons by top
professional pickleballers such as Sarah Ansboury and
Tyson McGuffin.
Missoula boasts the largest pickleball community in
the state of Montana and is currently staging numerous
outdoor and indoor tournaments during the year. They
welcome one and all to visit and check out the wonderful
ZooTown property.
Continued on next page >
MAY/JUNE 2018 |
MAGAZINE
61