Today, August 8th, is “National Pickleball Day.” I know this because practically every pickleball vendor who has my email address has sent me a reminder, along with a discount code or some other promotion related to the day.
I had to wonder, what is the significance of August 8th in particular, and what is the background of the day and who created it. So to google I went.
Per multiple sources online, the creation of the day is attributed to “pickleball instructor Dierdre Morris.” Dierdre, better known as “Dee,” is a certified instructor and USAP ambassador in the San Francisco east-bay suburb of Lafayette. Among other places, Morris is the instructor at the “Lafayette Rink” facility, adjacent to the Lafayette community center, which is a multi-sport facility that includes a full-sized hockey outline and which fits six pickleball courts.
I point this out because, amazingly, this facility is about a quarter mile from where my aunt and uncle lived for the better part of two decades. It’s a small world.
Why August 8th? I suspected initially that it was an homage to the origin story of the sport, where two dads came home from golfing one summer day in 1965 and essentially invented the sport. August 8th, 1965 was the first weekend of August, consistent with the origin story. I’d like to think Morris picked the day as a guess of the day the three inventors codified the initial rules, estimated by founder Joel Pritchard himself as the “July-August” timeframe of 1965.
However, post-publishing I got a comment from one Spencer Pon (hat tip!) who told me Dee picked the August 8th day because it’s her birthday. Fair enough; either explanation works well.
Morris is now part of an organization called Pickleball Organized, which does full service pickleball event planning and tournaments in Marin County, and Morris does a ton of work with juniors from an instructional and organizational perspective.
Thanks to Morris for taking the impetus to create this day of recognition, which clearly is gaining a ton of traction in 2024. I plan on celebrating the day by … playing in my regular Thursday night 6 p.m. drop-in group. Oh, and by continuing to cover the sport that I’ve grown to love.
Read the full article here
