Hi gang!
Pickleball & More (718 Dartmouth Street, Dartmouth) is open for indoor pickleball action! Yesterday afternoon, Karen, Earl “The Pearl,” Sarah “Fighting” Frink and I officially baptized the courts with 3 hours of uninterrupted, Rock ‘em Sock ‘em play! Let’s get down to basics…

Pickleball & More got it right!

This pickle palace is well-designed. Plenty of room all around. Even Paul “The Lobster” Gillis will be gratified with this venue!

Big PROS:

Surface is EXCEPTIONAL! Quality, rubberized, high friction, contrast-colored court surface provides true bounce, no skidding (even on the white lines), traction, safety, easy on the knees. A “10” on the Dan Butler scale.

Viz: At first I thought the walls might suffer from dreaded “Lakeville White-out” syndrome, but I was wrong. Background walls are a subdued/pale gray… just enough to offer the contrast necessary to follow the ball up high. MUCH better than Hanover Pickles when it comes to ambient light from parking lot windows. The darker gray at Southcoast is better, but “Dartmouth Gray” isn’t bad.

Lighting: Sufficient. If you’re due for cataract surgery this year, stay outdoors or with Southcoast and Lakeville, but Pickleball & More is nearly enough. A bit more indirect, bright white lighting would be a nice enhancement, but younger players may not see any problem here.

Competition: I like how P&M has stratified skill level open play. With so many courts, they can pull it off. Right now, slots are easy to grab. That won’t last long. Grab a slot quickly when you see your desired skill level, day, times.

Atmosphere: Honest-to-goodness picklers designed this place and it shows. Ample room all around… quality equipment… nets between courts… snacks, hydration, clean ladies’ room, awesome background music! “Another One Bites the Dust!” Most importantly, the staff are picklers and they’re pumped, excited, helpful, happy, reasonable, knowledgeable, fun, etc. Kim, Denise, Chris, Suzette, Kirsten, etc., are welcoming and ready to jump in and play! Dan DeTerra was standing by to instruct.

Pro shop: What you’d expect… demo paddles. paddles to purchase, balls, attire. Disappointed there was no DETAGU attire to purchase…

Pros: Good line up of excellent instructors. If you can grab a slot with Jess “The Professor” Rego, you’ll be lucky! She’s OUTSTANDING and fun. Even though Karen claims I’m not trainable, I took several lessons from Jess this summer and LOVED it!

Capacity: With 9 courts, this pickle palace is a tourney director’s dream. Expect tournaments and league play soon.

Paparazzi: There were none in evidence today, but rumor has it that Katie Frink is playing tomorrow morning, so expect helicopters, Staties, t-shirt vendors, ESPN, crowd control…

CONS:

I could quibble over the lighting and wall color, but I won’t. The EXCEPTIONAL surface makes up for it…

Cost. Player ratios to available courts is lower than Southcoast, so expect longer wait times between games when the event is full. Otherwise, cost is comparable to Southcoast. Nobody beats the Y, of course.

That’s it for now. If you have a chance to try P&M and can offer additional insight to Buzz Bay players, post it here.

In summary, it’s “hats off” to the owner and staff at P&M. They’re adding much needed indoor capacity for our growing sport in our region, and a special thanks to Kim Mitchell for all she has done to promote the growth of our favorite pastime here along our beautiful south coast!

Is anyone still playing at the Wareham Y on Thursday evenings?

Is anyone playing at the Y tonight?

I just opted out of Marion this afternoon because of lack of interest. Plan to go to Y.

Where is today at 2? Marion? If so, I'm in.