Meet Our Board

I became an HCPA member in early 2020 and then joined the Board in 2021 in order to provide tournaments to the pickleball community. Most of my play is at Locust Park but throughout the year I try to visit the various indoor and outdoor venues within Howard County.  I’m impressed that pickleball can be enjoyed by all ages. The sportsmanship and camaraderie of our pickleball community continues to attract new players. 

I am happy to be a Board Member of HCPA because I truly believe in the club’s mission – one that benefits all the pickleball players of the Howard County area, including adding more dedicated outdoor pickleball courts and further promoting and growing pickleball in the area through planned events and activities. I look forward to working for the HCPA Board to do just that and seeing all of you do the same! See you on the courts!

p.s. My dad still plays 5 days a week at almost 87 years old

I joined the board in 2016 as the first Secretary. About 20 people met at the YMCA and voted in the first board members. We worked hard, set up the organization, bought nets and started session behind the Ice Rink. We planned and made presentations to Columbia Association, Recreation and Parks and Neighborhood HOAs. It was fun and exciting, and we were very proud of what we accomplished. I left the board in 2017 so I could take care of my mom. I returned to the board in 2020 and was elected President of the Association in 2021. Since our first Board meeting we have grown into the wonderful organization we are today. We have more to accomplish, so I plan on remaining active in the Association for many years. And about my old friend, well, we still play together and laugh a lot! Paddles Up!

I learned that there was a program in Montgomery County where they were playing in a gym in Silver Spring on Tuesday nights.  I joined so I could play there weekly.  Although I was not very good, I had to learn fast since there were several very good players. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot from the other players. I also learned that I had developed a lot of bad habits that I had to break to get better.

Once while playing at CA, I ran into Duane St. Clair.  He was talking about organizing to develop more pickleball opportunities.  I told him I was interested.  Sometime in 2016, Duane organized a meeting at the library to figure out who was interested in working together to formulate a club or association.  We had about 25 people show up and many were interested. We next met at the YMCA and selected several attendees to develop a set of by-laws and investigate how to organize it.  I volunteered to create a website and hand it off to someone who could run it. Little did I know that I would be the one to run it.

We started the Howard County Pickleball Association (HCPA) early in 2016 and I was asked to join the board since I was managing the website. It was great getting to know a lot of very dedicated people who all really enjoyed pickleball. Duane, our new president, decided he didn’t want the website I developed using Google and asked me to develop it on another platform. I conferred with my son and, with much self-training, developed the WordPress version that we use today.

Four of the early members, Duane, Joanne Griesser, Ray Farrar and I took the opportunity to take lessons from a University of Maryland freshman, Ben Johns, who was making a name for himself. We had to drive down to College Park since he didn’t have a car at the time. We learned a lot and came back with some really good drills.

Over the years, I have really enjoyed playing pickleball and meeting many wonderful people through the association. As an association, we advocated for the pickleball courts at Atholton Park and convinced the Columbia Association to convert the tennis bubble at Owen Brown into Pickleball courts as well as paint lines on their public tennis courts. We have been working with Howard County Recreation & Parks since the beginning advocating for more Pickleball courts. When Duane left as President, he asked me to take over. Although reluctant due to my other volunteer positions I was handling, I agreed to take on one more additional job.  I ended up being President for three years, one more than I expected. I was lucky to solicit Joanne as my replacement so that I could focus on the other responsibilities of the association. My wife often says that although I’m retired, I still have a job working for HCPA. I have enjoyed playing with some terrific members, working with great folks, and watching our association grow. I look forward to continuing this enjoyment.

This led to me running a Thanksgiving tournament in 2021, while at the same time helping to get the TeamApp application up and running.  I became a Board member in 2022 and helped lead the effort to host the JOOLA Maryland Open in 2022 at the Owen Brown Tennis Club.  I remain amazed by the enthusiasm of others willing to help grow the sport of Pickleball. My future efforts will be focused on providing opportunities for students to play Pickleball at their schools in Howard County and throughout the state of Maryland, while at the same time creating more locations for Pickleballers to play.

I am grateful to the HCPA for organizing several open play sessions each week, and for supporting organizations, such as the Special Olympics.  I have met numerous wonderful people on the pickleball courts and have forged many lasting friendships through this amazing sport. I am honored to be a member of the Board and look forward to supporting new and existing HPCA members. Paddles up!!

I retired from teaching in the fall of 2019 just before Covid hit us. In the late winter of 2020 I was searching for something fun to do so I perused the Howard County Parks and Rec catalogue and found two things that interested me. Watercolor painting and . . . pickleball. What is pickleball? The class I chose was titled “Pickleball – not Tennis” taught by Marc Austin so I’m thinking this sport must resemble tennis in some way. I go to class and only two of us show up! From there I fell in love with pickleball and took every clinic I could under Marc Austin.

Fast forward to today. I pay good money to attend clinics to improve my skills, play tournaments (because the tournament head is very different from the rec head!), net-coordinate a couple of pickleball sessions every week, ref every now and then, and play recreationally almost everyday. My goal now is to become certified to teach.

But here is the thing. The best aspect of playing pickleball is the joy of meeting and socializing with good, fun people such as yourselves! So! See you on the court and paddles up gang!

I returned to Maryland on a mission to find others to play with. HCPA popped to the top of the list, and I was soon playing with other beginners. I love friendly competition and soon found myself on YouTube looking for all kinds of strategies that might help. I took several Marc Austin’s classes through HoCo Parks and Rec to really get going.

Since then, I’ve gotten my son and wife, Joshua, and Ann, involved, volunteered and refereed in tournaments, and started the DUPR session with Duane. There are so many great people in HCPA that continue to make this fun!

Look forward to seeing you on the courts!