About

The Pickleball News Digest began April 29, 2017.  It is maintained and edited by John Parsons.  Parsons lives in Rimrock, Arizona, from November-April and Idaho Falls, Idaho, May through October.

Parsons was named USAPA Idaho Falls Ambassador on June 4, 2017.   He maintains a blog for Idaho Falls Pickleball here: http://idahofallspickleball.blogspot.com/ 

Parsons began playing pickleball in the late Summer 2016.  He learned at the Idaho Falls APPLE Athletic club and was mentored by Austen Felton.  On December 1st, Parsons began the Camp Verde, Arizona  Pickleball program in cooperation with the Town's Parks & Recreation Division. The program was an immediate success and has averaged 167 players per month in the January through April 2017  time period.

Parsons recruited six stalwart volunteers who will continue the Camp Verde program during the spring-summer-fall time period.  When Parsons began working with the Parks & Recreation, the town's major new park plans included zero pickleball courts.  Now the final plan includes 8 courts.

During his 2016-17 Arizona Season, Parsons has played pickleball in Springdale, Utah, Cottonwood Recreation Center, Sedona Posse Grounds, Payson Rumsey Park, Dewey's Orchard Ranch RV Park, Prescott's Willow Hills Baptist Church, The Phoenix Paradise Valley Community Center, The Phoenix Deer Valley Community Center, the North Tempe Multigenerational Center, Mesa's Gene Autry Tennis Center, Mesa's Red Mountain Multigenerational Center, Gilbert's Farnsworth Center, Fountain Hills, the North Phoenix Baptist Church Family Life Center, and the Flagstaff Aquaplex.

Over 50 pickleball sessions have been conducted at the Camp Verde Pickleball program.

The goal for the Pickleball News Digest is to keep an eye on national pickleball news and put interesting stories in an online location where they can be found and easily shared.