LEMON GROVE PICKLEBALL CLUB GAINS SUPPORT OF CITY COUNCIL AND SCHOOL BOARD

By Jessyka Heredia

Watch full video here: https://youtu.be/9eVR6E2iT-Q?si=ruAipWxlOeyjnYcX

August 31, 2023 (Lemon Grove) – Yesterday the Lemon Grove Pickleball and Social Club attended the annual joint meeting between the city council and school board. The group of pickleballers came in energetic and excited to promote a healthy lifestyle and neighborhood unity through America’s fastest growing sport.

The pickleball club has been asking for permission to paint lines on the already existing tennis/ volleyball courts behind the recreation center. The school owns the blacktop but the city has a joint use agreement with the school district for public access on  weekends at the fields and blacktop area behind the recreation center. The school is also permitted to use the recreation center gym and youth rooms per the agreement. The city owns the recreation center building, making the joint use agreement complicated, but also opening up opportunities for the community of all ages at the same time.  

The Lemon Grove Pickleball club has been on a long journey to gain the support from both the city and the school district at the same time due to the joint agreement. So, what better way to address both boards then at the joint meeting together?

All of the elected officials seemed excited for what this club has been able to do since they formed in 2022.City councilmember Liana LeBaron said, “If we rally behind what the community is saying, there is absolutely nothing we can’t accomplish as a team.” School board President Greg Shibley who also attends the pickleball club on Saturdays stated “What I’m struck with every week is how they have a fully formed organization that is already promoting Lemon Grove. People are coming from outside Lemon Grove for this kind of thing.”  

The pickleball club has been painstakingly taping the lines on the blacktop every Saturday which is time consuming, costly and produces unnecessary trash, so simply adding pickleball lines to the existing courts is the best plan to lower Lemon Grove’s environmental impact. However, the pickleball club would be satisfied to start with having an area to store the tape, balls and paddles and asked both boards for permission to so at their own expense of furnishing a form of storage locker. There did seem to be some concern on both sides about where there was space for this storage both on city property or school property. 

School board member Dr. Javier Ayala was in support of creating a space for pickleball as well as other sports in the future saying, “I love the passion. I love the idea of the connection, the comradery all that stuff is really exciting to me. I get the sense that we really want to encourage the administration to really look to how to make a fair use agreement, where pickleball or whoever else, is able to use it in a way that meets all these concerns we have raised.”

ECM reached out to Jules Deamicis, the main organizer of the club to find out how many members are in this popular club in Lemon Grove. De Amicis told ECM, “We have 685 members on Facebook and 154 members on Instagram. But we don't require people to pay a monthly fee, so we don't have any official membership. We've also had hundreds of people participate in person, but I don't have an official count anymore because I stopped collecting sign-ups along the way so I could focus more on the experience people were having.”

When asked about the need for storage Deamicis stated, “Lemon Grove Pickleball requires a storage container with a lock, so we can keep our equipment accessible by all our attendees. This is less pressing, but we also hope for painted pickleball lines and new nets. We have money to donate to accomplish this.”

After the meeting ended, the club was awarded a check donation of $5,000 from local Non-profit, Neighborhood Enrichment Organization to help them get closer to their goals of painting lines on the blacktop.

Deamicis says, “The Lemon Grove Pickleball and social club is more than a sports club; it’s a symbol of love in Lemon Grove. It’s about uplifting people and getting healthy.” Deamicis says that one of the reasons she helped form the club was to “bring people back together after the pandemic to combat loneliness and fear” that many experienced during shutdowns. Deamicis expressed that they have a “unique culture happened as a result because its about Lemon Grove.”

The city and school board did give the pickleball club a commitment to have a meeting between city manager Lydia Romero and school Superintendent Erica Balakian and representatives of the club to come to some form of agreement moving forward before the calendar year ends.

Balakian did propose a pilot joint use agreement for use of additional school fields for public use on weekends at San Altos and San Miguel elementary schools. Romero said that they will look into the budget and logistics to hopefully make that proposal work. Board member Cheryl Roberton showed interest in also bringing back access to the softball field behind the recreation center, which was removed by an amendment in 2019.

If you would like to learn to play pickleball or are already a novice, there is a place for you at Lemon Grove Pickleball and social Club. They encourage all ages and experience levels and even offer free lessons. Just show up on Saturday mornings a 8:30 a.m. on the blacktop located behind the Recreation Center at 3131 School Lane, Lemon Grove.