Dave Thomas is Rochester’s Pickleball Advocate by Barbara Burke
The Town of Riga’s Recrea�on Supervisor for the last ten plus years, Dave Thomas, has a real love for the sport of Pickleball. He has been involved with the sport since 1983, a�er a chance discovery while a�ending a New York State Physical Educa�on Conference in Syracuse. “In between sessions at the conference, I came across a vendor who was promo�ng the sport of Pickleball, a sport that was taking off in the Sea�le area. It was something that was totally out of the mainstream, and it really stuck with me,” Thomas said. Pickleball was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from Sea�le, Washington. At the �me, Thomas was teaching Physical Educa�on to elementary school students, grades 3-6, in the Greece Central School District. He adjusted the sport for the ages of his students and taught it in his PE classes from 1983 un�l his re�rement in 2005. “I figure I taught it to about 8,000 students. When other schools in the Greece district got wind of what I was doing, it really took off.” A�er his re�rement in 2005, Thomas joined the Westside Family YMCA on Elmgrove Road. “I was winding up my so�ball playing career at that point and looking for another sport to play, I was surprised to see that they offered Pickleball. I signed up because I had never played with adults, I just taught it to
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my students. At that �me there were only two Pickleball courts in Rochester, and they were both located at the Westside YMCA.” A�er playing the sport, Thomas did some research and found out just how popular Pickleball had become across the na�on. He decided he wanted to be more involved, and registered with the USA Pickleball Associa�on (USAPA). The mission statement of USAPA is, “To promote the development and growth of Pickleball in the United States and its territories.” Thomas said, “A�er registering with USAPA, I quickly was named the first U.S. Pickleball Ambassador for Rochester, New York. Basically, the job of the Ambassador is to be the contact for anyone who wants to play the sport. Almost immediately, I started hearing from people from all across the U.S. People who were visi�ng, or moving to New York, snowbirds, everyone who wanted to play, wanted to also know where they could play Pickleball in New York. It just mushroomed, so many people were contac�ng me. With the help of many others, I started spreading the word about all of the interest in the sport, and was involved with bringing Pickleball to any town in the state that was interested. Today we have indoor and outdoor courts in just about every town in the Rochester area. This all grew from having just two courts at the Westside YMCA, now all the YMCAs have Pickleball courts,” Thomas said. Con�nued pg 15
