The Greenwich Pickleball Origin Story

An Interview with USAPA Pickleball Ambassador Betsy Underhill

“For me, being here from the beginning has been an incredible ride. I’ve been pulled into other towns like Rye Brook, Mamaroneck, Rye, Wilton, New Canaan, Stamford and Harrison, through numerous clubs and civic centers. The thrill of watching people learn a new sport, having so much fun and meeting new people, never wears thin for me. It just makes me happy to know that others see the enjoyment, just as I did. Pickleball’s an incredible sport.”

GREENWICH PICKLEBALL - So Betsy, how did you get introduced to Pickleball?

BETSY - It was winter of 2010 and a good friend of mine, Renie Blair, asked me to bring Pickleball to Greenwich. She thought it made sense since I was the Greenwich High School varsity tennis coach. Renie had played the game out west and wanted to play in Greenwich. I was a means to an end!

Four months later I finally agreed to go try it.

But the only place Pickleball was being played in CT was in Ridgefield, where a gym teacher named Janice Pauley had retired from teaching in 2008 and decided to introduce the game to the town.

I immediately got hooked and started driving to Ridgefield twice a week to play.

Four months after that I signed up to become the USA Pickleball Association Ambassador for this area - which is just a fancy name for someone who agrees to promote the sport.

GREENWICH PICKLEBALL - So you agreed to ‘promote the sport’. What was your first step?

BETSY - In Spring of 2010 I bought a net and four paddles, and asked Frank Gabriel, the manager at the Western Civic Center, if he’d let me use the gym to put on a demo for different heads of different organizations in town. He quickly agreed.

We had people from the Boys & Girls Club, the YMCA, and a few others attend. They all got pretty excited.

Frank was very supportive and said I could use the gym in off times, if I brought my net and paddles. Since I had no players, I tried to get as many tennis friends as possible to come try. No fees were charged. I taught everyone I knew, and it started to grow.

This is when Dee Woods - who I’d coached with at GHS - joined in to play. She claims it was out of pity, as I was so desperate for players!

Greenwich Pickleball - As the number of players grew, I’m guessing you began to outgrow the Civic Center facility. What came next?

Betsy - So now it was summer of 2011 and we wanted to play outside. So I approached the Town about using the Loughlin Avenue paddle tennis courts. Because paddle is a winter sport and the courts were sitting unused, it made sense.

The Town said yes, and before we knew it, we had a huge group playing outside there all summer long.

This is when we introduced the sport to a few town Parks and Rec folks - they got hooked as well and support increased when they saw how popular the sport was among town residents.

Demand kept growing and thankfully, Dee Woods agreed to help teach the clinics.

Greenwich Pickleball - Whatever happened with the other, non Parks & Rec organizations? Did any programs get going elsewhere in town?

Betsy - Yes! A few programs got started. In 2010 we brought Pickleball to the YMCA and played there for several years before it became too expensive for non-members to participate. At the time, Parks & Rec programs were more affordable.

In 2012 I approached Chelsea Piers in Stamford, while it was under construction, about bringing a Pickleball group there.

We agreed to play on the basketball courts, next to the fields. Chelsea wanted the lines laid and removed every time we played. It wasn’t feasible so the program ended after one season.

Greenwich Pickleball: So you keep teaching and more and more town residents are learning to love Pickleball. Where are they playing? Surely not just at Western Civic Center and the Paddle courts, that’s just four courts for the entire town.

Betsy - Exactly! By 2013 we had hundreds of Greenwich residents playing Pickleball - all taught for free and clamoring for court time. We definitely needed more town courts.

It took a while to work out the details, but Eastern Civic Center in Old Greenwich agreed to let us line three courts in the gym. That allowed us to accommodate winter demand and expand our clinics.

Twice a year we had to re-line all three courts at EGCC due to wear & tear. So we had a group of volunteers, myself, Patricia Troiano from Parks and Rec, Dee Woods and a few more. What a community effort!

Greenwich Pickleball - So up until now Pickleball in Greenwich was basically bootstrapped by you and Dee Woods. Was there a turning point when you knew the scales had tipped and you were getting somewhere more ‘official’?

Betsy - Two ‘events’ changed the course of Town Pickleball in Greenwich.

First, Patricia Troiano, a former tennis coach, joined Parks and Rec in 2013. Along with Sue Snyder, she tried Pickleball and saw the potential benefit for town residents - and saw that town facilities could be easily adapted.

Then, in a big step forward, in 2014 the town agreed to line our first two official outdoor Pickleball courts at Christiano Park. They repurposed one of the two tennis courts in the park. Sue Snyder was instrumental in getting that done.

We had a ribbon cutting ceremony and got a lot of press coverage.

Greenwich Pickleball - So the sport is really taking off. What came next?

Betsy - In 2015 we held our first of four annual Greenwich Pickleball tournaments at Eastern Civic Center. The tournament was a huge success with 24 teams participating. Any pair could sign up (mixed, all women or all men). Everyone was lumped together.

After the first year we separated women and men, and eventually added levels, as the tournament grew in size from year to year.

We haven’t been able to hold the tournament since COVID, but we’ll be back!

Greenwich Pickleball - What about outside programs at this point. Did Pickleball gain any traction elsewhere in Town?

Betsy - Yes! In 2017 the YWCA brought in Pickleball. I ran the introductory night where over 60 people showed-up, all different levels, on four courts. Pickleball was officially part of the YWCA program offerings until COVID.

Greenwich Pickleball - Can you bring us up-to-date for December 2021? Where are we now?

Betsy - We were finally able to hold clinics and open play again starting in spring of 2021, after canceling these during COVID.

This November we gained two new outdoor courts! Right now we have four Pickleball-lined tennis courts at Loughlin Ave, two official courts at Christiano and two new lined tennis courts at Western Middle School.

We have five indoor courts at the two Civic Centers, but we’ll be losing Easter CC soon due to construction.

The town also added more clinics, which were limited at first, but now run all year, both indoor and out, at a reasonable cost. The clinics fill up fast, so I’m always telling people to register early!

The Town is definitely responding to residents who want more Pickleball resources.

We still need more courts and we’re working on it!

Read the Greenwich Pickleball Timeline.