John DiBuono has a passion for pickleball.
So much so that he is instructing some pickleball clinics at the Ellwood Area Family Center, 311 College Street, Ellwood City, just in time for April’s National Pickleball Month.
Although pickleball has picked up recently in popularity, it has been around for decades. 2024 marks the 59th anniversary of pickleball. It was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from Seattle, by three enterprising dads – Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum. It evolved from the original handmade equipment and simple rules into a popular sport throughout North America and is now taking off in other parts of the world.
“The clinics will be free and offered for ages 12 and up,” DiBuono said.
Clinics will be held Thursday April 25 from 6 to 7:15 p.m. and Tuesday April 30 from 6 to 7:15 p.m. There is no need to sign up, and equipment will be provided for use during the clinics thanks to the Ellwood City Area Chamber of Commerce which provided the equipment through a grant.
“There are three courts at the Family Center that are used for Pickleball,” DiBuono said.
DiBuono, who will be teaching the clinics, is the physical education teacher at Lincoln High School and has been playing pickleball since 1989 at Youngstown State University in a class that was called racquet sports. He continued that trend when he started substitute teaching and then became a full-time teacher at Lincoln High School. He said the class at Lincoln was started by Robert Timmerman in 1993, after getting the idea to offer the class from Ron Sciarro who was a teacher at Riverside High School and was playing pickleball in his physical education classes.
In addition to the special clinics being offered, the Ellwood Area Family Center offers pickball for Aged 55+ in mornings on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. and costs $2 to participate. There is also pickleball offered on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 4:45 to 6 p.m. that is open to any age and costs $5 to participate.
And if you have noticed the pickleball courts in Ewing Park, DiBuono and his friend Herman Petti were monumental in bringing those facilities to the Park.
“I give a lot of the credit to Herman because he sent a lot of letters and presented a lot of information to Ellwood City Borough Council,” he said. “In addition, the Kitchen Cabinet donated $5,000 for the fence surrounding the courts.”
In case you are wondering what pickleball is, according to USA Pickleball, “Pickleball is a court sport played on a badminton-sized court with the net set to a height of 34 inches at the center. It is played with a perforated plastic ball and composite or wooden paddles about twice the size of ping-pong paddles. It can be played indoors or outdoors and is easy for beginners to learn, but can develop into a fast-paced, competitive game for experienced players. In addition, the game has developed a passionate following due to its friendly, social nature, and its multi-generational appeal. Pickleball can be played as singles or doubles. New players can learn the basic rules quickly in a single session. No special apparel is needed – just something comfortable and appropriate for a court sport. Equipment is inexpensive and easily portable. The game can be played by all ages and is particularly popular in school physical education programs and in adult living communities.”
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