Aiken Pickleball News

Aiken Area Pickleball League End of Season Party

The Aiken Area Pickleball League held its end-of-season party on 12/13/25 from 11-12. Players arrived with toys and canned goods donations to help kick off the event and support the Golden Harvest toy and food drive, that followed from 12-3. The league honored each division’s overall team winner with a medal and recognized each division’s Most Valuable Player for their outstanding performances.

Team Winners:

- Developmental Division: The Real Dills

- Women’s 3.0: Dinking Divas

- Women’s 3.5: Carolina Strikers

- Mixed 3.5: Palmetto Slice

Most Valuable Player:

- Developmental Division: Sharon Marra & Vahid Majidi

- Women’s 3.0: Jackie Brooks

- Women’s 3.5: Tracey Howell

- Men’s 3.0: Brad Wilson

- Mixed 3.5: Clarke & Larissa Nelson

Two lucky players had their tickets drawn and won a gift basket. Marion Van Eyk Quigley won a holiday-themed snack basket, while Vahid Majidi won a pickleball-themed basket! Congratulations!

The weather was perfect for a December Saturday, and many players hit the courts for some fun games while soaking up the sun with full bellies of pizza, sweets, and drinks.

The Aiken Area Pickleball League wants to express its gratitude to each of you for your participation and support. The Leadership Team is actively planning Spring 2026 season and will announce more details, including dates and important dates, in January! We look forward to seeing you all in Spring 2026 and wish you each a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

City of Aiken Parade Participation

On Sunday, December 7, 2025, members of the Aiken Area Pickleball League joined the City of Aiken Parade. The League Leadership Team and other participants created a festive float with a Christmas Pickleball theme, spreading Pickleball cheer to everyone watching. Their involvement was recognized with a thank-you note from the Aiken Downtown Development Association.

Thank You for Being Part of the 2025 Downtown Aiken Christmas Parade!

Good morning,

On behalf of the Aiken Downtown Development Association, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you for participating in the 2025 Downtown Aiken Christmas Parade. Your enthusiasm, creativity, and holiday spirit helped make this year’s parade a truly special celebration for our entire community.

We know it takes time and effort to prepare your entry, gather your group, and join us on parade day, and we are so grateful for your commitment. The joy you brought to the streets of Downtown Aiken was felt by everyone who came out to watch.

Thank you again for being part of this cherished Aiken tradition. We hope you had a wonderful experience and that you will join us again next year!

Final Election Results for new API Board

On Monday November 10th, the current API Leadership Team met to vote on the new board governance. The following five members were elected by majority vote to serve on the API Board, starting January 1, 2026, for a period of two years: Jordyn Balba, Rochelle Bergren, Dean Cheatham, Nichol Gregory, and Chrissa Matthews This morning, the elected members for 2026-2028 confirmed their nominations and the Board positions were finalized.

Jordyn Balba – President

Chrissa Matthews – Vice President

Rochelle Bergren – Secretary

Dean Cheatham – Treasurer

Nichol Gregory – Board Advisory Representative

API would like to extend our gratitude to all who applied. The high caliber of talent within the Aiken community is evident. We are hopeful that everyone will collaborate to improve Aiken Pickleball for all members, in alignment with API’s mission statement,

Odell Weeks and Smith-Hazel gym closures

Smith-Hazel is closed for pickleball on all Wednesdays the entire month of June for Summer Camp.

Important Change at Gregg Park.

Just to remind the Sign-up for court reservations at Gregg Park will now be available at 8pm on Wednesday evenings vice Thursday mornings. Also the calendar for Gregg Park will no longer appear on our website. There are copies of the Gregg Park calendar in the bin behind the front desk. If you have any questions, direct them to Help Desk at AikenPickleball@gmail.com. Note: The sign up for court reservations at Gregg Park will remain the same after July 1st - nothing is going to change.

Gregg Park Civic Center Sign-up

How to reach the Sign up Genius

As some of you experience, the website was down this morning and you couldn't reach the Odell/Smith-Hazel and Gregg Park sign up genius to make a court reservation. Others had no problems at all as they had probably bookmarked the SUG sites.

As the Aiken Pickleball website is old, we cannot guarantee this will not happen again. We have added the Odell SUG Link to our Facebook page. You can access the Gregg Park SUG through its description box and vice versa.

Link to Odell SUG

Would suggest you copy this link and put it someplace you can easily access without using the website. Our apologies for this morning’s inconvenience and note that we shared your frustration.

Drop In Play

Just a friendly reminder that drop in play hours are strictly for drop in play and are not for personal groups to meet and play on a specific court. Drop in play hours are from 8:45 - 11 AM, with skill level/court designation from 10 - 11 AM. During the skill designation period, courts 1-3 are for new players up to a 3.0 rating, with court 3 designated for beginners, and courts 4-6 are for skill levels 3.5 and higher.

New Players Clinic at Odell - Wednesday, January 14th

The next New Players Clinic at Odell will be on Wednesday, January 14th. The clinic will be held in Gym 2 on court 4. The clinic is for people new to the game of pickleball. Schedule as follows:

845-9am - Check-in

9 - 10 am - Instruction

10 - 11am - Practice Play

The clinic will include proper court position, how to keep score, how to make the transition from tennis and other racquet sports to pickleball and much more. Maximum 5 players - minimum 3 - balls and paddles provided. Players should wear tennis shoes and bring something to drink.

Cost is $15 per person which includes the daily access fee. The clinic also includes a free two hour practice play session the following Wednesday. Sign up and pay at the Odell Weeks front desks to reserve your slot in advance. Bring your receipt to the clinic.

Drop-in-play at Gregg Park now Fridays from 1045am-1pm

Starting in February, the drop-in-play mixed level at Gregg Park on Fridays will be from 1045am-1pm. It was moved from Friday evenings so players would not have to drive in the dark under possible icy conditions.