The Pickle Post
and Coaches Corner
04 October 2026
NEWS
ANNUAL MEETING AND BOARD ELECTION
The PPA Annual Meeting will be held on Oct 9 at 11am at the Grace Sparkes Activity Center, 824 E Gurley St, Prescott, AZ 86301. A web meeting link can be found to the right under events.
The annual meeting agenda will include filling 3 board positions whose terms are expiring Oct 31: President, Secretary, and Member-at-Large.
As stated in our Sep 13 and Sep 25 emails to all members, the deadline for board nominations was Sep 18. With no contested seats, the open board seats will be filled by board appointment at the annual meeting on Oct 9. The appointments will be effective on Nov 1. These are the candidates, subject to board vote:
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President: Douglas "DJ" Seefeld
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Secretary: with no nominations, current member-at-large board member Karen Eads has offered to serve in this role
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Member-at-Large: Lisa Helledy and Cynthia Lumley. One will fill the 2 year term, the other will fill the remainder of Karen Eads' term, through October 2027
Peg Travers is currently serving as President, Michael Clarke as Secretary, and Marcie Moody in the Member-at-Large position up for election.
The other board members, whose terms expire Oct 31, 2027, are
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Vice-President: Peg Travers
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Treasurer: Ted Vanderlaan
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Member-at-Large: Rick Bothell
Brief bios for the proposed board members follow. Current Board member bios are posted here: https://ppa.wildapricot.org/Board
If you have questions about the election process, you can review the bylaws at the link below, or email prescottpickleball@gmail.com.
https://www.prescottpickleball.org/_files/ugd/d3aaee_c1136aa666b549c9a551401643621908.pdf
BOARD CANDIDATE BIOS
Douglas “DJ” Seefeld
Prescott Pickleball Association has been a strong focus of my retirement years in Prescott. The members elected me to treasurer for 3 years and president for 2 years. I also had the opportunity to teach private lessons at Pioneer Park for several years. Volunteering for various PPA events, leadership, lessons and more brought great enjoyment with the involvement with many PPA members.
Some may remember learning and playing at Willow Hills Baptist Church. Bob Atherton got me involved there helping others learn the joy of the game starting in 2014. Espire Sports has engaged me for tournament operations over the past few years. You may also know me as a USAP Certified Referee and referee trainer. Sharing the knowledge and teaching the skills necessary for this area has been another area of volunteering that brings great joy to my life. Plus, I enjoy traveling for work as a referee and head referee at large and small tournaments.
Thanks for considering reelecting me to the president’s position. The board candidates you select look strong. They and the current members will serve you well to keep PPA strong, active and involved in the community.
Lisa Helledy
My interest is in the Member-At-Large position. I have time to devote to projects and events since I am retired. I’m a get it done type person, reliable and organized.
Past Experience:
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HOA Vice President
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Sr Manager at Boeing Satellite Systems- handling all aspects of managing 44 employees both salary and hourly positions. Supporting manufacturing for tooling, supply chain , kitting and operations. New construction and equipment purchases for clean rooms and labs.
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Office Manager for Insync Media Printing Co - staffing, A/P , customer relations.
I am currently a volunteer for the Yavapai College Film Festival
Thank you for your considering me for Member-At-Large
Cynthia Lumley
After a great life of government service (Air Force, several law enforcement agencies), I retired to Prescott from San Diego in 2019.
Shortly after moving here I discovered pickleball at Pioneer Park. I've loved meeting the players and have made some wonderful friends. I also belong to Espire, and have a great group of people I play with there. I hope to bring the players from these two locations together more for some fun pickleball!
I've volunteered at the Pickle for Pets tournament for the past couple of years and love seeing our community come together for a good cause. I also volunteer with the Prescott Police Department in the Citizens on Patrol unit.
NEWS
CURRENT VOLUNTEER NEEDS
Volunteers are the life blood of PPA. Less than 10% of members volunteer currently. Can you help? Current needs include:
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Event Management: computer experience helpful
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Membership Management: requires computer and Excel experience
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Facility Maintenance: includes things like refinishing the shelter, tables, benches
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Please send an email to prescottpickleball@gmail.com or contact any board member.
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PPA Website Committee
You may notice some changes on the PPA website as of Oct 4. The recently-formed website committee has been working on standardizing the design and rationalizing content. There is more to come! You can submit any issues and suggested changes to prescottpickleball@gmail.com
EVENTS
ANNUAL MEETING
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Date: October 9, 2026
Time: 11:00am - 12:30pm
Location: Grace Sparkes Activity Center, 824 E Gurley St, Prescott, AZ 86301
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SOCIAL SATURDAY ROUND ROBIN
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November 14. Registration and other details will be provided later this month.
COACHES CORNER
​​Scroll down for Sue Brogaard's column!
​THE COACHES CORNER
PICKLEBALL ESSENTIALS - So much to take in!
By Sue Brogaard
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Footwork - For me, this is the very essence of a solid game. Your body needs to get to the ball before your paddle does and you need to create space between you and the ball so you have time to contact the ball in front of you, versus jamming yourself or contacting the ball behind you. It requires concentration, effort and immediately reacting to the ball that is coming your way, but once you have this figured out, it will change your game.
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Ball control - Can you hit the ball softly and make it go where you want it to go?
Are you able to absorb the pace of a hard hit ball to slow it down(reset)?
Mechanics - I am referring to a number of things when I use this term:
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Swing pattern
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Position of body in relationship to the ball
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Paddle angle
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Point of contact between the ball and paddle
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Swing follow through or lack thereof Watching the ball make contact with the paddle EACH AND EVERY TIME you hit the ball.
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Allowing the ball to rise and then fall before you make contact with it.
Paddle control - In general, the direction you swing your paddle is where the ball is going to go(barring any shots using top pin or slicing). Having an awareness of your paddle and what direction you are swinging, as well as whether the paddle has an open face or a closed face are the determining factors as to where the ball will be hit.
Patience - I see so many people playing where the rally starts out with two or three good hits and then chaos ensues, everyone gets panicky and tries to make the big play and end the rally. I believe it is much more beneficial to have patience and look for the open spot vs trying to force a shot that is not there, which usually ends up being a problem for you and your partner.
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Placement - Learning to see the open spot on the court and being able to place the ball is a huge asset when playing pickleball. It takes a lot of practice but it can be done and will ultimately lead to more effective shots and winning more rallies.
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Play with purpose - As we all know, the goal of a rally is to win it, but how do you do that? Do you focus on the weaker player? Do you pick out a weakness in your opponents game(ie they don't move very well or they have a weak backhand) and exploit that weakness? Or do you choose shots that will force your opponents to move, thereby creating gaps and allow you to hit the open spot? There are many ways to play purposefully in pickleball, but it does require some thought and foresight. Purpose relies on patience, since the more patient you are, the greater likelihood that you will expose a weakness in your opponents and be able to exploit it.
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***Did you notice what I DID NOT mention? ***
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PACE POWER
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In my opinion, these are add-ons, and are not an essential part of the game. I'm a firm believer in a controlled game, and prefer to only use pace and power as needed.
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If you would like to learn how to play a more controlled, balanced game and master these skills, I would love to help you! I can do 1 on 1 private lessons OR up to 4 people at one time.
Feel free to contact me by phone, text or email.
Sue Brogaard
608 790 0709
