Top female pickleball player holds workshop in Aiken
Jul. 26—Pickleball players from near and far — at least as far as North Carolina — are getting some top-notch instruction this week at the home of local player Chris Powers, by way of Simone Jardim, currently ranked by the Professional Pickleball Association as the best female player in the world.
Jardim, who now lives in Naples, Florida, has risen to the top of the sport in the wake of her time as the head women's tennis coach at Michigan State University. She is a native of Santa Maria, Brazil, came to the U.S. at age 18 and she has seen plenty of the country over the years, most recently in her role as a blue-ribbon pickleball player. She started playing the sport in 2015.
Her Aiken connection also goes back a few years. "I've been coming here for a long time, and of course, it's a great environment. My kids love it and I've known these guys for a while," Jardim said.
Facilities for pickleball, which is sometimes described as a combination of tennis, badminton and table tennis, are now scattered around Aiken, and Powers has a pair of courts at her home, Two Sisters Farm, on Hopeland Farm Drive, where the clinic is to include morning and evening sessions today and a morning session Wednesday.
Powers, also known as the head pickleball pro at The Reserve Club at Woodside Plantation, is among the top players in the country in her age bracket, and players in the clinic being held this week are training for top-level national competition to be held in December in Indian Wells, California.
"Many of the players, she noted, are doubles partners, "so this is a great opportunity to learn winning strategies from the best female player in the world."
Jardim shared a few thoughts on the sport. "To me, it's just fun. You can play with anyone, literally — any age, any background — and it's easy to pick up. The hard part is to get good at it, but it is one of the easiest sports to pick up and play. That's why it's so friendly to any age, and with the Wiffle ball, I think it makes it much easier for men and women to play against each other or on the same side," she said.
The audit fee for this week's instruction, she said, is $10 and all proceeds will go toward Jardim's program to help young players advance in the sport and also to help bankroll a disaster relief related to the deadly condominium collapse in late June in Surfside, Florida.
Pickleball has particularly large pools of players in Florida, California and Arizona, with Texas (Austin in particular) also growing rapidly. The sport originated in the state of Washington, she added.
Jardim's traveling companions include her husband, Chad Edwards. They are professional pickleball instructors, running Peak Performance Pickleball Academy, in Naples, and their children, Alexas Edwards, 11, and Landon Edwards, 7, make the circuit with them and are among this week's younger visitors.
The Professional Pickleball Association's website, referring to Jardim, notes, "She has won more PPA titles than any other player in history and currently holds the No. 1 ranking in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles. Jardim partners up with No. 1 in the world Ben Johns in mixed doubles and No. 2 in the world Lucy Kovalova in women's doubles."
Visitors are welcome to attend the Aiken clinic and are asked to call 803-646-0123 for more information.
