Members of Marshfield Area Pickleball Group Discusses Upcoming Ribbon Cutting and Pickleball Tournament

Thursday, May 8th, 2025 -- 11:00 AM

The group will be holding a ribbon cutting ceremony for the complex on Saturday, June 7th as well as the “Feed a Pet” Tournament, which will benefit the Marshfield Area Pet Shelter; and there will be other organizations that individuals can donate to/help.

I had the opportunity to speak with Perry Stargardt, President of the Marshfield Area Pickleball group, and Juline Heiting, the Tournament Director, and they discussed the complex, ribbon cutting, and tournament in more detail.

Listen to the interview with Perry and Jo here!

Once again, the ribbon cutting is being held on June 7th at 9am at the new complex and the “Feed a Pet Tournament” is being held June 6th and 7th at the complex.

Sign up today: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090A4DAFAB23A2F49-54863780-play#/

(AI assisted transcription of the interview by Otter.ai):

Perry: "This kind of started a little over two years ago. We seen the need for the pickleball complex to be built here Marshfield. We were playing on tennis courts, four tennis courts, and there's a lot of chasing on there, and we outgrew it."

"We were having 30 people playing at the four tennis courts and so, there was a lot of sitting. So, Michelle Boernke, basically, is the one that kind of started it and did a fantastic job. She kind of put everything together, as far as for the fundraising."

"And couldn't be more proud of this city and the businesses for what they provided us. It opened at the end of October last year. It's absolutely beautiful. I would put our complex up to any complex in the state of Wisconsin."

It really worked out better than I could have even dreamed. So, I'm just tickled with it and I can only encourage anybody and everybody to come down and play. Here's my spiel on Pickleball, bring a paddle and you just say, 'next four up.'"

"You play with 20 different people every day. It's more of a social game than it is a win game. You're going to meet great people every morning. We play from nine until noon. Come on down and play. You'll love it. It doesn't matter your age, your gender, any of that. It's just you have your paddle. You come play."

Riley: "How many courts are at the complex?"

Perry: "We now have 12 courts and it's going better. We've already been filling them in the evenings, up to seven, eight courts filled, and we haven't even hit the summer time yet. So, my goal is, like I say, to have them all filled, and you can go with it at any level."

"If you just want a beginner, come on in. There's going to be about 20 people that will teach you how to play the game. So, come on down. It doesn't matter. I would say it's more, like I say, it's a social game, you're going to meet people."

"I retired three years ago, and right now, I know 200 people that I didn't know three years ago, all because of pickleball. And it doesn't matter where you go with pickleball. You can go down to Florida. I go to Georgia."

"You bring your paddle. You're going to meet people. And I wish everybody would get involved with this. I can only encourage anybody and everybody to come down just to give it a try and see what it's like."

Riley: "Besides being a social gathering, there's also the health benefits."

Perry: "Definitely! Here's my typical day: have my cup of coffee, go play pickleball until it's noon and, the next day, do it again."

Riley: "And then coming up on June 7, you'll be holding a ribbon cutting for the complex. Can you talk about that?"

Perry: "Yes, that's going to start at nine o'clock on June 7. We're going to be giving away gifts every 15 minutes and it'll be going pretty much all day long. Again, the businesses in this town, I couldn't be more appreciative of what they've stepped up and done for this complex and they seen the need for this, and I just love it. So, we'll be giving away gifts all day long. Come on down!"

Riley: "And along with that ribbon cutting, you'll actually be holding that in conjunction with the pickleball "Feed a Pet" tournament. Can you talk about that?"

Jo: "So, this is our first tournament that we're going to be holding here at Braem Park, at the Move Forward Complex, and I really need to give a shout out to my fellow Central Wisconsin USA ambassadors."

"I am the USA Ambassador, and Andrea, Paula and Jody gave us a lot, gave me a lot, of helpful advice on how to run tournaments. Now, I've been in a lot of tournaments. I know what works what doesn't work, but because this is our first one, you know, give us a break, but I think it's going to be fantastic."

"This really is about friendships. It's really about getting off the couch. It's really about meeting people and making a connection. So, the Marshfield community here has been very generous in their support, not only for our courts to get completed, but they have provided us with a number of guests for our tournament."

"We're going to be holding a raffle in conjunction with giving away prizes to our athletes and our volunteers. We are giving all the profits of the tournament to the Marshfield Area Pet Shelter, but we're also teaming up with a few other organizations."

"So, as you know, the Marshfield Area Pet Shelter, they take in animals that have nowhere else to go. They have a lost and found, they offer pet adoption, they do micro chipping, and they also re-home pets."

"Those are just some of the services. We're also going to be connecting with ODC and the Better Together Program, they're going to be hosting a pickle hydration station for our athletes. So, the Better Together program is about creating friendships by matching adults with disabilities to volunteers from the community."

"It started in Stevens Point and it is expanding to Marshfield, so stop on by the pickle hydration station and you can talk with Sammy and she'll tell you all about it. We're also teaming up with Sneakers for Good Program."

"We're teaming up with Wausau Area Pickleball and the Marshfield Area Pickleball. These two groups are teaming up and we're going to be collecting gently worn tennis shoes to try and keep them out of landfills."

"We'll have a collection box next to where the athletes will be checking in for the tournament on both days, so we'll take all your gently used, no holes please, and we'll put them in this box. Make sure the laces are tied together so that we've got a matching pair. And we'll we'll do the rest for you."

"We also have a Prolite Sports demo table coming to this tournament. Prolite Sports is a family owned business. It's located in Port Washington and Milwaukee, and if you're looking for a new paddle or you're just not sure what to get."

"We've got one of our very own MAP members, our Marshfield Area Pickleball member, Stacey Becker. She is a Prolite brand ambassador and she'll have a demo table there for you to try out and answer any questions you might have."

"So, where do you sign up for this tournament? You click on several Facebook pages. Marshfield Area Pickleball Facebook page. We're also on the Marshfield Area Pet Shelter website. We're on Visit Marshfield's website."

"There are other pickleball pages out of Point, Wausau, and you're going to find our flyer. We're also on websites, the visitmarshfield.com website, in their events section, the Marshfield Pet Shelter website and their event section."

"It's only $50 a team and if you sign up for another team event, it'll only cost you 10 bucks. So, we've got a variety of volunteer opportunities available yet. So, if you don't play pickleball and you're just not comfortable with pickleball, at this point, you can come on down and volunteer to help us run this thing. There's a sign up page."

"There's a lot of different times and a lot of different opportunities for you to choose from. We would really like everybody to come on down and help us celebrate with our ribbon cutting ceremony and everything that's taking place. I actually secured a support dog to come on down and meet people at our ribbon cutting as well. So that'll be fine."

Riley: "You guys have a lot happening at the tournament, a lot of different great causes that you're helping out, as well as allowing people to come and check out the complex and play some pickleball."

Perry: "Amen. Shout out to everybody, come down on June 7 to the Move Forward Pickleball Complex at Braem Park and just make it a family fun event."

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.