National Pickleball Day 2025 With Its Founder Dee Morris
When I wrote about the 4th annual National Pickleball Day last year, I did not know the backstory of the day nor much about its founder, Dierdre 'Dee' Morris. However after an email conversation post publishing I promised to do a more proper interview with her for the 2025 event. And here we are. So, let's get to know Ms. Morris a little bit, hear about her backstory, and hear about the creation of the day we now recognize.
Morris lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, on the east side of the bay in the suburbs north of Oakland. She is a Certified Pickleball instructor and USA Pickleball ambassador for her area. She works with Pickleball Organized LLC. She teaches at the youth level (elementary and middle school aged kids) and coordinates group events out of her home club, which is called the Walnut Creek Pickleball club based out of Redgear park in Walnut Creek, California. She's also done some tournament direction. She used to do all of this on the side, but she retired last year, so now Pickleball is her 'retirement job.'
How did she get introduced to the sport? Morris was an early adopter pickleball, in comparison to the wave of those who (like myself) learned the game in or around Covid in 2020). 'I'm celebrating my 10th year of playing this year; I started in 2015. My sister had started playing and urged my cousin and I to try it, saying this is a fun sport, you have to play. So I went out, played for the first time, and fell in love the minute I started. It's fun, competitive, and was like nothing I'd ever done before. I didn't come from tennis or racquet sports; it was just a totally new experience for me.'
Morris' love for the sport led her along a familiar path as she got more involved. Says Morris, 'I've met hundreds of people playing throughout the last ten years. I've furthered my pickleball travels by becoming a USAP ambassador. Eventually I became a certified PPR coach in 2019 and began teaching.' Eventually, Morris noticed that there was no official 'day' designated for the sport.
So, I asked the big question: Why August 8th? Here's the real story as told by Morris:
'When you go to apply for an official 'day' for something, it is done through the National Archives. When I went to apply, I had to make sure there's no one else with that day. As it turned out, there was already a 'Pickleball month,' and a 'World Pickleball Day,' so I did some research and the Canadians were set to celebrate on August 8th of that year [in 2020]Indeed Pickleball Canada also has a 'National Pickleball Day,' which is set to be the second Saturday of August annually, so the day moves yearly. This year that falls on 8/9/25. Here in the USA we just designate the August 8th day irrespective of when it falls on the calendar.
Why did she create National Pickleball Day? Says Morris, "It's meant to be a day to bring awareness to the sport, to give back by teaching or hosting a party, plan an event,
collect equipment for donation to schools or clubs. Do something for the sport on the day; that's the goal."
When did Morris notice the day starting to get recognition? 'I had an actual sanctioned tournament in Concord in 2023 to celebrate it, and it was starting to get some growth then. However, it really blew up in 2024 in terms of awareness. This year the Walnut Creek club is having a pizza party to celebrate. We'll have Pizza, socialize, and play some pickleball."
This year, to commemorate the event, Morris produced a video celebrating National Pickleball day, filming it with her pickleball playing friends in California. She released the video on August 1st and its available on YouTube.
So, there's the story. Thanks to Morris for taking the initiative to create National Pickleball Day, and honor its purpose by playing, teaching, or giving back to the community today.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Prep talk: Mira Costa's special teams trio ready to deliver
Maybe it's knowing the beach is a short walk from their high school campus, but the special teams trio of punter Jackson Shevin, long snapper Jackson Reach and kicker Nico Talbott are feeling relaxed, comfortable and confident for Mira Costa High's football team. Early in the season, fans sometimes need to close their eyes and pray when there's a punt or PAT attempt. The special teams play can be that bad. At Mira Costa, this coming season should be a good one for the special teams. The two Jacksons, Shevin and Reach, did their roles last season. Shevin is also a holder on field goals. Talbott assumes the No. 1 role for kicking. And Reach rarely leaves the field, because he's also the team's standout linebacker. On any football team, it's always intriguing to see how the special teams players blend in. Many are soccer players trying to learn the football culture. The Mira Costa trio work well together, and it helps with their versatility. Mira Costa opens its season Aug. 29 against St. Francis. … This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Cadillac counts down to its F1 debut with lessons from NASA and the 'inverse Ted Lasso'
The clock is ticking until Cadillac joins the Formula 1 grid. Literally. 'On the wall of every office that we have is a countdown clock,' team principal Graeme Lowdon told The Associated Press in a recent interview. 'It's counting down to two things.' One is the first 'fire-up' of the car with its engine, and then the other is free practice at Cadillac's first official F1 session in Melbourne, Australia in March next year. It will be the start of a new mission for General Motors, and the end of a process to join F1 which included years of negotiations, a change of name and leadership, even a U.S. Justice Department investigation. Ted Lasso in F1 As a British racing boss creating an American team, Lowdon feels like an 'inverse Ted Lasso,' the fictional U.S. soccer coach in London. Hired in part for his experience navigating the sport's complex process for approving new teams, Lowdon says he's worked hard to adapt to U.S. racing culture for a team which will build its cars out of Fishers, Indiana. There's also a design and manufacturing site near the British Grand Prix track at Silverstone, but Cadillac has a vision of running an 'American team,' Lowdon said. The idea is to get as many different perspectives on designing a race car as possible. 'Formula 1 is a very creative business,' Lowdon said. "With diversity of thought comes innovation and hopefully lap time." Lessons from NASA Past attempts to operate an F1 team outside of the sport's heartlands in England and Italy have rarely worked. Cadillac is taking lessons from the 1960s space race. Rather than read a list of racing failures, Lowdon looked for non-F1 projects with 'immovable deadlines, huge amount of public scrutiny, multiple sites, highly technical," he said. 'The best example I could find were the the Apollo missions.' 'I looked a lot into how NASA had done the management structure of the business. I thought there were some very clever things that they did that we could build into a new design of a Formula 1 team, a complete new way of managing it. The primary objective was to maximize peer-to-peer communication between engineers.' F1's other American team, Haas, is more reliant on Europe. Its HQ is in North Carolina but the team is largely based in Britain and designs its cars in Italy. Drivers on the short list While existing teams have their race drivers heavily involved in the design of 2026 cars, Lowdon said the fact that Cadillac hasn't confirmed who its drivers will be shouldn't be seen as a setback. There are 'three or four' names on Cadillac's shortlist halfway through the 2025 season and Lowdon says Cadillac has more leverage in contract discussions than usual. 'Because we're out of sync with the other teams, we're not under the same time pressure,' Lowdon said. 'No driver is sitting there saying, 'Oh yeah, Aston Martin are going to sign me next week,' if you don't sign them.' The new team could be a way back to F1 for drivers like Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas or Zhou Guanyu who lost their race seats for 2025. There's also been speculation about various Americans and ex-F1 drivers like Mick Schumacher. Bottas, a 10-time race winner for Mercedes, joked about the race to sign for Cadillac with a viral video on social media remarking on the 'nice seat' in a Cadillac SUV. 'I've known him for a long time. I know his sense of humor, I appreciate his sense of humor and he's got a big fan following,' Lowdon said. 'My phone got super busy almost immediately when (Cadillac's F1 entry) was confirmed. It was very clear that everyone wants to drive a Cadillac and so I guess Valtteri has just made it even more clear.' ___ AP auto racing:
Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
San Pedro's Dylan Moreno kicking his way to legendary status
Ninth and final in a series of stories profiling top high school football players by position. Today, Dylan Moreno, San Pedro kicker. San Pedro football coach Corey Walsh remembers the first time seeing Dylan Moreno show up on campus as a freshman. 'He came here as a scrawny kicker at 100 pounds,' Walsh said. Walking around campus, Moreno almost lived a secret life. No one would have dared to think he was a football player. 'Nah,' Moreno said. 'They're going to think I'm a regular student.' By his sophomore season, Moreno was closing in on 130 pounds and making clutch field goals. He made a 38-yard field goal with 12 seconds left in regulation to tie the score against Carson. He made field goals from 27 and 32 yards against Banning in an overtime win at the Coliseum. He made seven of nine on field goals and 45 of 47 on PATs en route to an All-City season. His focus this offseason has been on gaining strength and weight. He lifts alongside linemen and earns respect. 'You should see him in the weight room,' Walsh said. 'Tiny guy who works hard.' It should come as no surprise that the 5-foot-7 Moreno is gaining attention in the San Pedro community. His father, Wilmer, who made a 28-yard field goal for the Pirates in the 1997 City championship game against Taft at the Coliseum, has been telling San Pedro coaches for years about his son's coming arrival. Mike Walsh, the former San Pedro head coach and the father of Corey Walsh, said Wilmer bragged, 'This kid is going to be good.' Since fifth grade, Dylan and his father have been going to San Pedro to practice kicking. 'My dad took me to San Pedro because he always wanted me to be a kicker.,' Dylan said. 'I was a soccer player. I liked playing football because it was something new. Ever since, I fell in love with the game." His challenge has been increasing his strength to be able to power the football into the end zone on kickoffs, forcing a touchback. Otherwise, Moreno might have to make a tackle. He says he's ready. 'I'm not scared when I see people on the field,' he said. 'I just have to do what I got to do. If he's there, I have to tackle him. I'm ready for that.' One of Moreno's strengths so far has been thriving in pressure situations, earning the trust of his coach. 'His accuracy has been amazing,' Walsh said. Said Moreno: "Kicking is mostly 70% mental and 30% physical. You have to be focused on what you're doing. Of course, you're going to get butterflies in your stomach, but I feel I can control it. I don't really think about how far to kick it. I just kick the ball.' Read more: Complete coverage: Prep football preview 2025 Papa Walsh, who serves as a San Pedro assistant, used to tell a young Moreno, 'You're going to be that guy when you're a senior.' Now it's up to Moreno to make himself look good going into his junior season. 'I've been grinding my butt off to prove that,' Moreno said. 'I want to come off a legend at the school.' Kickers/punters to watch Gabriel Goroyan, Westlake, 5-11, 175, Jr.: Strong leg, relentless work habit Jacob Kreinberg, Loyola, 6-0, 195, Sr.: Made 11 of 14 field goals last season Aiden Migirdichian, Orange Lutheran, 5-11, 160, Sr.: Was nine for nine on field goals as a junior Dylan Moreno, San Pedro, 5-7, 130, Jr.: Has proven he makes clutch field goals. Carter Montgomery, Claremont, 6-1, 153, Sr.: Owns a school-record 48-yard field goal Oscar Reyes Ramirez, Hemet, 5-9, 160, Sr.: Made 15 field goals last season Jackson Shevin, Mira Costa, 6-0, 185, Sr.: Averaged 38 yards on punts as a junior Jerry Shifman, Mater Dei, 5-11, 170, So.: Has made major strides in offseason Carter Sobel, Sierra. Canyon, 5-9, 165, Jr.: Had 48-yard game-tying field goal last season CJ Wallace, St. John Bosco, 5-11, 160, Sr.: Washington commit keeps getting better Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
