KING CITY — The court game of indoor pickleball has become a popular activity for King City residents and beyond at the Expo Building at the Salinas Valley Fairgrounds.
What started out as a small group of pickleball enthusiasts getting together to play, has turned into a club called the King City Paddle Masters (KCPM) that gathers to play two to three nights a week.
Liz Valdez, an employee at Mee Memorial Hospital, enjoys playing pickleball and was looking for a way to stay active after a hard day of work. With the help from seven pickleball friends, the club is now providing weekly games and a way for people to get in some exercise and have some fun.
“We play consistently on Tuesdays at the Expo Building and have large turnouts of 35 to 40 young people on any given Tuesday,” Valdez said. “We also play on Wednesdays and Fridays when the Expo is available. Most of our players are between 20 and 40 years old as we attract teachers, doctors and coaches, along with local athletes. There was no place to play indoor pickleball, so with the help of Lauren and Eunice at the Salinas Valley Fair Expo, we all made it happen.”
Josh Velo, one of the KCPM founders along with Valdez, is pleased to see how the pickleball has become popular in King City.
“We started out small and now we have regulars coming out with people waiting in the sidelines for their turn to get on the courts,” Velo said. “I just heard about the games going on from somebody and we just started showing up, we all just grew together as players collectively. We have our regulars that show up and they just started coming by word of mouth. We would like to get more people involved, and we just want to expose more people to the game.”
King City resident and King City Arts Magnet School teacher Stephanie Santoyo just recently began playing pickleball at the Expo building.
“It’s an amazing thing that King City has going for young adults,” Santoyo said. “It keeps us busy and healthy, and I have made time to come out twice a week. Pickleball is a fun game.”
On Saturday, June 21, KCPM will host an Indoor Pickleball Tournament at the Expo for mixed doubles, beginning women’s doubles, beginning men’s doubles and intermediate/advanced men’s doubles.
There will be medals and cash prizes, miscellaneous free prizes and a grand raffle prize. Franklin X-26 indoor pickleballs will be used in the tournament.
To receive a tournament registration form, send a text to Liz at 661-345-9530, Josh at 209-765-8898 or Ben at 562-381-3315.
With the Salinas Valley Fair starting this week, pickleball games will resume at the Expo in a few weeks.
