When I first started Monmouth Area Pickleball, I had 2 objectives. The first objective was to provide much-needed resources to the area for everyone whether you were a seasoned veteran or were just starting pickleball to learn and grow. The other objective was to learn and showcase my website skills through designing and building monmouthpickleball.org with the hopes of using it as part of a portfolio to get my next job.
Unfortunately, the job part of this never came to fruition. Because of this (and many other factors), it is with many mixed emotions that I have to let everyone know that Kathleen and I will be moving to Vermont in the Spring.
We’ve been looking for our next move for a while in many different places. It was when we came to Burlington last fall that we both fell in love with the area. Originally, this started off as a 2-year plan to find something and that we’d continue to spend time familiarizing ourselves with the area and eventually buy a house. What we realized after many discussions were there was probably no better time to move than right now since I am not working.
What we didn’t anticipate is being able to find a place on our third trip. We found a charming house in South Burlington only 1/2 mile from the nearest pickleball court which is very popular May through October (our new shortened outdoor season) and with miles of bike trails that enable us to bike all the way to downtown Burlington and beyond up to South Hero. Perhaps most importantly, skiing is only 25 minutes away at Bolton Valley and Stowe, Sugarbush and Smuggler’s Notch are only 1 hour away.
We spent possibly the coldest weekend in recent history for the area (we woke up on Saturday to -11º F and a wind chill of -31º F) and not minding the cold in the least. We would both rather be freezing than hot and sticky. I’m sure that confounds many of you who can’t wait to go south.
I want to thank everyone who has been so supportive of the website, our Boot Camps and helping Kathleen and me become better pickleball players. We will miss everyone. (Well, except for you Kevin Kubik. ?).
If you are an active member of Monmouth Area Pickleball, are technology savvy, know WordPress, have the time and are interested in administering, maintaining the calendar and creating content for the site, please contact me via the contact form and we can explore the options.
If we don’t find someone to take over the website and associated expenses, I will be working with Kim and others to transition your subscriber information to a list or group where everyone can still be notified of on-going events and activities. My goal would be to make it easy for you to share with others as well as unsubscribe in the event that you are no longer interested in this.
Thank you again for the great opportunity you provided me when I set up this website. Your readership and feedback made it a joy. If you are in the Burlington VT area and want to play pickleball, send me an e-mail: pickleball[@]zoinks.us.
Greg,
Best of luck.
I know the Burlington area quite well, you will love living in VT!!
Greg,
We’ll miss you and Kathleen so much, but like you, I will never head south, so I completely understand. You’ve done a great thing here with the site, and I’ll miss you articles (and calling you Doug.) Hope we see you before you go.
Sue Finley
Wishing you health, love , and happiness in your new adventure.
thank you for all the work you have done for the club.
Jo & Tony Iaquinto
Greg,
All the best to you and Kathleen in your job search and new home! And thank you for all your hard work in creating and maintaining the website. We will miss you both on the court. (Now take your stinkin’ serve and get outta here. ? ?)
Jan Green
Greg,
Will miss your Monday morning posts and thank you for all you’ve done to help all the new players in Monmouth County. Good luck in your new ventures.
Barbara Gupta
Greg,
Best of luck to you and Kathleen. I’ve come to the pickleball game late but am enjoying every minute of it. Tell Kathleen, though, I’ll still be playing beach volleyball! 🙂 Thanks for your work on the website and all you have done to promote the game of pickleball–you and Kathleen will be missed!
Carol Moser
OH NO, say it aint so!
Greg and Kathleen, you have helped so many of us “intermediate”players improve our PB skills with your informative Boot Camps. Your website has been a weekly wealth of information. You and Kathleen will surely be very much missed. Although I personally can’t understand why anyone would enjoy waking up to sub zero temperatures, ( when it drops below 70 degrees I dream of palm trees), I wish you all the best in your new adventure.
Carla Fiscella
Greg,
You have done such a phenomenal job with this website! It has been so helpful for so many of the players and also for the venues.
I sure do hope there is someone out there who is computer savvy, has some extra time and is willing to run this website as it is very much needed for pickleball in our area. I would hate to have to go back to emailing and having to deal with email list. Greg, it’s been wonderful working with you and I’m going to miss you and Kathleen quite a bit. Thank you for all that you and Kathleen have done for pickleball in Monmouth County! You’re guys are the best and are going to be missed! ?
Thanks for your time on this project. Best to both of you in your new home.
Thank you Greg for keeping us updated on all the pickleball happenings. I’ve looked forward to your Monday emails. I can only imagine the number of hours spent doing this and, so, appreciate it even more. All the best in Vermont. Sounds like a perfect move.
Gregg you and Kathleen will be greatly missed. Wishing you both a wonderful new adventure and hope you stay in touch with the group. I have been to burlington Vermont and found it to be a wonderful place to be.
Enjoy!!!
michelle goodman
Gregg and Kathleen,
So happy that you have found something that sounds like you both dreamed about!
May good health and happiness follow you to your new home and thanks for all your hard work and for being such good sports!!
Enjoy your new adventure!!
Andrea Reichert
Greg and Kathleen,
Tom and I wish you all the best!! You will be missed!
So sorry to see you leave us. Hope you love Vermont as much as I always have. You have picked a great area to move to .
Marian
Greg & Kathleen,
Good luck on your new endeavors, you will love living in Vermont.
….It was nice meeting you both.
Nicole
Greg… As Jan said above, All the best to you and Kathleen! And thank you for all your hard work in creating and maintaining the website. We will miss you both on the court… also – I cannot write this without leaving you with some parting thoughts, in continuing our dinking diatribe… Feel free to use these in Vermouth, oops, I mean Vermont…
• When I read about the evils of dinking, I gave up reading. ~Henny Youngman
• I don’t dink anymore, on the other hand I don’t dink any less either. ~W. C. Fields
and my current favorite…
• A man is a fool if he dinks before he reaches the age of 50, and a fool if he doesn’t (dink) afterward.
~Frank Lloyd Wright
Greg,
It is often hard to find a person who is a great ambassador for the sport. I will be sad to lose you as part of the New Jersey team. You have left some very hard shoes to fill. I wish you the best on this next part of your journey.
Denise Donald
NJ District Ambassador
Greg & Kathleen,
Thank you for all the hard work and dedication to helping to make pickleball more enjoyable here in Monmouth County. I have really enjoyed using your site and hopefully there s someone who can help to keep it up and running. Best of luck with the move to Vermont, we have always enjoyed our visits there.