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Residents ask for additional pickleball courts

Residents ask for additional pickleball courts Published 2:42 pm Wednesday, June 11, 2025 THOMASVILLE — During last month’s City Council meeting several individuals addressed the need for additional pickleball courts. On Monday, three players from the pickleball community followed up on this request, expressing frustrations over the long wait times and lack of court care. […]

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Residents ask for additional pickleball courts

Residents ask for additional pickleball courts

Published 2:42 pm Wednesday, June 11, 2025

THOMASVILLE — During last month’s City Council meeting several individuals addressed the need for additional pickleball courts. On Monday, three players from the pickleball community followed up on this request, expressing frustrations over the long wait times and lack of court care.

Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States. It combines elements of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong.

Played on a badminton-sized court with a modified tennis net, the game uses solid paddles and a hollow plastic ball.

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For many, it has been considered more than just a game. It has become a growing movement reshaping how people connect, stay active, and build stronger communities. It can be defined as a lifestyle, bringing people together, empowering youth, and strengthening neighborhoods.

This can certainly be said for those in Thomasville, who spoke on the friendships they have crafted through pickleball, reiterating the need for additional courts.

Kari Neal, who moved to Thomasville 7.5 years ago, recalled her first time seeing people play pickleball early in her move.

“I thought how fun it looked, being a former athlete,” she said.

Neal quickly fell in love with the game, saying she met more people in her time playing pickleball than she has in her time living in Thomasville.

At the time, the group was playing at the Remington YMCA pickleball courts.

Now, with the courts under duress, Neal said they are unplayable.

The group has since moved, but with such a large group they have outgrown the courts available to them.

“There is a lot of waiting,” she said. “There is more sitting and waiting than there is playing.”

Aaron Reneau is an active member of the pickleball community, often trying to get her young teens involved in the activity and encouraging her adopted Thomas University students to play.

“They love it because it keeps them active in their offseason,” she said. “But, during many of the peak times on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays all of the courts are full with 10-30 people waiting.”

Cory Wise, the Executive Director at Goalline Ministries at TU spoke more on this, telling the Council what a blessing pickleball has been for his students.

TU started a pickleball club last year, which has been described as a wonderful opportunity for students to come out to engage with faculty and staff.

“It’s something that’s different from what they’ve been training in,” he said. “It gives them a break from the 5-6 days a week they practice.”

In addition to giving them a break, it connects the students with other locals.

“It has opened the door for mentorship,” Wise said. “Pickleball is not just about the activity; it’s a connection point that helps us bridge gaps.”

Wise said he has loved being able to see people come together and experience the same great time regardless of age, gender, and race while advancing the health of the community.

“We have international students saying they wish they had something like this in their hometown,” Wise said. “I would love to see them stay here because of things like this and more.”

Wise asked the Council to help make this possible by adding additional courts.

Reneau added to Wise’s plea, sharing that additional courts would help with the waiting times and would allow for tournaments to be played in Thomasville.

She said she has heard previous comments that tournaments were not successful, but knows it can be difficult to host a successful tournament with limited court space.

Councilman Royal Baker understood the resident’s concerns and shared he had been in contact with other counties on how they funded their pickleball courts and continued to upkeep them.

For instance, Baker learned Moultrie has a 1.92 millage rate property tax from Parks & Recreation to fund activities and new courts.

The City of Thomasville relies heavily on SPLOST (specialized local option sales tax), but more than half of the SPLOST funds are used on road resurfacing, leaving little for new projects that have not been previously budgeted.

However, Baker assured that he and his fellow City Council members will continue to have conversations and look for avenues to help construct additional courts.

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Twelve Bison Earn CSC At-Large Academic All-District Honors

LEWISBURG, Pa. – A dozen student-athletes from six different sports earned spots on the College Sports Communicators (CSC) At-Large Academic All-District Teams on Tuesday.   Bucknell’s honorees were Connor Davis, Louie Germain, Owen Kovacs, and Will Pickering from men’s lacrosse; Kira Leclercq, Lily Neilson, and Nicky Punt from field hockey; Kalena Gatesman and Kona Glenn […]

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LEWISBURG, Pa. – A dozen student-athletes from six different sports earned spots on the College Sports Communicators (CSC) At-Large Academic All-District Teams on Tuesday.
 
Bucknell’s honorees were Connor Davis, Louie Germain, Owen Kovacs, and Will Pickering from men’s lacrosse; Kira Leclercq, Lily Neilson, and Nicky Punt from field hockey; Kalena Gatesman and Kona Glenn from rowing; Izzy Lippolis from women’s water polo; Sean Tunnicliff from men’s water polo; and Kurt Phipps from wrestling.
 
Neilson, a two-time All-American who earned the Christy Mathewson Award as the top athlete in Bucknell’s Class of 2025, was selected to advance to the national Academic All-America ballot. Those honorees will be announced on July 8.
 
CSC Academic All-America candidates must have a minimum 3.50 cumulative grade-point average in at least their sophomore year academically and athletically, and they must meet certain sport-specific playing-time requirements. The at-large program covers all NCAA-sponsored sports that do not have their own voting process.
 
Bucknell’s 12 at-large honorees combined for a 3.73 GPA, and all have been prominent members of their teams.
 



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Three Lions selected to CSC Academic All-District teams

Story Links COMMERCE – Three East Texas A&M University women’s golfers have earned Academic All-District distinction, as selected by the College Sports Communicators, on Tuesday.   Marie Baertz (Luxembourg), Julianna Crow (Trinity School of Midland), and Jordan Dusckas (Flower Mound Marcus) were selected to the Academic All-District teams. It is […]

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COMMERCE – Three East Texas A&M University women’s golfers have earned Academic All-District distinction, as selected by the College Sports Communicators, on Tuesday.
 
Marie Baertz (Luxembourg), Julianna Crow (Trinity School of Midland), and Jordan Dusckas (Flower Mound Marcus) were selected to the Academic All-District teams. It is the second time that Dusckas has earned Academic All-District honors in her career, while it is the first for Baertz and Crow, who were both named to the Southland All-Academic teams last week.  
 

The trio is selected to the Academic All-District teams for the At-Large category which includes eligible student-athletes outside the sports of men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming & diving, men’s and women’s tennis, softball, baseball, and men’s and women’s track and field and cross country.
 
Baertz adds another accolade to her name for the 2024-25 season as she has been named the SLC Women’s Golf Student-Athlete of the Year, first team Southland All-Academic, first team All-Southland, and Southland All-Tournament honors. She is a construction engineering major and just wrapped up her sophomore year as a Lion, having been named to the President’s List.
 
Crow is also a construction engineering major and wrapped up her Lion career this past spring, having earned president’s list honors throughout her Lion career.
 
Dusckas graduated this past May with her degree in marketing, she has also been named to the president’s list in her Lion career and was selected as an all-conference honoree in 2023-24.
 
Baertz, Crow, and Dusckas helped the Lions finish second at the SLC Championships for the second year in a row.
 
The full list of CSC Academic All-District honorees can be found HERE.

 

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Eric Dane Reveals His Right Arm No Longer Works Amid ALS Battle

Eric Dane just revealed in April that he’d been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but he’s already lost function in his right arm and worries about weakness on his left side and in his legs. “My left side is functioning, my right side has completely stopped working,” the Grey’s Anatomy alum said, after sharing he […]

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Eric Dane just revealed in April that he’d been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but he’s already lost function in his right arm and worries about weakness on his left side and in his legs.

“My left side is functioning, my right side has completely stopped working,” the Grey’s Anatomy alum said, after sharing he only had “one functioning arm,” in an interview with Diane Sawyer that aired on Monday and Tuesday’s Good Morning America. “I feel like maybe a couple more months and I won’t have my left hand either. It’s sobering.”

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Dane, who appeared somewhat physically weak in the pre-taped conversation, already had a scary incident with his 13-year-old daughter when the former competitive swimmer and water polo player jumped into the water and realized he didn’t have the strength to swim.

“She dragged me back to the boat,” he said of his child, adding that he broke down in tears. “I was just, I was, like, heartbroken.”

Dane said his symptoms began over a year ago when he started to notice weakness in his right hand.

“I didn’t really think anything of it at the time. I thought maybe I’d been texting too much or my hand was fatigued,” he recalled. “But a few weeks later, I noticed it had gotten a little worse.”

He then ended up seeing a series of doctors, including two hand specialists and neurologists, the second of which told him, “This is way above my pay grade.”

After nine months of testing, he got the ALS diagnosis: “I’ll never forget those three letters.”

The neurological disorder, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, affects motor neurons, a type of nerve cell in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement and breathing, according to the National Institutes of Health. As these cells deteriorate, muscles weaken and waste away and the brain loses its ability to start and control functions like walking, talking, chewing and breathing. The disease gets worse over time.

Dane, who plays Cal Jacobs on Euphoria and stars in the upcoming Prime Video police thriller Countdown, was focused on his family as he talked to Sawyer and said he wants to work as long as he’s able.

“I mean, I really, at the end of the day, just, all I want to do is spend time with my family and work a little bit if I can,” he said. “I don’t think this is the end of my story. I just don’t feel like, in my heart, I don’t feel like this is the end of me.”

He grew emotional when he referenced wife, Rebecca Gayheart, whom he called his “biggest champion.”

“I talk to her every day,” he said, pausing to collect himself as he got choked up. “We have managed to become better friends and better parents. And she is … probably my biggest champion and my most stalwart supporter. And I lean on her.”

And after losing his own father to suicide at the age of 7, Dane is “angry” the disease could also take him from his teenage daughters while they’re young.

“I’m angry because, you know, my father was taken from me when I was young,” he said. “And now, you know, there’s a very good chance I’m going to be taken from my girls while they’re very young.”

There’s currently no known cure for ALS, and most people die from being unable to breathe on their own, usually within three to five years of symptoms first appearing, according to NIH. Approximately 10 percent of people diagnosed with ALS survive for 10 years or more.

Sawyer had teased the second part of the interview, which aired on Tuesday, when she would speak with Dane and his doctor, Dr. Merit Cudkowicz, the executive director at Massachusetts General Brigham Neuroscience Institute.

“It’s a hard diagnosis to hear, but I want them to hear that there’s hope,” said Cudkowiczm, speaking to others with ALS, which she said affects 5,000 people per year and is a number that is rising too quickly. “I never want anyone to hear that there’s nothing to do because there’s a lot to do.”

Cudkowiczm said it’s predicted by 2040 that the numbers of people with ALS worldwide will increase at least 40 percent, due to the aging population and environmental factors including plastics, bacteria in lakes, pesticides, being in the military and head trauma. She also spoke about a new breakthrough drug that has been showing improvements in clinical testing.

Dane, who doesn’t qualify for that trial per gene testing, is taking medication to slow down the symptoms and participating in a different research study. “I will fly to Germany and eat the head off a rattlesnake if she told me that will help,” said Dane, with a smile, of being open to trying anything to combat the disease.

The Ice Bucket Challenge that went viral starting in 2014 has raised $200 million for U.S. research.

“I’m pretty hopeful,” closed Dane. “In my heart, I don’t feel like this is the end of me.”

— Jackie Strause contributed to this story.

This story first posted on June 16 at 5:58 am PT and was updated on June 17 at 6:30 a.m. with Dane’s Tuesday interview on GMA.

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AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (22-41) won 8-4 (BOX SCORE) The Hooks got on the board in the 2nd inning scoring 5 runs on a Ferreras solo HR, Austin RBI double, Sacco RBI single and Williams 2 run HR. In the 3rd, Guillemette connected on a 3 run HR to extend the lead. Rodning got the […]

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AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (22-41) won 8-4 (BOX SCORE)

The Hooks got on the board in the 2nd inning scoring 5 runs on a Ferreras solo HR, Austin RBI double, Sacco RBI single and Williams 2 run HR. In the 3rd, Guillemette connected on a 3 run HR to extend the lead. Rodning got the start and tossed 2 scoreless innings. Santa pitched in relief allowing 4 runs, 2 earned, over 2 innings. The rest of the pen was great tossing 5 scoreless as the Hooks won 8-4.

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Orioles minor leaguer Luis Guevara dies at 19, team says

The Baltimore Orioles said Tuesday night that 19-year-old minor league infielder Luis Guevara has died.

The organization didn’t provide a cause of death. Guevara was involved in a personal watercraft crash Sunday in Sarasota, Florida, according to multiple outlets. The team’s Florida Complex League games were postponed Monday and Tuesday.

Guevara was signed by the Orioles as an international free agent in 2023. The teenager from Venezuela played in 30 games this season — his first in the United States — across three stops. He spent 24 games with Single-A Delmarva, four with the FCL Orioles, and two with Double-A Chesapeake.

His last game was Saturday, when he went 1-for-3 with an RBI for the FCL Orioles at the Pirate City Complex in Bradenton, Florida.

“Luis was a beloved member of our organization, and we are devastated following his tragic passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and teammates and we ask for their continued privacy during this difficult time,” Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said in a statement.

Guevara spent his first two professional seasons with the DSL Orioles in the Dominican Republic.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Five Eagles Earn 2025 CSC Women’s At-Large Academic All-District Honors

Story Links STATESBORO – Georgia Southern placed five student-athletes on the 2025 Collegiate Sports Communicators Women’s At-Large Academic All-District teams, as announced by the organization Tuesday afternoon.  To be eligible for CSC Academic All-District honors, student-athletes must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.50 cumulative GPA at their institution. They […]

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STATESBORO – Georgia Southern placed five student-athletes on the 2025 Collegiate Sports Communicators Women’s At-Large Academic All-District teams, as announced by the organization Tuesday afternoon. 

To be eligible for CSC Academic All-District honors, student-athletes must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.50 cumulative GPA at their institution. They must also be at least a sophomore academically. Each school is allowed six male and six female honorees for the all-district team based on academic and athletic merit in the sports of men’s and women’s fencing, men’s golf, men’s gymnastics, men’s ice hockey, men’s lacrosse, men’s rifle, men’s skiing, men’s volleyball, men’s water polo, men’s wrestling, women’s beach volleyball, women’s bowling, women’s crew/rowing, women’s fencing, women’s field hockey, women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, women’s ice hockey, women’s lacrosse, women’s rifle, women’s skiing and women’s water polo.

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