QUAD CITIES PICKLEBALL CLUB
2025 – THE YEAR IN REVIEW
As usual, in 2025 there were lots of good reasons to belong to the Pickleball Club and many reasons to be proud of our impact in the community. I want to give a brief rundown of some of those things.
Quad Cities Classic Pickleball Tournament
This September event was once again a smashing success, expertly managed by Marcie and Butch Fosdick, with the support of about 150 volunteers from our club. There were 376 adult participants, more than half of these from out of town, and 12 more in the youth category. We’ve been told that the financial benefit to the Quad Cities was more than $125,000. The financial success of this tournament is what enables our club to provide so many benefits to our club members and to the community at large.
Member Benefits:
· Court Improvements:
o We purchased about $7,600 worth of equipment to improve playing conditions at ten different locations.
· Social Events:
o Our Social Committee planned and hosted numerous events that were either free to members or subsidized by the club. These included, among others:
March – Round Robin Social Event
Attendance: 64 participants
Despite rainy and windy weather, participants enjoyed a warm, dry, and fun Round Robin event indoors at the QC Tennis Club. Players competed across three skill levels and appreciated the opportunity to meet new members and enjoy great pickleball.May – Bass Street Landing Concert (Totes McGotes)
Attendance: 90 attendees
Members enjoyed a lively outdoor concert at Bass Street Landing. The weather cooperated, and the event provided a relaxed, social atmosphere with great music and good food.June – Putting at the Forge with Lunch
Attendance: 72 attendees
A perfect day for putting, highlighted by laughter, great weather, and an impressive total of 23 holes-in-one. A tie for first place led to an exciting playoff that kept everyone engaged and cheering.July – River Bandits Game
Attendance: 82 signed up
Members gathered for an exciting afternoon of baseball, food, and friendship. The River Bandits thrilled the crowd with a dramatic bottom-of-the-9th-inning win, making it a memorable outing.September – Annual Meeting & Picnic
Attendance: 160 members signed up
Theme: Peace, Love & Pickleball
A beautiful afternoon with a strong turnout. Members embraced the theme with creative outfits, enjoyed delicious food, and shared a fun, relaxed atmosphere filled with positive energy.November – Free Movie Night (Friends & Family)
Attendance: Over 100 attendees
Members and guests enjoyed a complimentary showing of Wicked for Good at the DeWitt Opera House, making for a well-attended and enjoyable social evening.December – Holiday Party
Attendance: 142 signed up
Theme: Prohibition & Pickleball
Held at the University Club, the event featured excellent food from DeBord Catering and nonstop entertainment and dancing with Paul from Twisted Mics, creating a festive conclusion to the year’s social programming.o We can look forward to many similar events in 2026.
· Training
o Our advanced training team, led by Steve Ebner, provided instruction and drills to 90 club members hoping to improve their skills from the 3.0 to 3.5 level. These sessions were free to members and will continue in 2026.
· Cost Savings
o We continue to purchase pickleballs in bulk and sell them to club members for about one-half of the retail price.
o We provide quality merchandise at very low prices, as seen on our website.
o Members get a 5% discount from Pickleball Central by using the code CRQUAD.
Community Impact:
· Again, thanks to the financial success of our tournament, your club donated $1,000 to each of eight different charitable organizations to help them in their efforts to help the less fortunate in our community. In the past three years we have donated $18,000 to these types of organizations.
· We introduced nearly 200 adults to pickleball through free beginner programs in Bettendorf, LeClaire, Rock Island, and Silvis. These programs are all free of charge and are put on by groups of dedicated volunteers from our club. The club provides all the equipment required for these lessons.
· With the support of around 100 volunteers, we taught the game to about 240 young people in many of our QC communities.
· We helped train QC athletes for participation in the Iowa Special Olympics and also, in conjunction with the Adaptive Sports Organization, trained a number of wheelchair athletes. Several of our club members participated in a tournament in which one player of each team was standing while the other played from a wheelchair.
Membership peaked at close to 800 about mid-year, but has declined a little since then. We believe one reason for this is that our current membership management software has not always been sending renewal notices and has sometimes made it difficult to renew online. We are implementing new software to help ensure a smoother experience going forward.
Thank you for being a member of the Quad Cities Pickleball Club. We hope this recap reminds you of the value of membership and the impact we make together in our communities.
If you have any questions or suggestions for our club’s Board of Directors, please email them to us at qcpickleball@gmail.com.
Pickle on,
Steve