Laurie Balatti Is Using Her Teaching Skills To Grow Pickleball In California’s Central Valley

Balatti’s persistence has paid off. In the fall, the city will break ground on nine new pickleball courts that are being built at the AG Sports Complex in Los Banos.

“I feel a big sense of pride,” Balatti said of her work as a USA Pickleball Ambassador. “There was never a month that went by that I didn’t contact somebody in local government and connect with them.”

In April 2015, Balatti and her husband were in Roseville, California, when one of her friends took her to watch people play pickleball. She had never seen it before then, and even though she didn’t play a match that day, she said she knew immediately, “That’s my game.”

The following week, Balatti was visiting friends in Palm Desert, California. She told them that she’d play golf with them, but they also needed to take her to play pickleball. She instantly became hooked on it.

“We didn’t know what the heck we were doing because we had nobody to show us,” Balatti said. “So, we went and played with some other friends, and that’s probably about all we knew at the time. But that’s how it started.”

Her advocacy on behalf of pickleball also began soon afterward.

As soon as she returned home from Palm Desert, Balatti and her husband noticed that there were no courts set up for pickleball at their local community center. So, they approached the Los Banos Parks and Recreation Department, explained to its officials what pickleball was and said they’d like to play matches at the community center.

“They ended up buying us some Walmart nets. I didn’t even know the difference. I mean, these were nets that could be raised or lowered for volleyball, badminton, whatever,” Balatti said. “And so, we started playing there. That April, we had maybe 4-6 people, and now we have like 130.”

Balatti has also gotten her three grandchildren involved in pickleball. When they come to Los Banos for a visit, she and her husband put up a net in their backyard and play pickleball with them. They also take them to pickleball courts near their home.

Balatti said she decided to become a USA Pickleball Ambassador after speaking with good friends whom she had met through pickleball. Her friends were USAP Ambassadors as well.

“They said, ‘You’re already doing what Ambassadors do, so why don’t you apply to be an Ambassador?’” Balatti said. “They pretty much encouraged me to do that, so I did.”

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