Lee County Shuffleboard heads for home stretch
The Lee County Shuffleboard Club’s 2014-15 season is coming down to the final month, and the level of competition and parity has never been better.
The club, located next to the North Fort Myers Recreation Center, has hosted some of the best tournaments in the region, with two more huge ones set for March before the season ends.
That’s assuming the weather cooperates. Usually wet weather made it difficult to finish a southern district tournament this week. Teams of amateurs and pros were to play for two days.
“We’ve had a good year. The courts have been playing well and we’re going to have our new clubhouse ready very soon,” said club president Dick Wittis. “The remodeling should be finished in a couple weeks.”
Wittis said membership was up slightly from last year, at around 200. Many of them have been coming for daily play.
The club was to host a pro state mixed doubles tournament on Monday, held for the Florida Shuffleboard Association, of which the club hosts about six or seven annually.
The State Masters will be played at the end of the month, with the top eight men and women holding a round-robin tournament to determine the top of the tops.
As you might expect, many of the players were older. That didn’t stop them from coming out in the gloom and try to get in a game or two.
Sure enough, rain stopped play shortly after it started, as the discs can’t slide well on a wet court. The players patiently waited it out, as the game is as much a social event as a competition.
Joyce Smith, of North Fort Myers via Virginia, said she and her husband saw people playing one day and got hooked. She is now in her eighth year playing.
“We now play four days a week. When you retire you don’t want to sit in a rocking chair, so this keeps us active and our minds alert. We meet a lot of new friends,” Smith said. “Everyone will help beginners learn the game and this has become our family.”
Pat Reese, one of the top women in the area, said even after five years, she’s still learning about the game, as shuffleboard employs a lot more strategy than people think.
“It’s challenging and it’s a lot of fun. People laugh when they think of shuffleboard, then they try it and realize how much strategy and different shots you can do,” Reese. “It amazes them.”
For those from Canada, the game is especially popular since it has elements in it from curling, a national sport there.
Bill Lemay and John Holder are from North of the Border said curlers take to the game easily, but non-curlers love it too as they have played six and nine years, respectively.
“I’m not a curler, but those who curl like it. Me, I’m into shuffleboard,” LeMay said.
“When we come down here, you have to do something to spend your time. We have a lot of shufflers in our park, so it’s natural to get involved,” Holder said.