Celebrating one year of a Pickleball sports club inside a prison
On Dec. 12, 2025, volunteers and facility staff came together with the incarcerated population to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Central California Women’s Facility’s (CCWF) first-ever sports club, The Big Dill Pickleball Club.
“We are part of a club inside of a prison,” CCWF Recreation Coach G. Martinelli said. “We are a community within the community.”
The celebratory tournament and luncheon turned the gym at CCWF into a community sports center. The gym echoed with the sounds of balls repeatedly striking the pickleball paddles and floor. A mixture of 80’s funk and R&B blasted through the speakers, giving the gym that authentic community sports center atmosphere.
There were three nets set up on the court. Six teams played at a time. Club members on the outskirts of the court placed their paddles in stacks of four so they could get next.
In the winter of 2024, Martinelli, along with supporters for pickleball Anne Stuhldreher, Adelaide Hulbert, and Sunny Schwartz, began discussing the possibility of bringing pickleball to CCWF. The Big Dill Pickleball Club kicked off only a couple of months later, in February 2025.
Taryn and Zack Lamm, a mother and son duo, come to the gym every third Friday to participate in the Big Dill Pickleball Club. Zack Lamm said the first time he came, he was nervous, but soon said he “saw the human” in all the players. Taryn Lamm said she “feels lucky to have the experience.”
Many of the club members expressed their enthusiasm for this first-of-a-kind club at CCWF.
“The court is a magic carpet that you can come onto and be normal. You can make friends on the pickleball court that you keep outside of the court,” Hulbert said.
Pickleball can be an extremely competitive and active sport. Just ask Peer Literacy Mentor Program Director M. Speir, who comes to play with the club: “I have a burning desire to win, within the realm of ethical play.”
But pickleball can also be a relaxed, fun, back-and-forth game that anyone can enjoy.
Resident Chelsie “Chad” Fee, a newer club member, said, “I like that you can exercise and play a game at the same time.”
Around noon, everyone quickly worked together to set up tables so they could sit down as a community. Incarcerated club members and free-world participants took turns at the podium to share their gratitude.
“No color lines here. We come here to forget about prison. The gym is the best thing in the institution,” resident La Tasha “Blacky” Williams said.
The Big Dill Pickleball Club members received a gift bag with healthy snack items, headbands with their club logo, and certificates of competitive play. Whole Foods donated the items for the gift bags, and a young lady in high school held a fundraiser to pay for the club’s celebratory lunch.
After lunch was over, everyone started packing up the tables so they could squeeze in a few more rounds of pickleball before the event ended.
Resident Michelle Souza, who has been playing pickleball for a few months, said she’s excited to continue playing: “I leave here feeling energetic and good about myself.”
