You've Never Heard of Pickle Ball?!

(From "Moments in Philanthropy", an e-newsletter published by the Madison Community Foundation. Reprinted with permission.)

Not Your Traditional Library

Deerfield Public Library has been a hopping place since the arrival of the Madison Community Foundation Library Collections Grant one year ago, according to Kaia Fry, Director. This grant provides $25,000 each to twelve libraries across Dane County to develop unique collections that can be shared throughout the South Central Library System. Focusing the collection on Sports and Fitness, Deerfield staff has created monthly events throughout the community, spotlighting new aspects of the collection by introducing little known sports and fitness regimens.

The introduction of Pickle Ball (a cross between badminton, tennis, and ping pong) materials inspired a winter league with participants from four area villages; a team will be competing in Badger State Games this summer. Nia (nee’- ah), a choreographed combination of martial arts, yoga and dance, was introduced by a certified instructor who led participants through a sample of choreographed movements. Local students and parents were introduced to Sport Stacking, the fastest growing sport in the US. It is an individual and team activity played by stacking plastic cups in pre-determined sequences, competing against the clock or another player. When Loretta Kanthak, a library volunteer, returned from Sweden extolling the benefits of the Nordic Walking System, Kaia invited Karl Fry, a University of Wisconsin physical therapist, to lead an evening training about the sport. A group of walkers now regularly ramble the Glacial Drumlin Bike Trail, Nordic Walking Poles in hand. The library also purchased a Nintendo Wii system with the games Guitar Hero, Table Tennis, and Wii sports, which includes virtual golf, tennis, bowling, baseball, and boxing.

The new collection includes other juvenile and adult non-fiction resources including alternative medicine, nutrition, fibromyalgia, asthma, yoga, snowboarding, go-carting, car racing, martial arts, soccer, baseball, football, basketball and more.

One year into the two year grant cycle, Kaia is delighted by the community response to the materials and programs. “Deerfield is a small community with a limited library budget. We never would have been able to build such an extensive collection and create such community participation without the grant. We still have one year to go in this program, and several local groups are considering a match to portions of the grant to increase the leverage. This will benefit all of South Central Wisconsin as these materials are available through the interlibrary loan system.”