Local shuffleboard players share love for the sport, push for continued growth

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. (KESQ) – There's hundreds of shuffleboard players in the Coachella Valley split between nine clubs. For many, it's a sport they've played for years and fell in love with. Now, they work to carry on it's rich history.

“I've shuffled here for over 20 years, and, I really enjoy it,” Fred Johns said.

“I've got in my family involved. My wife started playing two years after I did," Gary Stephens said. "I have six children raised here in the Coachella Valley...and they know shuffleboard is my life.”

“I've been in the park now on the 19th year, and I've played for about 15," Larry Conran-Smith said. "And now it's a lot more fun playing than was a few years ago.”

Local players say shuffleboard doesn't require a lot of athletic ability but it takes strategy. Many saying the sports is "easy to play but hard to master."

“It's a game that you can get pretty good at quickly," David Guerrero said. "Anybody can beat anybody. It's the perfect blend of skill and luck.”

Valley clubs play each other every Thursday and compete in tournaments. Some players even compete in other states and internationally. While they say it's fun, it's really the community the sport builds that keeps them coming back each year.

"It's a it's a terrific way to have a good time and to meet friends," Johns said. "It's very social and, for me, I'm coming with limited activities at 85 years old, so I can still play shuffleboard.”

“I actually walked up to the gate of the shuffleboard courts three times before I had enough nerve to walk through those gates," Stephens said. "When I walked through those gates, I was welcomed.”

Leaders in the community say shuffleboard has always been popular in the Coachella Valley but in the last couple of years they've seen a decrease in the number of players and clubs. Now they're hoping more awareness can make a difference by collaborating with the Parkinson's Resource Organization.

“Unfortunately, we are losing a lot of the older people, and Canadians that aren't able to come down, any longer," Shirley Eager, the US shuffleboard district 5 secretary treasurer, said. "Here in the Valley, we are hosting a Parkinson's fundraiser, possibly a ProAm to get more people involved.” 

The ProAm is set for March 19 and 20 at the Desert Crest Country Club Shuffleboard Club. For more information of how to register click HERE.