Marty Aalto
Scotty Johnson is the deserving club winner of the Volunteer/Player of The Month for December. We all know what a great pickleball player and even better coach Scotty is, but did you know his number one sport is golf? He has shot his age every year since turning 65, seven years ago. That makes him an amazing 72 years old. While born in the Valley of the Sun, Scotty went to high school in Coronado in the San Diego area where he played golf in high school and in college.
Scotty and his wonderful wife Susan moved to PebbleCreek eight years ago and had never heard of pickleball. One day Scotty was near the courts and heard some noise, so he went over to see what was happening and saw a group playing pickleball. One of those players, Mark Peacock, asked Scotty if he wanted to play and took Scotty under his wing; the rest is history. The first tourney that he played in was at the 3.0 level and he has annually moved up a level. His pickleball partner through the years has been Alex Potapoff.
“Alex and I were lucky in that we were adopted by two accomplished players Mark Clark and Dennis Makinen. They mentored us allowing us to grow in the sport.” Scotty has continued to ‘pay it forward’ by helping players of all skill levels enhance their game. “From my experience with Mark and Dennis, I organized a 4.5/5.0 weekly game where we invite a few 4.0 players to train and grow in the sport. Our hope is that after a season they have progressed to the point of being 4.5 players. The following season we adopt a few new 4.0 players to continue the growth of the players and the sport.”
Scotty enjoys the Intercommunity Play each Wednesday afternoon. The Men’s Intercommunity is open to all PebbleCreek homeowners along with certain invited guests with the skill of 4.5/5.0.
Scotty is also known as “The Ball Boy,” keeping the tubes stocked and removing balls that have seen better days, which he has done for about four years since Mick retired from the job. Scotty did mention that the buckets for bad balls are not garbage cans, so please toss the trash in the correct receptacle.
In addition to playing golf and pickleball, Scotty is an avid reader routinely reading two or three books a week.