About the owners and our pickleball journey
My great uncle built a court in his front yard several summers ago. We had no idea what the sport was. We played a few times during the summers and pretty much just drove the ball at one another. In November of 2019, I convinced my dad to bring me to Lakeshore Athletic Center in Holland, MI. I was welcomed with open arms and got to learn quite a few things from my dad! Jan and Connie Settlemyre (Ryan’s parents) invited me to the beginner drill session to learn strategy. Once I “graduated” from that class, I had many who helped me advance my game, but most notably was Ryan. I remember watching him at a tournament he hosted at LAC and thought “Wow! I want to play like that someday!” I’m so thankful Ryan invested time and energy into growing my game, and I wanted to pay that back by teaching an intermediate class for LAC. When I started that class in January 2021, I fell in love with teaching pickleball, watching others learn, grow and seeing their smiles!
Jenna:
We both became certified in May 2021 through Pickleball Coaching International. We were asked to run Holland Recreation’s first ever adult pickleball camp in Sept 2021, and it was a great success. We decided to continue hosting camps, and the next class we posted filled up in about 30 hours. Since then, we have been honored to be asked personally by each of our local recreation departments to run leagues and lessons for the entire Holland/Zeeland community.
Jenna also took over running our local Pickleball Club in October 2021. In the fall of 2021, we both applied to be USA Pickleball Ambassadors and were accepted. In November of 2021, we signed a contract to be sponsored pickleball players for Holland-based paddle company, Revolin Sports (see our “Affiliates Links” at the top of the page for more info!). We love that we get to support local and help these young entrepreneurs grow their business. We have also been asked to help with upcoming tournaments and decided it was time for an official business. PROmotion Pickleball was created! (Kudos to Jenna’s mom for the name!)
Pickleball In the community
When I was building Lakeshore Athletic Center (LAC) in 2017, my parents told me that I needed to put additional lines down because of pickleball. I had no idea what this sport was, but they invited me out to play. There were three courts available and approximately 50 people waiting to play. When I saw how many people who were willing to sit that long just to play the game, I knew putting pickleball lines in at LAC was a great idea. That’s where the pickleball addiction all began!
My parents taught me the rules of the game but I figured out a lot of the strategy on my own. My parents ran beginner lessons out of my facility, and I enjoyed helping out others during our open play time as well. Occasionally, I would jump in to help Jenna with a lesson and we even ran an impromptu two on two lesson after LAC’s Friday morning league was finished. We realized that this was a great idea as offering two coaches on the court wasn’t something that existed yet in our area. This is when I really began thinking about getting certified.
Ryan:
We have played in several tournaments together. Our first tournament was Canadian Lakes in summer 2021 where we won gold at 4.0 level. Second was the Ludington Tournament in Sept 2021, where we again won gold at 4.0. Since then, we’ve started playing in the 4.5 level. We were honored to earn our first 4.5 mixed doubles medals this summer: GOLD at the Revolin Earth Day Open in April 2022, a SILVER in the Lake Odessa Picklebowl July 2022, and a GOLD at the Ludington Classic September 2022. In October 2022, we decided to go for a 5.0 tournament. Jumping from 4.5 to 5.0 is MAJOR (bigger than 4.0 to 4.5 in my opinion), and while we have work to do, we feel like we want the tough competition to continue to learn! In October 2023, we both got our first 5.0 medals - Ryan received mens silver 5.0 35+, and Jenna received womens silver in 5.0.
Tournaments
family life.
Jenna.
I have three amazing children, Noah, Avery and Austin. Noah has played some pickleball tournaments with Molly, Ryan’s daughter and they have medaled. So proud of them! In addition to pickleball, Noah plays basketball, tennis, and he is quite the soccer goalie! Avery is looking forward to joining the swim team again this year and also enjoys volleyball. Austin is looking forward to basketball camp this summer, and loves playing with friends on the trampoline.
When I’m not playing pickleball, you can usually find me doing some sort of home improvement project. I also enjoy playing piano for the praise band at church. We enjoy traveling, camping, water sports, downhill skiing, and anything active!
Ryan.
Stacey and I have been married since 2001. We have three amazing kids: Madison, Max, and Molly. I have worked at Request Foods since 2008, and Stacey is both a preschool teacher at ECC as well as a cosmetologist. Our kids are heavily involved in sports and we are frequently traveling around for basketball, volleyball, pickleball, tennis and lacrosse tournaments. When we aren’t traveling, we enjoy camping and relaxing by the pool.