Why Mt. Juliet's Del Webb neighbors will play pickleball for Alzheimer's: 'A crapshoot'

Pickleball and forms of dementia are considered a part of life in completely different ways at Mt. Juliet’s Del Webb at Lake Providence and other senior communities like it.

The growing sport and the life-altering illness will be intertwined on June 20, when the neighborhood for adults ages 55 and older holds a pickleball party of sorts to help support and raise money for the Alzheimer Association’s Tennessee chapter.

“I’ve seen literally hundreds of families who have gone through this horrible disease,” said pickleball playday organizer and Del Webb at Lake Providence resident Seth Zamek, 64.

“It’s a crapshoot for all of us," Zamek said about the seeming randomness of dementia-related illness. "I might develop Alzheimer’s. My wife. It can take someone who is vital and intelligent, and if they live long enough, take their brain and all their bodily functions. It’s horrible.”

Zamek “conservatively,” estimates that Del Webb at Lake Providence has at least 100 residents with some form of dementia, which he believes means at least 100 more caregivers in the community and likely more. Del Webb has an estimated 1,900 residents, according to its office.

Zamek – a certified pickleball instructor – became familiar with Alzheimer’s and dementia through a home care company he owned for 15 years in South Carolina. He discovered roughly half of his clients had Alzheimer’s or dementia.

“I would imagine everyone knows at least one person with Alzheimer’s or dementia,” Del Webb at Lake Providence resident and pickleball player Jean Gilmer, 68, said.

Which led to Zamek putting together an inaugural pickleball playday to benefit the Alzheimer's Association Tennessee chapter last year for the community, which he is continuing.

"It's like reverse maturity," Del Webb pickleball player David Klintworth, 71, said of Alzheimer's, which afflicted his late father years ago.

The Longest Day is a do-it-yourself fundraiser that generally involves people hosting different events with friends to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association on or around June 20 in celebration of Summer Solstice.

The goal is to raise awareness and funds for care and support resources as well as research in hopes to ultimately slow, treat and eventually cure Alzheimer’s disease, the association’s Tennessee chapter spokesperson Misa Acox said.

Tennessee has more than 129,000 residents who are living with Alzheimer’s and an estimated 369,000 family members and friends serving as unpaid caregivers, according to the Alzheimer’s Association Tennessee chapter.

Joe Thompson, 85, is a Del Webb resident whose wife Marian Thompson, 81, was diagnosed about five years ago with Huntington’s Disease – an inherited disorder that causes nerve cells in parts of the brain to gradually break down and die, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

“Get help early,” is Joe Thompson’s advice to caregivers as he describes the continual daily tasks that start when the couple wakes until they go to bed every day.

“We’re still going,” Marian Thompson said, sitting by her husband watching pickleball on the Del Webb courts. “But Joe is getting tired.”

About the tournament

Pickleball to Slam Alzheimer’s will begin around 7 a.m., and continue until 5 p.m., at the courts at Del Webb.

The tournament raised $2,300 in 2023’s first year and Zamek hopes to raise $5,000 this year. Money raised for the Alzheimer’s Association Tennessee chapter is strictly through donations.

The tournament is for Del Webb residents only with a few outside invites that include some Mt. Juliet police and fire department personnel who will square off in a match, Zamek said. Accomplished tournament player and instructor Stephanie Lane is also scheduled to attend, Zamek said.

Donors from the neighborhood will be entered into a raffle that include donated pickleball paddles and other goodies, Zamek said.

June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month and the Longest Day is considered the day that shines the most light on the darkness that is Alzheimer's, Acox said.

There is a donation page for the pickleball event at https://shorturl.at/owaO3.

Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com or 615-726-5939 and on X, formerly known as Twitter @ AndyHumbles.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How one Middle Tennessee community uses pickleball to slow dementia