November 7, 2022 Leadership Committee Meeting, Members present: Linda Blake, Beth Eberhard, Ben Lacy, Heidi Abele, Deb Rossetti, Judy DeGregorio, George Carr, Joyce Noland, Harve Mobley, Faith Loeb, John McCowan, Marian Garcia, Mo Garcia, Leslie McCowan, Froggie Rappoport, and Cheryl Breidenbach.
Feedback from Player Representatives:
Judy-Stated that the scheduling is confusing. People don’t like the 11am start time. They would prefer noon start time. Joyce stated that they can reserve two slots. None of us like only playing until 2 pm. It’s just what is available to PB now. Other organizations and activities are using this space too.
Froggie stated that barriers at OW are in disrepair. Barriers from Hillview Baptist seem to work. We may want to look at them. Mo explained why we use the ones we use. 24” are used at Hillview. We use 18” for safety measures to prevent tripping. The number of balls going into other courts is negligible. The 18” are easier to move too. 18” barriers will continue to be used.
Ratings-Joyce
Joyce posed the question if ratings are still something we need? Very few have registered these last three months. Linda questioned how placement in our round robins would work without them. Mo stated that we should have a rating session in early December to prevent sandbagging in local RR/tournaments. The pros will rate since we have a standard and why should we forego that now. George stated that there are five currently registered. Mo will speak to the Columbia resident and the person who is available only on the weekend.
Calendar schedule Update -John
All going well. November has less time for play but times are still changing. John will communicate with Ben and Mo. It’s nice having two individuals handling the calendar...another set of eyes reviewing and someone is available if the other person is on vacation.
Gregg Park RR-Joyce
The RR will be this coming Saturday. There is a great turnout except for the 70 and over age bracket. The ones that have signed up that are over 70 have been moved to lower age groups. There are only two teams registered +70. There will be 8 teams (instead of the cutoff of 7 teams) in one division to include one of these groups. 61 people have signed up. The two courts in the middle need to be retaped. If GP can’t do it then volunteers will be needed. There are enough volunteers but we need another computer. Harve and Mo will bring theirs.
Cleaning up Player List-Joyce
Right now EBlasts are not being sent out because a lot of time the emails go to spam. Please clean up the list and let Nelson or Joyce know if individuals need to be removed.
Court Reservations-George
Previously we had reservations from 12-2 only. Now we have two available slots, 11-12:30 and 12:30-2pm. We have to ensure that the nets are taken down after the first session if no one is playing in the second session. Players need to cancel reservations if they aren’t going to play. If you are the last ones in the gym and the nets on other courts need to be taken down, please take all down. Contact George and/or Joyce if this occurs so they can contact the ones reserving that did not cancel. We don’t want front desk (city) complaining to us. We want to keep good relations with city.
Judy wondered if there was any chance GP can give us more court time Friday evening. Last Friday she stated could have used all of the courts. Joyce will talk to GP to see if we can get more time.
Financial Report-Harve
All funds are in one account. $3522 is the balance. Another check for $400 will be written for medals. $400 is the cost for gym rental. Other expenses include snack items.
Red Tags-George
George has Red Tags placed in every PB net bag that should be used to designate if a net needs to be repaired. Just place the tag on the handle on the outside of the bag with an explanation of the needed repair. This will let Mo know if the set needs to be fixed.
GP has a nice set up for bags, dividers, etc. Please use them and keep neat. They do not want anything blocking racketball court door.
Southern Pickleball Academy-Ben Lacy
Ben has researched/worked on this non-project for two years. He gave a 25 minute presentation. A brief discussion was held afterwards including concerns of physical area SPA encompasses, tax dollars already covering school activities, to lack of volunteers, etc. For time constraints, discussion was tabled and suggested that members email questions to Ben. Questions and answers will be shared to all members.
Ambassador Report-Ben/Mo
Mo was contacted by Robbie from N. Augusta Riverview for PB. Two or three additional tournaments may be held at that facility. Aiken may have access to Riverview Park for tournaments, if needed.
The outdoors courts are still progressing with estimated of 6 additional ones being added. In order for this to happen additional money is needed, perhaps in the form of contributions. The 501c3, that Ben described may help with this. When completed we will have 14 outdoor courts.
Harve stated that December 11 is the Dink 4 tots fund raiser. Tanya is handling this.
December 5 will be the next meeting to discuss the SPA.