Minutes for August 14 Leadership Team meeting.
Members Present: Marcia Stivanson, Faith Loeb, Leslie McCowan, Linda Blake, Jay Wilson, Lori King, George Carr, Joyce Noland, Dean Cheatham, Cheryl Breidenbach, Bernice Rogers, Jody Madden, Cindy Ogden, Kiss Gunther and Stephen Donnelly. Meeting started at 5:30 by Joyce.
1. Feedback from Player Representatives:
Jody stated that people were complaining that 3.5 players in the Palmetto tournament were playing in the 3.0 brackets. Joyce stated that people complained about this on the survey. We get this complaint for every round robin and tournament that is held. This is hard to solve since the method pickleball brackets uses for ranking takes a long time to update. There’s really no way to solve this issue.
2. Financial Report-Dean:
Dean stated we started with $2200 at beginning of year and thanks to the tournament we have more than double that for next year. .
Jay wanted to know if we could keep funds aside for next year. Dean stated we will work on budget for next year and that should not be a problem.
3. Palmetto Doubles Tournament Recap:
Cheryl stated that the players she played with liked that the time between game play time was minimal. Everyone was happy with no lag time. Marcia stated that merchandise traffic was way less than last year. She also stated that a lot of players wanted information on pickleball happenings. Lori suggested that perhaps next year we have an informative listing with new player information available for handout at sign in desk. All agreed this was a good idea. Faith stated that the round robin format was quicker and everyone was appreciative of it….volunteers and players.
4. Outdoor Tournament on October 21:
Joyce stated that the goal of Aiken Pickleball is not to accumulate money. We will donate money to charities. During last month’s meeting we decided to donate the money made at the outdoor tourney in memory of Nelson Swartzentruber. However his Parkinson’s pickleball group that can legally accept a donation. Marcia/Faith suggested donating to his church and have them earmark the money for Parkinson’s. Marcia will contact his church to see if this is possible. It was also suggested to give surplus money to Mo to help offset the cost of equipment used for the schools he goes into promoting pickleball. Joyce asked if we can open registration not knowing what exact charity to give the proceeds to. It was unanimous to go ahead and open the registration online now.The entry fee will be $35. There will be an extra fee of $10 to participate in a second event, singles. Ben Stevens/Kiss Gunter are the co-tournament directors.
5. League-Kiss:
3.0 is full. Only two teams have signed up for the 3.5. She doesn’t know why more have not signed up. Members stated that a start time of 5:30pm might be too early for people that work. Marcia also stated that others are saying it’s still too hot for outside play. This league is scheduled/competitive play. This will be just a good test for future leagues. Note: League got off to a great start on Thursday evening, August 17th, with four courts of 3.0 mixed doubles play. Under "League" on the our website you will find more information, to eventually include the schedule, match results and standings.
6. Gregg Park Open Play:
Two individuals have suggested that we try open play at Gregg Park. We have already tried it in the past and not too many people have used it. We have used sign ups in past. If any one has any additional ideas let Joyce know.
7. Ongoing/Upcoming Pickleball - George:
A. Drills with LBJ. All going fine. All positive comments. Totally full.
B. New Player Clinics. 9 and 12 players have participated these past two weeks. 8 others are signed up for next week.
C. New Player Practice. Linda stated that last practice was full of young people. They are forming new groups and really appreciative and happy with Aiken Pickleball organization.
D. Rating Session. Down to 2 people in August. Depending on what Mo wants to do those two may move them to September’s Rating session. A third person just signed up so we hope to have the session Wednesday morning, August 23 at Smith-Hazel
8. Update on 501c3-Faith:
We applied for the 501c3 status May 26. It is a very frustrating, lengthy process. Faith has been told by the IRS that our application is in the process. She will continue to follow up with the IRS. The whole process is said to take 90 days which will be the end of this month.
Faith gave an explanation of why we applied for 501c3 status. It was because in the past the city has always collected the money for the tournament. We needed to become formal entity in order to collect these funds. We were assigned an EIN and then were able to open a bank account.
It is beneficial to be tax exempt/non-profit when getting sponsors for the tournament so these organizations can get tax benefits. She wants to make sure that everyone is aware of receiving our 501c3 documentation was never intended to be used to become a business. We want to continue to be a strong, vital organization that will support Aiken/Graniteville pickleball.
Membership is a non issue. There is no need to pay for membership, especially now since the tournament did so well financially. It is stated on the web page that everyone that plays pickleball in Aiken is a member of Aiken Pickleball.
Leslie brought up point that there is no group voting. We were uncertain when voting might be needed.
There is spot on website that states if you need help with anything, or have suggestions for improvement, please send an email to info@aikenpickleball.com and someone will get back to you. It's called the Help Desk and pretty much manned 24/7.
9. Closing Comments:
Marcia asked if the AP meetings are open to all members. It was stated that they are not and it is for the representatives of all players. Perhaps if there were a lot of people wanting positions on the AP board, voting could come into practice. But thus far, our organization has to look very hard for people to fill the positions we have.
10. Monday, September 18 will be the next meeting date.