Leadership Team Meeting, January 4, 2021, at 5:30pm via Zoom.
In attendance were members of the Leadership Team, Joyce Noland, George Carr and the newest member Harve Mobley; Mo Garcia, the District USAPA Ambassador and our Head Teaching Professional; Larry Howell, the Aiken County Ambassador and Gregg Park Player Rep; the 4.0 Player Reps - Marian Garcia and Cheryl Breidenbach; the 3.5 Player Reps - Chris Tubbs, Leslie McCowen and Stephaine Wolfe; the 2.5 and below Player Reps - Linda Blake and Faith Loeb; Bebe Murphy who does the Bulletin Boards and Marissa Evans our scribe.
Joyce Noland called the meeting to order and introduced Harve to the rest of the team. Harve is a 4.0 player and both he and his wife Julie are avid pickleball players. They recently moved to Aiken from Orangeburg where they had been commuting almost daily to play pickleball at Odell.
Joyce then thanked Ron Nelson for his contributions to the team the past two years. Ron is going to continue managing the Skill Ratings and serve as Treasurer.
Other topics discussed were:
Court 5 open - Court 5 was discussed in detail and it was agreed by all to keep Court 5 open but only for the 0845-11am time slot and with several restrictions that have already been posted on the website. All players need to practice social distancing and respect the concerns of others during the pandemic.
Treasury report - No change from previous month - no additional expense or additions, and a balance of over $500.
New Players Clinic and Lessons - scheduled for coming Fridays, will be suspended thereafter until Mo has fully recovered from his upcoming surgery for a hip replacement. Everyone wished him a speedy recovery.
Smith-Hazel - open Monday and Wednesday from 10am-12pm, is getting some play on a weekly basis. Three courts available.
New Rule Changes for 2021 - David Hoel provided some insight on the new rule changes for 2021 - the two biggest being no lets on serves and the alternative drop serve. There is a two hour Youtube video at https://youtu.be/IeVZloCr4eA%C2%A0 that explains each of these in excruciating detail. Mo also mentioned that the last part of the video contains information that would be of interest to any one playing in tournaments. Click here for a great video demonstrating the drop serve.
League play - Mo mentioned the possibility of an outdoor spring league - possisbly in April or May.
Outdoor Courts - There was also a discussion of approaching the City again about turning some of the outdoor tennis courts into pickleball courts. We currently have 53 tennis courts in Aiken but many are underused. Other cities have tennis tournaments with a smaller number of courts available. Will keep you posted.
Next meeting will be held on Monday February 1st at 5:30 via Zoom