Leadership Team Meeting held on August 12th, 2024
Members present: George Carr, Joyce Noland, Faith Loeb, Cheryl Breidenbach, Dean Cheatham, Jay Wilson, Chuck Buchanan, Harve Mobley, Lori King, Brian Eberhard, Jeremy Crow, Kathy Reiter, Linda Blake, Marcia Stivanson, Marian Garcia, Sally Serago, and Mo Garcia Meeting was called to order by Joyce at 5PM.
1. Feedback from player reps: Brian stated Courts 2 and 5 at GP need to be retaped. Harve reported that some players were sent outside from playing inside play at OW, today. Sally/Jeremy Crow will talk to Greg, who was helping these players to get the full story. That definitely isn’t the type of pickleball we want to promote.
2. Palmetto Wrap-Up: Joyce stated that overall it went very well. Lori stated that there was some court confusion on Saturday around noon. Chuck said a court monitor took a second court but the problem was rectified. Marian stated we need to have practice balls on the ready for next year. Joyce said next year we will put a ball in each goody bag, like what has been done in the past. Sally said the tourney went on too long. We all agreed. Joyce said Friday was canceled due to no money event participants. Mo stated that we went to 5 days because we originally sanctioned the tourney. Mo/Joyce/Jay think perhaps 3 or 4 days will work next year. Joyce stated that perhaps next year we need to do singles. There will always be a few complainers.
DUPR ratings: There is nothing we can do about getting the DUPR ratings updated with this tourney. Some of the Palmetto results will be uploaded, but only the ones where all four players in a match have connected to DUPR. We are still waiting for a reply for PBB on whether this will be done retroactively.
Lori thanked everyone who played and put the tourney on. She said watching good pickleball was very nice.
Kathy also reiterated the tourney was well run. Everyone agreed.
3. Financial suggestions: Joyce stated that the tourney did raise a fair amount of money and is asking for suggestions of where some of the profits can be given. Ideas were, Pacer Life, Mental Health organization, a Mennonite school in Windsor, or local schools. Mo suggested schools should be emphasized. Please Email suggestions to the committee. Faith suggested Adult Literacy, something different than just pickleball related. Joyce would like to just stick with pickleball affiliation, but others thought there’d be nothing wrong with donating to a non-profit or worthwhile local organization.
Aiken Senior Life Service is getting profits from the Palmetto tourney including profits from the social event itself; sponsors they recruited; and their silent auction.
4. Ongoing/upcoming: Presented by George. Harve’s New Player’s Clinic was successful. Lori is helping Harve out. George wanted to know if Mo wanted to start up Little Mo when Smith Hazel reopened. Mo is hoping this will occur in September. Five are signed up for the next ratings session scheduled for August 24th. Linda stated when the New Player practices were. She said the GP player list is outdated. Harve will encourage new players to get online to update to the website. Linda will get with Nelson to update.
5. What is next for Aiken pickleball? Presented by Joyce
Volunteers are needed to step up for officer positions because current officers have been running the organization for years. New blood and ideas will be welcome. If anyone is interested please contact LC members.
6. Pacer Life update: Kathy. USCA wants APB to teach the Pacer staff the pickleball game/rules and then the Pacer staff will teach the participants, starting Sept 4. Volunteers need to contact Kathy. She is covered for the first session. They need two nets and bags, and 12-16 paddles, balls, Mo and Kathy will work the details out later.
7. Juniors’ tournament in October: Mo. Announcements will be made in schools. Thursday evenings will be starting up in Sept.
8. Ambassador Update: Mo and Chuck. Thursday was national pickleball day. 8/8/24. Trinity Cathedral in Columbia is installing 4 courts. An Irmo facility is installing 3. Wrecking Crew, is a special needs group, 24 pupils, and is wondering if we can help out. Mo had to turn this organization down since we just don’t have the resources, volunteers. Plus this would take a lot of time/effort/special skills.
9. Closing Comments: Linda will ask Kathy if she wants to help out with the Wrecking Crew. Jay wanted to know if we could have a social at Good Girl or another restaurant/gathering spot. Marian and Joyce thought people would like to play pickleball at a social event. Joyce thought supplying pizza at OW and playing afterwards would be an option too. Perhaps Jay will try out his idea and see if it is popular and warrants another try.
Faith is retiring from Aiken pickleball after 8 years. Many members stated Aiken pickleball would not be where it is without Faith. New Player practices were instigated by Faith. We greatly appreciate her.
10. Next meeting 9/9/24. 2:30pm. If people work, we can move the meeting time back to evenings.