Leadership Team Meeting - Monday, Jan 6th, 2020 at 3:00pm - Room 4 at Odell Weeks
In attendance were Joyce Noland, Linda Blake, George Carr, Ron Nelson, Rob Bromley, Pat Smith, Marian Garcia, Stephanie Wolfe, Nelson Swartzentruber, Faith Loeb, Mo Garcia, Mike Beckner, Leslie McCowan, Bebe Murphy, Diane Voss and Marissa Evans.
Joyce called the meeting to order.
Super Senior Round Robin – Jan 18, 2020
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All the draws are full except the men’s 2.5 and that is filling up. Great response from volunteers.
Treasurer’s report
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All our bills our paid, and we have a small surplus.
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First Presbyterian
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Question was asked if we need to add court reservations but we reached the agreement that we will leave it at open play and we will see.
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Marian commented that court designation was a little iffy and Faith suggested that if we don’t have people signing up we could have court reservations at the 11am time. George said that he signed up because he saw only 3 but as it got closer to playing time it went from 3 to 14 players.
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Sign up has improved and we eventually added a reserve court from 11am-1pm.
First Baptist
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We have evening play Mon and Thurs 6-9pm.
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Happy to see that attendance has improved
Gregg Park
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We have Tues and Thurs until the end of basketball season
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We have only 4 courts but only 1 available for reservation
Smith Hazel
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Wednesday and Thurs from 1-3pm. The facility is part of the city so the same fees as OW apply.
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Open play only
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George said it was a very nice facility.
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There was one incident were two of our lady players were approached by a man asking for money. Mo suggested if you feel unsafe ask someone from the facility to escort you out and definitely report it if it happens again.
Update of teaching Pros
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Mo said that we have some good news. Megan will receive her certification in February and has moved to Aiken.
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Potentially we have Wojciech coming back and hopefully will teach at Houndslake.
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Eric, the assistant pro at Woodside has also expressed interest.
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We will have potentially 5 pros in the next couple of months.
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Chuck B. is considering some free lessons for beginners at Houndslake.
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Faith asked what will happen with Little Mo? And Mo said that Little Mo will be back probably at a different price point, $10 and a schedule will come up soon.
Additional discussion regarding additional playing options
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Mike asked if the Y program was still active. Mo said yes, and Jessica is doing a good job. He added we should reach out to her.
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There was additional discussion regarding OW reservations and the possibility of limiting the amount of times a single person can sign to reserve courts. It was decided to leave the limit as they currently exist but will keep an eye on it to keep it fair. The most important fact is that if you sign up for a court, USE IT!
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Mo also suggested that we should ask about Gym 1 on Monday mornings. If it is not used for basketball perhaps, we can use it. Mike reminded the group that it is designated for basketball use and since it is a city facility, we may not have access to it. Joyce said we should ask.
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Mo also suggested that the extra court on Gym 1 could be used for clinics or lessons.
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After some discussion the agreement was to leave the number of courts as is but make sure that we maximize use of courts. Linda suggested getting 6 people to a court instead of 4 so we make sure we have enough people to play.
Rating based on local tournament
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Tabled until next meeting
Purpose/direction of this committee
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Mike started by thanking everyone for their contribution and dedication
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Our primary reason to exist is to be a liaison with OW and for organizational purposes, assessment of skills, player support and all support of the sport.
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Excellent website to provide information to players
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Provide organization for major and minor tournaments.
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A question was raised that maybe players don’t understand what the leadership committee does. The solution might be to become a club but that comes with good and bad consequences.
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Mo asked the question if we should we become a club when we already have one of the best pickleball programs in the country? We have free ratings, structure, managing the asset of 5-10 different facilities (41 courts!) not as a club but as a group. We do provide organization without being a club. It might be in our future but we are not there yet.
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Mike suggested perhaps we need something in writing about the history of Pickleball in Aiken.
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Marian made a comment about the complaint of too many emails from the leadership team...you don’t have to read them but it is important to have them to keep informed.
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There was additional discussion but the overall feeling was that the leadership team is not only needed but successful at encouraging the sport to grow and help players. Joyce stated that the leadership team has done a tremendous job but there is always room for improvement for all of us. Many of us members of the team agreed, it was a cohesive and inclusive group and we love being part of it.
Input from player reps and other discussion
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Faith said we need more volunteers from the beginner's rep for the beginners in the mornings open play. Mo suggested we ask Megan to be the beginners rep during open play. Marian said that as is we are doing a good job.
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Bebe suggested to get a player rep for Gregg Park. A couple of names were suggested for the job.
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Leslie asked about the rule on 12-year-olds on the court. Mo said that we are considering a youth pickleball in the spring or the summer so we can encourage younger players but as of right now there isn’t a rule about you players in the court.
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Pat asked if we should not have as many social. The attendance to socials is down. Faith made the suggestion to keep at 3 events per year.
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Stephanie asked about listing used paddles on the website. Mo said that it might be better not on the website to give him the information.