Minutes for the July 2021 Leadership Team Meeting

Leadership Team Meeting – Wednesday, July 14, 2021 at 4:00pm – Gregg Park

The meeting was held indoors at Gregg Park.  In attendance were members of the Leadership Team,  Joyce  Noland, George Carr, and Harve Mobley; the USA Pickleball District Ambassador for West South Carolina and our head teaching professional - Mo Garcia; the Ambassador for Aiken County and Gregg Park Player Rep , Larry Howell; the 4.0 Player Reps - Cheryl Breidenbach and Chris Tubbs; the 3.5 Player Reps -  Bob Fogle and Leslie McCowan; the 3.0H player rep Bebe Murphy; the 3.0 Player Rep Judy DeGregorio; the 2.5 and below Player Rep - Linda Blake;   Harve took the minutes.   Joyce called the meeting to order, and items discussed were:  

Odell Weeks

  • The Mixer on June 26 was considered a big success.

  • On the same topic, there will be a women’s doubles mixer on August 7th and a men’s doubles mixer on August 21st.  It was noted that future mixers will keep changing formats so that hopefully events will keep fresh and appeal to different players.  A proposed husband wife mixer was suggested for future play.

  • Drop in play will continue to be monitored to ensure we have a good mix of reserved and open play courts available. 

  • New player clinic sign ups are averaging 10 players/month.  Attendance has been very good and the trend is expected to continue.  A limit of 8-12 players per session is the desired clinic size.

  • The core player lists the Nelson maintains are:  a Google list that keeps all players and a Website list that can be sorted by player location, thus emails can be sent to a specific group (e.g. Gregg Park players) if information needs to be targeted to that group.  The list needs to be cleaned up.

  • OW is also planning on a pickleball camp for older kids (12 years+).  We expect to hear from OW about the date and time for this event.

Gregg Park

  • Round Robin is Saturday July 17th, $10/person, all slots are filled.

  • Kid Camp at GP on July 21st at 10AM.  Mo will conduct the camp with volunteer help from Bob F, Cheryl, and Larry.  By 10:45 AM the plan is the kids will be trained up to play pickleball and continue to play.

  • Friday evenings we now have only 3 courts for play due to limited play on past Fridays.  One court will be open play, one reserved court , and one court for Little Mo.  The other side of the gym will have basketball.

  • GP open play sign ups are not required (but still remain optional).

  • New Players Clinic on July 24th is full.

2021 Aiken Tournament

  • 134 are registered with a goal of around 200.

  • We have about $9000 in sponsorship funds to date.

  • PO’s have been issued for all items except for T-shirts.

  • The Tournament team had a good meeting with the City of Aiken.  A lot of good ideas were discussed.

  • There is an open list for court monitors set up, we need more volunteers there.  About 50% of the 138 shift slots have been filled, but only about 30% of the court monitor spots have been filled.  Larry Howell has an excel spreadsheet of past court monitors that can be used to help drum up volunteers.

  • There is a pickle ball article in the July water bill.

Next Meeting

  •  It was proposed and accepted to make the next meeting on August 18 and skip the September meeting due to the tournament.  Time and location TBD. 

National Parks and Recreation Month

  • It was proposed that we all try to do something nice for our Parks and Rec workers who have gone above and beyond to help facilitate our pickleball play.  Filling out a nice card for the suggestion box was encouraged.

League/Ladders/Mixers

  • It was proposed that we sign up for separate team (e.g. red, white, and blue “teams”) and have a captain elected from each roster.  An announcement will be sent out prior to the next Leadership meeting on August 18th.

  • Chris Tubbs was enthusiastically volunteered for coordinating the league, with help from Mo and Joyce.  We will consider the GP venue for Friday play.  A team from Lexington is interested in playing with the caveat the we play in Lexington when they are the home team in the rotation.  That gym is off exit 51 on I-20 so the drive is not that far.

  • We will keep monthly mixers with varying formats each month.

Ratings (Ron Nelson)

  • The rating session for July 26th is full with some signing up for August 23rd already.

Next Social

  • A target date of October 15th is set for the next Social Event.  Questions were asked about the type of food for the event.  The consensus was to use Pat’s Subs as a good option.  A question came up about whether or not to have music at the next social.  Several options were discussed to facilitate more “socializing”: quieter music, more frequent breaks, or no music at all.  More to follow on that topic.  Mo has agreed to provide door prizes (e.g. lessons, paddles) at the next Social.  This may be an opportunity for a raffle to support pickleball.

 

Treasurer’s Report

  •  We have a total of $402.95 in the pickleball fund.  Collecting Round Robin fees will help augment that total.

Schofield School

  • Pickleball will be introduced into the curriculum in the Spring of 2022.  It is likely other Middle Schools in the area will follow suit.  Thanks to George Buggs for initiating contact with the Headmaster at the Schofield School.

 

Player Reps Reports

  • There will be a new player practice next Saturday July 24th at OW.

  • The best way to open communications with new players is to go to our website and click on the green ball and fill out the form.  Include your playing location to allow differentiation in getting pertinent information for where you play.

  • Open play is available every evening when we have evening play at OW.

  • 10 additional players have joined at GP, four new players and six players already at OW.

  • A suggestion was made to use black curtains at GP.  Another panel will be added but the timetable is unknown.  Mo can make some taller dividers for the gaps in the curtains for the short term.

  • Tape is coming up on the center courts at GP, please mention it if you see an issue.

  • No play on Tuesdays/Thursdays July 19-22 and July 26-29.

  • 3 courts are available for new player clinics.

  • Encourage everyone to continue talking up the need for volunteers for the Aiken Tournament.

  • Larry continues to work with Hammond Hills as an ambassador.  The Swim Club is looking at installing pickleball courts.  The President of the club will present the idea to the club at the next meeting.  Larry to attend that meeting.

Next Leadership Team Meeting for August 18th -Time,  Venue TBD