September Leadership Team held at Odell Weeks on Monday September 8th    Members Present: Brian Eberhard, Jay Wilson, Lori King, Mo Garcia, Dean Cheatham, George Carr, Cheryl Breidenbach, Marian Garcia, Seth Holley (city representative), Linda Blake, and Harve Mobley.

A. Feedback from player Representatives: 

Jay asked why the league cannot reserve Virginia Acres courts on Saturday and Sundays. The reason is because we already have an agreement with the city that league play will be held on weekdays only. If league players need to play matches on the weekends, Woodside has agreed to let us use their facilities.

\Brian stated that he heard grumblings that too many courts are being reserved for league play on the weekdays. Cheryl stated we can let them know about other courts such as Eustis Park and indoor play at OW. League play is only two months. Ten of the courts are reserved for reserve play and four are left for public play. If some of the ten are not being used the league does give them up for others to play on.

B. Memorials:

George stated that the city wrote an email stating rules and regulations pertaining to memorials. If any one desires to see this document, notify George. He will happily supply a copy. If we desire more benches we will need to check with the city. Name tags can be attached to benches without city approval. The city was familiar with installing pavers. We can probably discreetly do a paver walkway at the VA courts. The African American Museum and Hopelands are examples of paver usage. Linda asked who could be memorialized, just pickleball players or their family members and friends? A definite answer is not certain, but Mo would guess if someone wants to pay for a paver in the name of a family member, that would be fine. In SC ashes can be spread in public places. The City has given approval for this in the past. George will put this memorial information on our website for public viewing. 

C. Gregg Park:

Friday evenings will be changed to open play instead of designated play since no one is signing up to reserve the courts. GP has been monitoring the usage of the courts closely and is doing what is best for all members. Cheryl and George will talk to Dalyn about GP court usage tomorrow. 

D. Smith Hazel:

George stated that the current 1.5 hour slot time available at SH is not sufficient time for some players. Some of the advanced players want at least a two hour time frame. Currently SH is not able to extend these slots to two hours.   

E. Odell and Virginia Acres:

The ice machine at Odell will not be available for usage at the Freaky Friday events. 

The City has asked API to pay for a room for the food (pizza/cookies/drink) during the Freaky Fridays/Groovy Tuesday events. $60 small room and $75 for a large room. 

Members did not think this was reasonable since API pulls in many new participants to pickleball who will be customers of OW. We feel we are in collaboration with the city and don’t understand why we should incur this charge. Seth will talk our concern over with city managers and hopefully these fees can be adjusted. 

Outdoor lighting is on at Virginia Acres Park  7-10PM. Mo will check with Allison to turn lights on at 6PM since it is getting darker and the time will soon change.

F. Skill Rating Update:

Ratings are for designated play, league play, and tourney play. They are currently being scheduled as needed. It was suggested a separate meeting be scheduled to define the skill level requirements for each of the above categories. 

G. New Player’s Clinics: Eight players attended the last clinic. 

H. New Players Practice - Are currently being scheduled by Linda Blake on the Saturdays following the introductory clinic. 

I. 2025 Fall League

Jordyn sent out a letter which will be attached to this report. 150 players are currently registered  for the fall league. 

Dean and Mo will discuss getting a Stripe account set up so Mo Power Sport will not be involved. 

This year the league expanded the format to create introductory play at the  2.0 and 2.5 levels. 

J. Freaky Fridays

OW has suggested a costume party for last Friday. No one was in favor of this idea due to the potential hazards the costumes might present during play.

K. Toys for Tots & Golden Harvest Outdoor Event-Nov. 22

 We have tentatively scheduled an outdoor pickleball event for the Golden Harvest Food Bank and the Toys for Tots Toy Drive. Mike will coordinate the donations for Golden Harvest but we still need a coordinator for the Toys for Tots. 

L. Financial Report

Dean stated after all our bills are paid we will have a balance of $7K. This is $5K lower than last year. 

$2K was donated to Hospice

$3K was for paid out for the final benches at VA

M. Aiken Ambassador

Chuck has retired and we need a volunteer to act as the Pickleball ambassador for the City of Aiken. Mo is actively searching for a replacement.  We thank Chuck for volunteering to fill this position for the past couple of years. 

N. What else is happening?

OW court resurfacing is scheduled for the end of Oct. 

The current plans for Generations Park will include 12 covered courts.

Smith Hazel is scheduled for four lighted outdoor courts. 

Both projects are not currently funded  

Mo said people are trying to fix equipment on the outdoor courts themselves. George has put a note on the website to ask players to notify API or front desk so repairs can be scheduled and done by city maintenance. 

O. Final comments.

We need a Rating/grievance committee. Problems have arisen in leagues where the director has made decisions which have not been agreed upon by an individual. DUPR ratings are not the only determining factor for play in the league. We feel it has become necessary to have a group of non-biased individuals to look into any discrepancies that may arise for the league or other instances where API is involved.  It is important for players to recognize that league play is a privilege and not a right. 

Next Meeting Monday Oct 6, 5:30 at OW