Board Meeting Minutes, September 5, 2017, Odell Weeks, Room 4
In attendance were Jim Kabel, Nancy Vermilye, Mike & Loretta Beckner, Sally Fuller, Linda Blake, Ron Nelson, Sandy Rowder, Barb Dellamora, Beverly Edwards, Faith Loeb, Marian Garcia, Jeff Beckner and Nancy Racki.
Jim Kabel called the meeting to order. He welcomed the new volunteers and asked each volunteer present to state how long they have lived here in Aiken and how long they have been playing pickleball.
Nancy Vermilye suggested that each of the volunteers have their photos taken so she can place them on a poster and displayed in Gym 2 for the players to become familiar with their representatives.
Scheduled Meetings
- The volunteers were informed that every board meeting this coming year would be meeting the first Tuesday of the month, to last one to one and a half hours, at Odell Weeks, Room 4.
Role of Leadership Team
- Jim explained that it is the City that provides us with a calendar and Jim and Nancy will fill in available slots with the time and type of court distribution. Joyce Noland, our website manager, then places the calendar on our website.
- Jim and Nancy would like feedback from our players regarding changes to the calendar. They would encourage our players to look at our website for updates and review the minutes from our meetings.
- Lisa Campbell will be our Social Leader for the coming year. Socials will be held at Odell Weeks with the possibility of one to be held off site yet to be determined. There will be an attempt made to schedule the socials with pickleball play at the same time.
- Ron Nelson is the leader of the Ratings Committee. He stated that there will be three to four assisting him during the ratings process. He will use a system that will make the ratings process shorter. Sally Fuller has agreed to return to the Ratings Committee. Rating sessions are scheduled and players need to sign up to fill the sessions. A night rating session will be scheduled to accommodate players who work during the day. Tony Quick will select three players to play a game with the candidate being rated.
- Court 4 has been designated for out-of-town unrated players who have had racket sports experience and are not considered beginners e.g. 3.0-3.5L. No feedback has been received as to whether this is working or not. The City will back and support our organization if outside players make our players uncomfortable and are not rated by our system. Unrated outside players are not getting counted to be placed on their designated court.
- If the City approves, signs will be posted to designate which courts and their ratings are distributed for players to play on.
- Mo Garcia will conduct Beginner Clinics the first Wednesday of the month from 1:30-3:00PM in Gym 1. Faith Loeb suggested post clinic beginner practice session for those who have taken the beginner clinics possibly to be held in Gym 1.
- There will be NO drills during the month of September but will resume in October on courts three and four. Private or semi-private lessons will be held in Gym 1. Anyone offering lessons at Odell Weeks will need to go through a certification process. This will be a requirement by the City.
- Announcements to our pickleball community will be made via an e-blast by Joyce Noland.
Player Reps
- The responsibility of the Player Reps is to filter both good and bad issues back to the leadership team. Jim and Nancy would like our player reps to introduce themselves to their ratings group.
Possible Ideas for 2017-2018
- A suggestion for a mini tournament/fund raiser was made by Sally Fuller to benefit an organization in need. The mini tournament would have a random player format.
Additional Remarks
- An e-blast will be sent seeking new Tournament Directors for our next tournament. Mo and Keith will work with new Tournament Directors to provide background and guidance from previous tournaments
- Mike Beckner encouraged all members of our pickleball community to become members of the USAPA Association. An individual annual membership fee is $20.00 and can be obtained online at usapa.org. As a member, you receive six informative magazines per year.
Next Meeting
The meeting was adjourned at 7:20PM. The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 3, 2017,
6:00PM, Odell Weeks, Room 4.