November 2023 Leadership Team Meeting minutes
Meeting was at OW, starting at 4PM, Monday, November 13th. Members present were Jay Wilson, Heidi Abele, Marcia Stivanson, Christy Prichard, Faith Loeb, Joyce Noland, Dean Cheatham, Lori King, Marian Garcia, Mo Garcia, Cheryl Breidenbach, Cindy Ogden, Jodi Madden, Bill Bourbeau
1. Kathy Reiter attended to talk about the USCA Pacer Life Program and Special Olympics. The Pacer Life Program is for disabled students. The goal of the program is to have students attend the school academically, live independently on campus, and then be employable upon graduation. Currently the program has 15 Students. Kathy stated that the times she is on campus the gym is vacant and thought this would be an ideal spot to expand pickleball through the help of our organization. She brought a packet of information regarding Pacer Life for any of us to look at. Joyce will make copies and pass around for anyone who desires it. Kathy suggested getting involved by providing nets and relining courts. Mo, being the ambassador, will look into the adaptive program. Kathy is thinking that more traditional students will get involved with pickleball seeing physically limited kids playing this fun sport. The committee appreciated Kathy bringing this up and supporting the spread of pickleball.
2. New Player Reps. Christy Prichard and Bill Bourbeau (Open Play) are new player reps. Sally Serago will also be a new representative. She was unable to attend today.
3. Feedback from Player Reps. Bill stated that it may be best moving the line queue during open play to court 1 from court 3. All concurred. This would prevent participants from hopping over dividers. This will be implemented starting January 1.
Bill also suggested some changes to open play and court designation. 8:45-10 is open play. 10-11 is Court Designation. Court designation is not being used. People are just continuing to mix as they do during open play. It was stated that this may be the result of a lack of people being rated. Participants are not getting rated because they don’t have to because court designation is not being used as it was designated prior to Covid 19. Also people seem to be reserving more courts. It was agreed that now might be a good time to strongly implement our AP rating system.
Bill stated that Mondays and Fridays are crowded for Drop in play…. Wednesday-Thursday are not as crowded. There’s usually a court or two that is not being used. Joyce suggested that Friday mornings should shift back to all drop in play. Some agreed, others not so much. Bill and Christy will observe how busy Fridays are and report back to see if we need to expand drop in play on Fridays.
December will be kept the same and then perhaps changes can be made in January. Funday Monday participants have dropped off. Joyce stated that all pickleball play drops off in December.
Marcia asked as to why we have rating designations of low medium and high. Mo stated that it was useful for when we had court designation play prior to Covid.
Faith asked about the possibility of charging for ratings. Mo stated that this would probably not be needed since Bill will guide and observe open play/designated play and suggest participants to obtain a rating. We should all promote the rating system to our fellow players.
Jodi Madden had suggestion/question of need for outdoor court barriers. Can we put signs up stating to hang bags instead of putting items on benches? For now, it is probably reasonable to just place items on the ground if a seat is desired.
4. December schedule. George is unable to attend this meeting due to injuring his back. The December schedule for Odell Weeks will be posted soon.
5. Pickle in the Park did make approximately $1500. We need to decide where to donate the proceeds. Marcia stated that she talked to the church and monies given there in memory of Nelson could be designated for pickleball use only and not be put in their general fund. Marian and Marcia thought that we shouldn’t set precedent of giving so much money to one organization. Mo and Joyce thought there was no problem giving the $1500 to Hillview Church. Mo suggested giving $1000 to Hillview and $500 remain in the AP coffers for future use. Cheryl suggested giving $500 to Hillview church, with the $1000 remaining with AP to use at their discretion. All agreed to that break down, $500 given to Hillview in memory of Nelson, with $1000 remaining in our account. Additional proceeds will go to other worthy local causes, to be determined at our next Committee Meetings.
6. Toys for Tots/Golden Harvest went well today. There is another scramble on Thursday at GP. Both were well attended and very successful as over 50 toys were donated to Toys for Tots, and closed to 100 cans of food for Golden Harvest.
7. There will be RR at GP on March 9, 2024. We will need to figure out where the proceeds will be donated from this tourney at a later date. We do need to decide divisions break downs. We get requests for senior divisions, but they don’t fill up. Mo stated to offer 60+ brackets, which we will do. The entry fee will be $30.
8. API does have a contract with the City for the Palmetto Tourney during the first weekend in August 2024. This will be special since it’s our 10 year anniversary. The sanctioning survey conveyed that most wanted a sanctioned tourney. Mo stated that this was good because competition is usually greater during sanctioned events. Sanctioning will also bring in people from other states and SC areas, into our area promoting Aiken and all it has to offer. It costs individuals $35 to belong to USAP, which participants will need in order to participate in a sanctioned tourney. Cheryl stated a drawback to a sanctioned tourney means we might lose local players since they might not want to sign up for USAP membership. It was discussed that this will probably be the case, but AP will then compensate by having other local RRs. The Palmetto will be 4 days instead of 3. The survey also conveyed that most players prefer a RR tourney compared to a bracket system.
For the Palmetto, it has been suggested to have a money division. These entry fees would be higher for players participating in this division. Mo stated having a money division would bring in good, high quality pickleball for local players to watch. Player representatives should survey their players and report back to the committee on if they are in favor or not of having money divisions.
Joyce asked if we need pros to participate in the tourney. Most members were opposed to this suggestion. Mo heavily thinks it’s a good idea. AP would have to pay for the participants. Expenses would include flights, hotel rooms, food, etc. Player representatives need to ask their players what they think of this idea and bring feedback back to the meeting. A survey may be needed to see what individuals think of this suggestion.
9. Joyce stated that OW court time is diminishing. December is always a busy time for the facility, so this in not unusual. GP time is getting less too, just like it always does because of other local activities. Smith Hazel looking to close November 30 for reflooring.
We might need to decrease new player clinics and practices since we are losing indoor court time.
10. Joyce stated that we need to discuss the format and time of winter meetings. She suggested Zoom meetings at 5:30 which no one was for. She then suggested meeting at 3pm. Everyone was in favor of this. Only Kiss and Stephen wont be able to make it due to their work schedules. We also decided a December meeting would not be needed so our next meeting will be January 8th.
11. Ambassador update. Mo told us there would be a new ambassador, Chuck Buchanan.
12. Closing comments. Kathy Reiter stated how much people enjoy LBJ lessons. Others said that they have heard nothing but good about her instructing too.
Faith stated that player representatives need to reach out to participants about the Palmetto. We will need lots of volunteers.
When Mo gives new player clinics, he will be able to rate players at that time.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:30PM.