Aiken Pickleball News

Aiken Pickleball t-shirts 2022

Marian and Mo Garcia have offered to place t-shirt orders for anyone who is interested. The order deadline will be June 15th. Please give $18.00 to Marian Garcia or Mo Garcia. Make checks payable to Mo Power Sport LLC. If you are paying with cash, please put it in an envelope with your name on it. You may also make payments via Zelle or Venmo. For information on using these methods, please e-mail Mo at mog01@aol.com or Marian at mag29803@aol.com.

To place an order for a t-shirt, click here.

Women's colors are listed below. Women's shirts are also available in v-neck style. Please indicate on the order form whether you want a regular neck or a v-neck.

Men's colors are:

The logo on the shirt will be similar to the one shown below.

API Leadership Team Nominations Due by Oct. 15!

API is a two-year-old tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Our intent is to promote the game of Pickleball and to provide competitive and social pickleball activities. Our responsibility as delineated in our MOU with the City of Aiken’s PRC is for the management and growth of Pickleball within the greater Aiken area which includes but not limited to; the annual Palmetto Tournament, the Aiken Area Social Pickleball League, social activities, scheduling for courts, player ratings and various Pickleball clinics.

Those interested in running for the Nov. 10 API Leadership Team elections should send an email to aikenpickleball@gmail.com. That email should include a brief resume about the nominee to include prior experience with pickleball and other qualifications.

We will elect a minimum of five people as board members. Members of the current API board and the Leadership Team members have voting rights. The term of office begins Jan. 1. Most Board Director positions are two-year terms, although some will be limited to a one-year term.

Ideal candidates should support API’s goals of promoting competitive and social pickleball activities. They should be willing to encourage sportsmanship and camaraderie and be able to work well with other board members. They should be of good character and operate with integrity and honesty. Duties include monthly meetings and occasional special meetings.

** All Board and Leadership positions within this organization are strictly volunteer and entirely non-compensated roles. Individuals serving in these capacities are driven solely by dedication to the organization's mission and objectives, with no financial renumeration, salary, or stipend provided for their service. The volunteer nature of these critical roles fundamentally affirms an organizational commitment to selfless service and mission advancement.

If you need more information, call Dean Cheatham at (760) 443-4379 or George Carr at (803) 507-4640.

New Player Clinic at the Gregg Park on Saturday, August 16th.

Aiken Pickleball, Inc. is hosting a New Player Clinic at the Gregg Park Civic Center on Saturday, August 16th. In this clinic you will learn everything you need to get started playing the sport of pickleball. Please wear tennis shoes and bring something to drink. Balls and paddles provided. Class limited to eight. Cost is $10 per person. Schedule as follows:

1030 - 11am - Check-in at front desk

11am - 12pm - New Players Clinic Instruction

12 - 1pm - Practice Play

Players must register and pay in advance which can be done online at GreggParkonline.com or at the Gregg Park Civic Center. Cost is $10 per person. Non-members are welcome to attend but must also pay an additional $10 daily admittance fee.

Fee also includes attendance at a New Players Practice session on the following Saturday at Gregg Park. Non members will still be required to pay the Gregg Park $10 additional admittance fee.

Players Rating Sessiions

There will be a Players Rating Session at Odell Weeks on Saturday March 29th. Sessions are free - sign up required.

Fabulous Friday - June 28th - Doubles Strategy Clinic

To help prepare for the Palmetto Doubles Tournament being held at Odell July 31 - August 4, there will be a doubles strategy clinic on Friday evening June 28th from 6 - 7 pm. We are calling it Fabulous Friday as there is no evening play on Tuesdays between now and the tournament. The clinic is free and no sign up is required. The clinic is for 3.0 - 4.0 doubles teams that have registered for the Palmetto and everyone who is thinking about it even if you still need a partner. Schedule for the evening of Friday June 28th as follows.

4-6 pm - Open play for everyone - all six courts

6-7 pm - clinic on doubles strategy

7-830pm - Open play for everyone - Court designation

If you haven't already, find a partner and sign up for the tournament. Discount for early registration has been extended until June 15th. We also need volunteers for the check-in & event desks, raffle & silent auction and lots of court monitors. All of these positions come with an official T-shirt and a free lunch. A volunteer sign up sheet will be available at the clinic.

In the meantime players may now stay together with their partners during drop in play from now until the end of July.

Minutes from May Leadership Team Meeting

Minutes for the May Leadership Team Meeting held on May 6 have been posted. Marcia Stivanson was introduced as our new secretary. Topics discussed - Court reservations - An upgraded version of the Sign up Genius was tested and it was decided we were better off with the version we a using; Groovy Tuesday - was so successful we decided to have another one on May 28th with a free clinic from 5-6pm on all six courts; Special Clinics for Pacer Life and Special Olympics were held in May; the final approval of our bylaws and much more. Go to the Forums page or click here to read the full report.

Drop in Play

We had forty players for drop in play Monday morning. It was four on four off, play to nine and the games were fast and furious. The majority of you seemed to like the new paddle holders. Please give a special thank you to Bob Fogle for putting them together.

One comment several of you made - that with the four on - four off, you end up playing with the same players a lot. There were a couple of ideas but suggest the following as the easiest solution if you consider this a problem. After the game the winners place their paddles in the first available holder. The non-winners place their paddles in the next available holder leaving a gap of at least two paddle positions. This will guarantee a mix of play and the delay of getting to play again would be very small

Another solution was we all chip in and buy the old Bed and Bath building that is sitting vacant and convert it into a pickleball facility. But when a small convenient store in our local area sold for $4M that didn't seem too feasible. Let's enjoy what we have and thank you all for your cooperation. Much appreciated

Let's all support our local Department of Public Safety!

The Pickleball with a Cop event scheduled for Friday, January 26 will be held RAIN OR SHINE! If the weather is good, the event will be held on the outdoor courts at Odell Weeks. If it's raining, it will move indoors to Gym 1. Let's all support our local public safety officers!

Merry Xmas

Thank you all for a great year! Have a safe holiday.

Outdoor courts at Virginia Acres Park

It was previously announced that the outdoor courts at Virginia Acres Park would be closed this weekend. That has changed, however, and the outdoor courts will be open this weekend.