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