Minutes for the February Leadership Team meeting

Submitted by GeorgeC on Wed, 02/05/2020 - 16:39
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Leadership team

Leadership Team Meeting - Monday, Feb 3rd,2019 at 3:00pm - Room 4 at Odell Weeks

In attendance were Joyce Noland,  Linda Blake, George Carr, Rob Bromley, Marian Garcia, Stephanie Wolfe, Megan Hollenbeek, Gloria Lynch,  Faith Loeb, Mo Garcia, Leslie McCowan, Bebe Murphy, Diane Voss and Marissa Evans.

Joyce called the meeting to order, and introduced Megan Hollenbeek. She then asked us all to introduce ourselves and describe our responsibilities in the leadership team. As we were about to start, Gloria Lynch, our new Gregg Park rep walked in and was introduced. 

Feedback from the Super Senior RR

  • Overall was very positive and we received a lot of feedback.

  • One negative was the acoustics. It was difficult to hear the start and finish signals and they suggested in the survey perhaps having different starting and finishing sounds.  Team is considering having a bell and a whistle for the next time.

Format, location, and date of next round robin

  • Location will be Gregg Park.

  • There was some discussion regarding which weekend in June 2020 would be the best one for the RR. Even though a final decision hasn't been reached, June 27th is a good possibility.

  • After reviewing the survey, the leadership team has decided to rotate formats for this RR.  The format will be Fixed Partner mixed doubles. 

  • There will be space for 12 teams per division. In this RR, the divisions will be 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0+. There will be a waiting  list after the available positions are filled. (Note - for the last RR, all the players on the waiting lists eventually got moved into the main draw.)

  • There was some additional discussion regarding how the RR would proceed and for now a vote was taken at the meeting and the teams will be divided into two 6 team divisions.  The two top winners of each RR division would then compete again to determine medals.

Treasurer's Report (George)

  • Ron was absent but George passed along the message. We are doing well and our current balance is $408.

Resignation of ambassador

  • Sad news for our group, Chuck is resigning as ambassador. 

  • Chuck spoke to the group and said that it has been a lot of fun but he wants to do more ministry work with his church now that he is retired. He will still continue to work with the Houndslake pickleball. He has also agreed to be the announcer for the Palmetto Invitational.

  • Chuck has agreed to stay on as ambassador until a replacement is found.

   Gregg Park

  • We have a new Player rep for Gregg Park, Gloria Lynch who was present at the meeting.

  • Feb 17th is the last basketball game for the season at Gregg Park so on 2/18, we resume playing as usual. We will be back to 6 courts and will have Wed evenings  (5:30pm-8:30pm) and Saturday mornings back (9am - 12). We are looking for volunteers for Tuesday morning at 9am, February 18, to help put down the lines for courts 2 & 5.  

  • George reminded everyone that if we do not have Saturday play at OW, then  there is no reservation play at Gregg Park on that Saturday.

 

First Presbyterian

  • Saturday, Feb 8th is scheduled to be our last Saturday play until Fall 2020.

  • There was some discussion regarding the use of this facility as a possible 2.5 League location for the spring. We will discuss this option further.

Little Mo Update

  • The schedule for 5 weeks for Little Mo was opened and within 1 hr all the slots were filled. So additional sessions were added and those are also filling fast.  

  • Due to the amazing response, we are considering opening up a Wednesday night, 1 hr session at Gregg Park. We will keep you posted as this needs to get final approval by Gregg Park.

Update of teaching Pros (Mo)

  •  Megan will go for her certification in February and has moved to Aiken. 

  • Eric, the assistant pro at Woodside is getting his certification.

  • Having the additional time at Gregg Park and with the help of the new pros, we might expand Little Mo and additional lessons at Gregg Park.

  •  Same as OW, as we get more night time, there will be additional lesson opportunities.

  • George asked about flyers for information. Joyce will talk to Seth and we will figure out the best way to get the information to the pickleball players at Gregg Park.

  • The Little Mo lessons at Gregg Park will be open only to members.

Spring League

  • There is a great deal of interest and as of now we have several potential teams: Houndslake (Jim Wheeler - captain), Augusta, Aiken team1 (Megan Hollenbeck - captain). Other potentials are: Columbia, a second or even a third team from Aiken and possibly a second team from Augusta.

  • The Augusta team has requested that they would like to host some of the games so there will be some away games.

  • Mo said that there will be a meeting with the captains of the teams next week to go over details and rules for the league.

  • There was a good deal of excitement and discussion regarding spring league and all the possible participants.

  • Mo assured that rain dates and deadlines will be included in the discussion with the captains. Also, blackout dates for Masters and the tournament to be held in Augusta.

  • Possible times for games will be Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.

  • Will start March 1st and will go for 6 weeks.

Local ratings based on Aiken Tournament

  • We have had a long standing rule that anyone that got a gold medal at the Palmetto Invitational could request being moved up to the next level on our active player list. At the time the rule was issued, the Palmetto Invitational was one of the few tournaments available. Now with more tournaments and the USAPA rating system in place we are rescinding this rule.

  • We are deferring to the USAPA for ratings and or to the Palmetto Invitational director for his/her discretion on player placement during the tournament.

Court reservation limits

  • There was a lengthy and animated discussion about what to do to give everyone a fair chance to get a court, especially when court space is limited during basketball season.

  • The current rule states that a player's name shouldn't appear more than 3 times on a reserve court per week. And the same person should not be allowed to reserve more than 2 courts per day or more than 3 times per week. But even when the rules are followed some players may end up playing more that their fair share of times, leaving some players with no play time at all.

  • We all agreed - Be considerate and fair. Please stick to the 3 times per week.

 Overlap of drop-in play and reserved court Play

  • If you have a reserved court, don't come to drop-in play.

  • We are a growing group of players. Pickleball is gaining great popularity and we need to lead by example. Be considerate and fair.  Allow the space to be shared and enjoyed by as many players as possible.

Meeting time

  • New leadership meeting time is 5pm

Input from player reps and other discussion

  • Linda shared with us a pickleball article from the Mayo clinic.

  • Joyce suggested that whenever you see an empty court that is not being used and not reserved please use it.

  • Rob asked about dust on the courts. Joyce responded that there is supposed to be a dust mop in the closet in Gym 2 available for this purpose. If one is not available, feel free to ask the front desk for one.

  • Mo asked if there would be additional time for coaching  and Joyce replied that as soon as we get more time available she will let us know. Mo said that now that we have more players there is a greater demand for clinics and lessons.

  • Marissa asked if we got space at Gym 1. Mo said we got Gym  1 for 2 hrs and that is where the Little Mo lessons are taking place.

 

Next Meeting will be Monday, March 2nd , 2020 at Odell Weeks 5:00pm.