Board Meeting Minutes for 5/6/2019

submitted by Marissa Evans

Leadership Team Meeting - Monday, May 6, 2019 at 5:30pm - Room 4 at Odell Weeks

In attendance were Joyce Noland, Nancy Racki, Linda Blake, Diane Voss, Stephanie Wolfe, Vicki Thomas, Gene Thomas, Beverly Edwards, Dick Diemar, Grace Vance, Faith Loeb and Marissa Evans.

Joyce called the meeting to order.

Update on Round Robin at USCA

• The Round Robin itself was great.
• They have asked us if we will do it next year, but this is a discussion for a future time.
• Stephanie  made the observation that seniors came to watch but seniors were not necessarily playing. We need to encourage more seniors to participate in this event.

Update on Gregg Park

• Round Robin scheduled for June 29th and it will be a good opportunity for exposure for the facitilies. It is nice that they open until 9:30pm. Men and Women will play separately and they will be also separated by rating 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0 and up.
• The matches will not be timed since we have until 9 pm. The games will be played to 11, win by 1.
• We need to get people excited about the Gregg Park facilities because they are a good alternative to Odell Weeks and we don't want to lose it. Also, we will likely get more playtime IF our number of pickleball players goes up.  Grace suggested that we need reps to coordinate and encourage players to go to Gregg Park. The hours are very much like availability at OW but we need to make sure we don't lose the hours available to us at Gregg Park due to poor attendance.
• Medals will be given at Gregg Park and Mo needs a design for the medals. A suggestion was made to use the design on Mo's T-shirt.  Everyone liked that suggestion.

New Volunteers for the website

• Joyce recogniced all the new volunteers. She gave brief explanation of their responsibilities. and thanked them for coming forward and helping.
• Vicki Thomas will be in charge of Tournament information. She will inform us of tournaments within a reasonable distance.  Vicki will provide us with pertinent information for people to participate.
• George Carr will do the Calendar and some articles.
• Dick Diemar will do articles and he already had on on the website.

NR Rating  and Important to have people who are really 2.5 in that category for court designation.

• There was a lively discussion about why they were dropped and why we should bring it back. In fact it was so lively I couldn't write fast enough to keep up with it.
• It was concluded that there is a place for an NR rating. Rating is not required but it helps to have better numbers for court designation as Grace pointed out.
• The reps holding beginner clinics cannot rate but they can make suggestions as to whether a new player is or isn't a 2.5.
• Guest players (temporary players - once or twice) can play where their host is playing if the level is the sasme. If there is a question about the level, ask a player representative to give the guest a temporary rating.  Ideally this should be done by the rep at that level, but if he or she is not available, any rep can give the rating.

Recap - Computer Training

• Only 2 non- leadership team members showed up.
• Reps were there and it was a good class.

Player Photos and Should we make an effort to addd player photos and biographies to the website?

• Should we revisit adding photos to the website? Grace pointed out that it is good for new people.
• Connie did such a great time last time that we might have to see if she would like to do it again. Bev mentioned that there was a form used for this purpose.
• People without an account only can see the pictures but if you are registered you have access to the bios of the people in the pictures. All registered members can edit their bio.

Sign up Genius " Access code required"

• If you get this screen it means the system is not ready for you to reserve yet.  The solution is to close the screen and wait until Thursday morning. Make sure you hit "refresh".

Other discussion

• Grace made a suggestion to approach Gregg Park to take 2 of the courts available and make them for reserve instead of all 6 open play. That may encourage more people to play there. Joyce will talk to them. Also the possibility of lessons at Gregg Park was mentioned
• Grace also twanted to thank the Pickledillys for their wonderful help at Eustis Park. Couldn't have been done without their help.
• One of the complaints about the Round Robin at USCA was that some higher rated players were playing at lower levels.  We will attempt to correct this, but sometimes it's hard to know who is at the wrong level until afterward.
• Aiken Pickleball is looking for one or maybe two PROs (Grace is not going anywhere!!!). Since Wojciech and Mo are stepping down from clinics, it is too much for one person.  There are some requirements..MUST be an Aiken resident, be willing to volunteer some of the time, Level 3.5 or 4.0 and must be certified. Grace said a couple of people have expressed interest but are open to suggestions. This person/s must not only be a good player but also a good ambassador for the sport, a good teacher and easy to approach because it is an outreach program.
• Grace emphasized the need to encourage people to play at Gregg Park and recommended we have some of our events there to expose new players to their facilities. Suggestion  was made that maybe we should have our next social there. Joyce will check into it.
• First Baptist has court time available on Fridays at 2pm, 2 courts, open play and there may or may not be a $2 fee to play. Marion is the person to contact to unlock and if you email or contact Joyce, she can give you her contact info. This started a couple of weeks ago.

Next Meeting to be held on Monday, June 3, 2019 at Nancy Vermilye's house. Details will be provided at a later time.