July Leadership Team Meeting held at Gregg Park on Wednesday July 9
Members Present: Joyce Noland, Dean Cheatham, Linda Blake, Jordyn Balba, Lori King, Marcia Stivanson, Harve Mobley, Kathy Reiter, Ben Stevens, Marian Garcia, Jody Madden, Heidi Abele, Jay Wilson, Mo Garcia, George Carr and Cheryl Breidenbach.
A. Feedback from Player Representatives - Lori brought up that the pickleball courts/parking at Virginia Acres were shut during the recent tennis tourney. Mo explained why the restrictions were applied. Basically he stated that the tennis community implemented the parking restrictions. Lori had valid concerns but AP will not get the city involved with this issue.
B. Smith Hazel- George - July 16 is the last day of summer camp on Wednesdays.
C. Gregg Park- George - Only one more week left of summer camp at GP. No play on Tuesday and Thursday next week.
D. Odell Weeks- George - Dividers-Karen Temple did the sewing of the dividers. Volunteers were there for 6 hours. We appreciate all they did to fix them.
E. Palmetto Tourney- Jay and Joyce - We need volunteers in all areas. 185 people have signed up already. Jay hasn’t heard back from Pickleball Central. Mo said the orange bags are depleted from Pickleball Central. It was suggested to just use Walmart shopping recyclable bags.
Jody has checked with hotels, Lowes, restaurants. Donations are hard to get. But this is nothing different than the past 2 or 3 years. She has got some nice items for the silent auction and a 15% discount at Eastern Buffet.
F. SRNS United Way pickleball tourney Sept 26-28- Mo - SRNS wants more of a picnic social and not a true pickleball tourney. It is purely a company event. They will negotiate with the City and Aiken pickleball will not be involved.
G. Skill Rating Update- Harve - Last sessions have not been productive due to lack of participants. Harve explained the ratings are purely needed for court designation play times. He suggested if people want to be rated that they should just contact him and he rate on an as needed basis.
H. Financial Report- Dean - We have a large checking book balance sufficient to cover all expenses and then some. Benches, medals, balls, ball caddies, and tourney expenses have not been paid so this number is inflated.
I. 2025 Fall League- Jordyn - The fall league has an early start with a lot of teams coming back for this Fall session. Augusta folks are interested in coming over too. Players seem happy. Individuals are getting more confident and playing in tournaments.
July 26 will be Aiken's 250 Anniversary Event. The league will have a table set up at this celebration to sign up players. A donation will be given to the City from Mo Power Sports. All monies from league play are being run through Mo Power Sports.
J. What else is happening- Mo -
Generations Park has been approved for 12 outdoor courts.
We continue to push with the City for more courts at Virginia Acres.
Smith Hazel will have 4 outside courts.
Eustis Park will eventually have 6 outside pickleball courts.
Barnwell/Williston-more tennis courts are being changed to pickleball courts or new ones will be built.
Adaptive pickleball in Columbia has tremendous energy, organization, and structure. USCA Pacer Program might be interested in this. Kathy will get information from Mo.
K. Final comments:
Linda - Harve has 8 people signed up for the New Player’s Clinic. Linda will contact these individuals afterwards for the practices.
Linda stated that she is getting phone calls because her name is listed on the website. This is one of many reasons that the website information is useful. Thanks to all who keep this updated.
Lori asked if there was going to be a Groovy Tuesday session in the fall. It was well received in April. All think this can be tabled until after the Palmetto Tourney. In the meantime we will check for possible dates as we normally don't have evening indoor hours in the fall
The next meeting will be Monday August 11, 5:30 pm at OW.