We had a no frills, no fee, no medals, no worries Open Scramble on Saturday, July 9th at Odell Weeks - six games - rotating partners. Check-in and court setup began at 12:30pm. First 24 that sign up were in. Admission - one Onix Fuse orange ball - returnable. . Five players were moved up from the wait list.
The next Skill Rating Sessions will be held on a Monday, December 19th the Smith-Hazel Recreation Center between 9am-1pm. Click here to sign up to be rated in the next session..
Watch out, Aiken pickleballers, a new generation of pickleball players is coming up the pike! The proceeds of last year’s Palmetto Tournament raffle ticket sales were used to purchase a class set of pickleball paddles and balls for Aiken Intermediate School. Lori Secrist, P.E. teacher at this middle school, says her students are having lots of fun learning the game.
Plans are in the works to expand this pickleball program throughout Aiken County Public Schools with a pickleball in-service in August for all Aiken County P.E. teachers. This year’s raffle sales will go to promote pickleball at another Aiken school. Purchase a ticket or two or ten at the Palmetto Tournament, and not only will you get a chance to win a cool prize, you’ll also be helping to grow our next generation of pickleball players!
The minutes for the May 2, LTM meeting have been posted. Items discussed included the new guest pass system, frequency of meetings, John McCowan taking over the Calendar and Signup Genius, and much more. The next meeting will be held on Monday, August 8th. Go to Forums or click here to see the full report.
Generally, the Aiken Pickleball community is made up of older adults. On average local players play 3-4 times a week at one or many of the great facilities available to use in the Aiken area. One thing we may not think about is injuries. We expect that after pickleball we will go about our day finishing up our to-do lists, not planning for a trip to Urgent Care in our schedule..
Be aware fellow pickleballers, a recent Emergency Department study of ER visits estimates that there are over 19,000 ER visits related to pickleball annually. Patients over 50 accounted for over 90% of patients where 50% were male…
So be careful out there, do your stretches, watch out for barriers and walls and sometimes just let the lob shot go.. It’s just a point in a pickleball game.
Aiken Pickleball
Ref: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31796221/
Hey Odell Weeks Pickleballers
There was some confusion this week about the Silver Sneaker program and the new rates effective April 1, 2022.
Per the City, the rate changes have no impact on Silver Sneaker program participants; if your fees were covered by Silver Sneakers, they will continue to be covered when the new fee schedule becomes effective.
Aiken Pickleball
Below is response from Aiken Parks, Recreation and Tourism(PRT) to questions about the April 1, 2022 Fee Schedule Change.
Why is there an increase at all?
Short answer: The new structure simplifies all of the various facility user fees, providing benefit to the participant, and improved operations for staff.
Extended answer: As a City Department we are responsible for evaluating/assessing programs, fees, budgets, services, participation numbers, etc.. In addition to feedback from our recent needs assessment and focus group meetings conducted by Clemson University, and trends within the PRT profession across the state, fees were evaluated and a proposal presented to the Recreation Commission with support, and received approval from PRT and City Management.
Why are City residents paying the same as County residents?
City citizens already pay the same rate as county residents on rental fees and other services provided by PRT; we have been inconsistent in our fees for services. We recognize that our parks and facilities serve a much greater population than within City limits. The PRT Department budget is funded from Accommodations and Hospitality Tax Collections, in addition to the General Fund.
Will my membership "grandfather" in until next year or do I have to pay the new rate effective April 1, 2022?
the present membership will convert to the Wellness Membership and the new rate will not take effect until the current membership expires.
Please welcome Anna Kerstiers, Bart Zweigora, Cindy Little, Ginger Hudock, Doug Hudock and Samantha (Sam) Chesnee to Aiken Pickleball. The six of them just completed the New Players Clinic held by Ben Lacy on Saturday, March 19th. See photo below. Special thanks to Nelson Swartzentruber and Jim Poore (not shown) for assisting. And again, just to remind, from 10am-12pm, Mon-Fri, Court 1 is designated the beginners court. If there are lessons on court 1, court 2 is the beginners court.
L-R + Ben, Anna, Bart, Cindy,, Ginger, Doug, Sam, Nelson
A roving photographer wondered into the Gregg Park gym on Saturday and took a few pictures...https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yI1OvHnOU0nWp_Q_sOeih2-upFEZ9YRz...
