Playing pickleball is a lot of fun. There is the play aspect, where we are out
there getting exercise in the Arizona sunshine, and that is hard to beat. The people we meet at pickleball are relaxed,
and enjoying their winter retreat. First
of all, the people that are here are either retired or taking retirement for a
test drive. So, the toughest decisions
of our day are what time to take a nap, or whether to play pickleball, go
hiking, biking or to the wood shop, or maybe a sightseeing or shopping expedition. For the more adventurous, maybe doing a few
of these things or some others as well fits the bill. The people here can also afford to be
here. It is not terribly expensive,
especially for those who have purchased a “can”dominium here, and so we should
all be walking around with a “pinch me, I must be dreaming” attitude of
gratitude for being able to be here.
There are many others who cannot afford to quit their jobs, or who are
living in poverty.
Many of you might say that pickleball was a lot of fun
before we started organizing our RCW Pickleball Club, so why change? Also, what changes are in store for next
year?
In fact, over the last few years, Rincon Country
West RV Resort has fallen behind the pickleball curve. At least some of you would say: “So what?”
SO
WHAT
Well, the “So What” is kind of important to us, and
is behind the move to bolster our club.
While Rincon has had courts for 5 years or so, other places like Palm
Creek and Voyager, as well as a large number of the other RV Resorts have
gotten into pickleball in a big way. What
this has meant for their parks has been a large increase in people making these
parks into their winter home. Those
people did not come to Rincon Country West or East for that matter, and though George
and the O’Leary family have maintained the parks very well, a large contingent
of people looking for pickleball in the winter have gone elsewhere. For those of us who own metal mansions here,
our property value has decreased, and cannot be excused just by a recession,
since that is not what is being seen at parks that have stressed pickleball.
A couple of years ago, we would go to the pickleball
courts on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings, and play for a few
hours. Then we went to daily play here,
still only a few hours in the morning.
Now, we have some instruction at other times, and some people wander
down to play or drill as they choose.
We have 4 courts, and are promised to have 4 new
courts by the Fall with the original 4 being refurbished with proper nets as
you would find on the best courts in the land.
To a certain extent George O’Leary, our park owner is doing this to keep
up with the Joneses. But, for us in the
pickleball club, this is an opportunity to do some new things, and to make
advances like other clubs have done. If
we do not do our part, then George’s investment in new courts, which equates to
about $25,000 per court will be wasted, and I believe that we will suffer
further deterioration of our property values.
No other activity at the park is likely to bring a significant number of
new people to the park, and keep them here.
I like it here, and at 64 years of age, want to be
here for a lot of years, and I want to see more younger people come to the park
so that there will be a park when we are gone, that remains vibrant and growing. That, for me is the “So What”.
But what are the actual whats and how do they affect
each of us going forward? That is the
$64,000 question. A number of concerns
have been raised by members lately and they are all valid, and so I am
attempting to address them in this posting.
Open
Play
Open Play is the opportunity for anybody to come and
have a game on the pickleball courts. Open
Play is the mainstay of every pickleball club.
It is how people are introduced to this great game we play.
Open Play means that at Open Play scheduled times of
the day, anybody can come to the court and have a game with people they want to
play with and who want to play with them.
That does not require you to play with anybody in particular, nor them
with you. Every club I have seen
maintains a significant amount of court time for Open Play.
We intend to maintain 8-10 am as Open Play times,
and may add another two hour window later in the day, based on demand.
Remember that to date we have only been able to keep
4 courts busy 2 hours a day, and unless we have a giant influx of people
banging at the gate on November 1 will have court time available for the
foreseeable future.
There is no plan whatsoever, nor will there ever be,
to prevent people from playing pickleball at whatever level they are currently
at or aspire to.
Skill
Level Rating
The
USAPA (USA Pickleball Association) provides rating categories for pickleball
players. This allows players to be
grouped for competitive play. It allows
really good players to know who the other really good players are, and to
arrange games with them either in Open Play or in particular scheduled play
during the day. It also helps people to
find partners for tournaments.
Nobody
has to be rated to play Pickleball at Rincon or at any other club of which I am
aware.
As we get
more and better players here, which is one of our goals, these players will be
able to congregate for Round Robins, Shootouts, and other in house
competitions, at times and courts that are designated for that purpose.
Good
clubs see what the demand is for competitive play and for Open play and arrange
schedules during the day to accommodate both types of play and players.
This
might result in us having some or all of our courts scheduled for Round Robins
from 10-12 am, if the demand exists, and possibly at other times.
What we
will see in all likelihood, as other parks have seen, is that the better
players come down at 9 am or so, and play a couple of games with less
experienced players to help those who wish to improve their games, and to warm
up for more competitive games later.
But,
being rated is not a requirement here, and again at any park of which I have
knowledge. If the demand exists, then we
will arrange to rate players who wish it.
Membership
One of
the things that we will be doing is requiring that all people who play with us
join the Pickleball Club as members.
This is not a lot different from any other club that is active here in
the park, and is long overdue.
Pickleball
is a much easier game to start playing than say tennis, for example. Someone with little to no court experience
can have a lot of fun picking up a new game, and meeting new friends. But, there are risks involved, and we have
not managed or mitigated these risks in the past.
Recently,
we had a new player bang his head, resulting in a trip to the Clinic and an
MRI. Another pulled a hamstring, and
from time to time others have hurt themselves, me included. It is easy to get into the game, and for lack
of experience and knowledge make our bodies do things they might have done
years ago, and they provide resistance that was unexpected. It reminds me of a paraphrase of an old adage
that I heard one time and have used myself.
It is: “Men will be boys.” There
are times particularly with men, that we just think we are 20 again, and try to
do things that our bodies just cannot do anymore. That is when we get hurt.
Part of
our membership will be to have players sign a waiver of liability to exonerate
Rincon in case of an accident. If you
choose to play pickleball, you should be aware of any inherent risks, and
should be prepared to take the responsibility for accepting those risks upon
yourself.
Members
will be able to sign up for play at any scheduled time or come to the courts and
play in Open Play.
Anyone
who is not a member of the Club may not participate in group play on the Club
courts. If someone chooses not to be a
member, they may bring their own balls and paddles to the court when there are
no events scheduled and play to their heart’s content. However, anyone playing on the courts must
have signed a waiver of liability.
Cost of Membership
Starting
with 2014-2015, we will be charging for membership. We will no longer be doing a spaghetti
fundraiser, unless we do it to raise funds for a specific purpose, and the
membership dues will take the place of that.
As Bert
Coates and I explained to George in a recent meeting, we wish to change our
focus from inward to outward to draw others to Rincon Country West. To that end, we will be arranging visitor
play for round robins, shootouts, and we hope tournaments during the coming
years.
There
will be a couple of aspects to these events.
We want others to come and play with us, and we want to entertain them
and ourselves. So, we will be arranging
small pot lucks or BBQs to go along with groups coming in, and all members will
be invited. Members may participate in
the events, or may choose to come only for viewing or for the social aspect.
Members
will be charged $20 for the year, and for those who come for shorter spans, may
choose to pay $5 per month. For those
who are new to the park, we will be giving a 1 week free membership so that
they can try out the game, or try the game in this park, and see if it
something they want to participate in.
Paddles
In the
past, we have provided paddles for a couple of reasons. When we were getting started, paddles were
hard to come by. Also, none of us were
committed enough to the game to buy our own.
Since then, our paddles have deteriorated, and are in need of
replacement. We will be giving most of the
existing paddles a proper burial, with or without a memorial service.
The park
will provide us with 4 new paddles for the Fall, and will stock similar paddles
in the on site store for those who are looking to buy a paddle. We will also post on this site locations
where paddles can be purchased either online or in retail locations.
Paddles
are for new users who have not committed to play the game. Members will be expected to acquire their own
paddles.
These
are all changes from how things have been handled in the past, and we
acknowledge that not every step we take will be applauded, nor
appreciated. The steps we are taking are
to provide a better, more professional and growing environment for us all to
enjoy the game at whatever stage of life or play we are at.
Please
feel free to comment on changes you like or do not like.
You may
contact me directly with any questions or comments that you have. Or you may contact any of the other directors
of the pickleball club with your questions or concerns.
Michael Brandon
President
Bert Coates
Vice President
Don Heimke
Vice President
Sally Lyddon
Vice President
Dave Lyddon
Secretary
Allan Schreiber
Director Communications
Mike Wood
Treasurer
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