Pages

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Cool Runnings😜


Well the desert is beginning to cool off!! This morning 27 players were greeted by down right brisk 55F/13C.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

NATIONALS 2016

The Board and I hope that your summer months were all you had hoped for and that you are thinking about your return to Palm Creek over the 2016/2017 season.  We care for and appreciate all our Club members and always look forward to seeing your happy faces back on the courts.

The summer for the Board has been quiet and communications have been minimal.  Over the last month the Board and the Volunteer Team Leaders have been diligently making plans for the upcoming USAPA Nationals event to be held at Palm Creek on November 5th through the 13th.  The 4th of November is not a tournament day, but a practice day, where we open our courts to our Club members and players that have registered to play in the Nationals tournament. November 14th is reserved as a rain day in the case of delays during the tournament.  

The courts will be very busy during the week prior to the Nationals and of course during the tournament days.  Many players will be staying at Palm Creek and may arrive early.  We know that can put a crush on the courts and may frustrate Club members.  During the tournament, this year, we will have eight temporary courts that are taped with lines and have temporary nets set up on them at the Tennis Complex in the Park.  The Tennis Club has generously allowed us to use four of their courts to provide a place to play during the tournament when most of our courts are in use.  They will be available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day of the Nationals starting on November 4th.  The use of these courts is exclusively for Palm Creek Pickleball Club members and registered residents of the Park.  Badges will be required and unregistered guests and non-resident tournament players are not allowed to use the courts.  This is a great way to keep everyone playing.

IF YOU WILL BE RETURNING AFTER THE NATIONALS TOURNAMENT, THE REMAINDER OF THIS EMAIL MAY NOT BE OF INTEREST TO YOU.

We know that you are aware of the critical responsibility the Club has in supporting the USAPA Nationals, prior to the days of the event, and all through the play days, clinics, seminars and practice days of the tournament.  Because most of us are just returning to our winter homes you can imagine the amount of maintenance, cleaning and organizing the complex and courts will require before we set up for the tournament.  All the work is organized into task areas lead by a Team Leader or Co-Team Leaders.  These dedicated individuals are prepared to recruit, organize, instruct and schedule the large number of Volunteers needed to support the Tournament along with Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort Staff as the hosting venue.  

This is where we sincerely need your help. Since this is our second year in this endeavor we had the opportunity to learn from last year’s tournament and will be putting what we learned into the planning of this year’s event.  Blaster communications and Sign Up Genius (SUG) will be the tools that will be providing prospective volunteers with the information they need to decide where they would like to volunteer their time to support the Club.  We are working very hard not to overburden our volunteers by having more volunteers fill in for shorter shifts on rotating days whenever possible.  

We will concentrate our efforts on Club members that returned to Palm Creek last year in time for the Nationals.  Your membership paperwork and the Club roster tracks member’s return dates and we will use that as the starting point for the Invites to volunteer to help.  We will also focus on individuals that indicated they would volunteer by signing up at our last general meeting.  If you did not return last year by Nationals but intend to do so this year, please reply to this email and we will send you an SUG Invite that will get you in on the fun.  SUGInvites to those that volunteer as referees will be sent outseparately by Tom and Jeanne Gearhart.  If you plan to referee, line judge or play during the tournament please commit to refereeing and line judging first and then perhaps you can consider signing up for short term, one day or pre-tournament teams as well.  Please make sure you sign up for time slots that do not conflict with days you play to minimize cancellations.

There will be approximately ten teams to choose from. There should be something of interest for all our volunteers.

You should begin to receive your SUG Invites during the week of September 18th.  Committing to a Team and/or signing up for specific time slots will help our Team Leaders begin to organize their teams schedule and help us to determine where we may fall short.  The SUG Invite mailing will include instructions on how to set up a Sign Up Genius account if you choose to, and submit your volunteer information.

The Board and I want to thank you for volunteering to support the Club, the Park and the USAPA Nationals.  We were a smaller part of the Nationals last year and we proved that we are the best Club in the nation and that is why USAPA chose to ask Palm Creek to host again. We are asking more of you this year, due to the number of days the tournament will run, but we know if everyone steps up and gives of their time, no matter how much, we will all be able to observe and cheer for the best players in the world. All the while showcasing our Club, Park and facility.  Thanks so much.

Best and grateful regards,

 

Your Pickleball Club Board, Donna, David, Don, Susan, Jocelyn, Reed and Tom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Wednesday, September 14, 2016

We Need Your Help!!
GUEST HOUSING USAPA NATIONALS VIII

Palm Creek is proudly hosting USAPA Nationals VIII, we would like to offer Guest Housing to USAPA Ambassadors. Some may stay only for a night, some a few days and others for the entire tournament.

If you will be at Palm Creek and have a second bedroom or a pull out couch and are willing to host our dedicated volunteers, you will be providing a service that will be very much appreciated. The attached guidelines clarifies what a host would need to do and what is expected behavior of the guest.
Friendly neighbors are also welcome to be a host.

Ambassadors need to make travel plans and if not playing, need to register for Clinics, the Seminar and Ambassador Events, which is why we are coordinating this now.

If you will be a host, please e-mail with your preferences:
Ø A single person or a couple
Ø One night, a few days or the entire tournament
Ø  Any other preferences you may have, such as an ambassador from your home state!

I look forward to hearing from you!

Rosemary Reese
RosemaryReese@aol.com
USA Pickleball Association
Central Arizona District Ambassador


 ACCOMODATION GUIDELINES
FOR VISITING AMBASSADORS
November 4-14, 2016

   A bedroom and nearby bathroom is provided for 1-2 Ambassadors during the tournament. It is important that this is conventional living space, not a built out shed or a Casita that does not have a proper bathroom.

   Visiting Ambassadors must provide their own transportation.   We do not recommend you pick them up at an airport.  They need a vehicle to get to/from the events and to go out to eat, get groceries, sightsee etc.

  Hosts should provide some refrigerator space,& time & methods for Ambassadors to prepare their own breakfast.

  Ambassadors can bring snacks for lunches& they also can usually get eats at the events. They should plan on going out to dinner daily.

  Ambassadors MAY take Hosts out to eat and Hosts may invite Ambassadors to share an evening meal with them at home.

  Ambassadors should give some gratuity such as a gift certificate, perhaps at a local restaurant.

  Please Help!!

Thursday, September 8, 2016

🇨🇦🇨🇦ALUMNI NEWS🇨🇦🇨🇦

Alberta Provincial Championship
2016 September Smash
Spruce Grove Alberta

Men's Doubles Skill 4.5/5.0

Gold Kerry Hawthorne - Mike Cooper SILVER Chris "Special" Kay - Les Franke BRONZE Mike Place - Butch March 

Mixed Doubles Skill 4.5/5.0


GOLD Jan Ardis - Les Franke 
SILVER Leslie Srogen - Mike Place
BRONZE Allyson Stroeder - Mike Cooper

Women's Doubles Skill 3.5


GOLD Diane Abrahamson - Nikki Franke 
SILVER Sheila Crouch - Val Christians 
BRONZE Janice Menard - Kathy Young 













Thursday, September 1, 2016

A Sport Named Pickleball



A little (well, if you call 29 verses little) ditty for all picklers who love this game and who try, yet fail, to improve their level of play.
 Long but amusing.... and right on!