We will be doing Court Maintenance and general upkeep on the next 2 Saturdays of September (Sept 22 and 29) at noon. We will be repairing the fencing, checking the nets on each court and cleaning the windscreens, breezeways, fences, and under each fence to remove the accumulated dirt from the summer winds and storms.

If you would like to help, please get a hold of Craig Soubliere at craig160@hotmail.com

This will count as a monitor credit.

Thanks
Troy

If you are having a problem signing up for either the Fall League or the Ladies Ladder, please email Pam Spears or Angie Robinson at
Sleague@grandpickleball.org for League
or
LadyLadder@grandpickleball.org for Ladies Ladder
I hope this helps

Thanks
Troy

Listed below are a number of items that have come up or are coming up in the near future.

1.  Registration is now open for the Fall League and will remain open until September 26. The League will run from October December 15 at 2 pm and is open to all players at the 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0+ levels.

If you are interested in playing in the Fall League send an email to sleague@grandpickleball.org.  In order to play, you need to be:

1. A member in good standing with the GPC
2. Have a unique email address (one that is not shared with another member of the GPC.)

If you are new to Ladder/League Play or haven’t played in the past two years, include the following information in your email:

     A. Your name as it appears on the Club Roster
     B. Your gender (this is not always obvious from the name)
     C. Your unique email address (this also must match info on club roster)
     D. Your skill level
____________________________________________________________________________________

2.  All skill levels from 2.5 to 5.0+ are welcome.

The format of play is designed so that players play mostly with others of similar skill levels. Your ranking on a ladder is based upon your winning percentage (the ratio of points won to total points possible). The ladder is a competition, not a training forum.

You are expected to indicate your intent to play by responding to the weekly ladder invitation. The number of games played and the number of points per game will be determined by the number of players assigned to each court. If 4 players are assigned to a court, players will play three 15-point games in a round robin fashion with the other three players in the foursome. If 5 players are assigned to a court all will play four 11-point games with the other 4 players.

Play will be on Monday afternoons starting at noon and will last approximately an hour and a half.

Registration is now open for the Ladies’ Ladder and will remain open until October 7th. The Ladder will run from October 15 – April 15.

In order to play, you need to be:

If you have played in the ladder or league previously, include
     A. Your name as it appears in the Club Roster
     B. Your unique email address (as a confirmation)
____________________________________________________________________________________
3.  The awnings are back in place after being ripped up during the 4 storms in July and August.  It’s nice to have the shade again.
4. The Misters in the Pavilion are now operating properly.  The power outage messed up the timer and it has been fixed.
5.  Onyx is no longer making the Pure 2 pickleball and is replacing them with the G2 ball.  We have replaced all of the balls on the courts with the G2’s and are running a test to see how they hold up.  They are bit more orange than the Pure2.  We want feedback on any breakage and how they play.
6.  During the club meeting on Tuesday, there was a question about the new bench cushions that was voted on by members.  The question was “Did CAM approve the cushions?”.  I had shown them to Ken Olson (CAM General Manager) during a walk through, but had not really asked the question.  I met with Ken Olson and Bob Aiken yesterday and showed them a picture and asked for permission to put cushions on our benches and both replied ,Yes.  We will be looking around in the next week or so and buying the bench cushions for all of the benches in each breezeway.
7.  The PDP for a water bottle filler/ice machine, that was submitted to the Lifestyles committee (LAC) on Wednesday was approved and is moving on to the Architecture Committee, (ARC) later on this month.  Craig Soubliere did a great job presenting the PDP.

We are gearing up for the new season in Grand and cannot wait for everyone to get back.

Thanks
Troy

I feel that I need to clarify an agenda item, after getting numerous emails from club members regarding the agenda item of Court usage for tomorrow’s meeting.

Mike McDonald sent his mixer group an email today, that didn’t tell the whole story and is now causing some people to be upset.  Last year, the Wednesday/Friday night mixer group received 18 dedicated courts for the groups usage during the season.  His group members then reserved additional courts as they were needed.  This resulted in me receiving numerous  phone calls and emails and being called into the CAM offices twice to explain our court usage.  I talked to Mike McDonald a couple of times about these issues during the season, and made suggestions on ways to fix it.

To make it fair to all club members going forward, a proposal to limit dedicated court usage for any non-competitive (mixers, socials, skills, drills) events to 11 courts was passed by the board.

What that means to the Mixer groups is that they have 11 courts blocked off and members of that group must go online and reserve additional courts needed one week in advance, allowing all club members a chance to reserve any of the open courts.  This makes it fair to the entire club.

As for Ladders, League, and Tournaments,  these are competitive events and open to all club members.  These events could block off all 22 courts.

I hope this clears up any misconceptions or misunderstandings.

I look forward to seeing everyone at tomorrow’s meeting.

Thanks
Troy

– Below is the agenda for our September monthly meeting held in the Agua Frea room in the Cimarron Center this Tuesday, September 11th at 3 PM.
– There will be a First Aid Class in the same room being held for those who signed up previously from 1 – 3 PM. prior to the monthly club meeting.

Secretary’s Report:-
Treasurer’s Report: 
Committee’s Report: 
Old Business:
·         Court Maintenance – update
·         Holiday Party – December 6th – Linda Durkee update
·         CPR first Aid training – update
·         Internal tournament – Nov 28-30 – update
·         Charity event – December 16^th – update
·         Revised Standing rules and SOP –

New Business:

·         2019 budget – misters (NMT $9K) and Tomcat/Billygoat maintenance contract (NMT $900) – club vote
·         2019 Election – Election board – looking for volunteers
·         LAC committee meeting on Sept 12^th for PDP for water bottle filler/ice machine
·         Chair cushions – NMT $700 to finish the benches – club vote
·         Signage – No more paper signs
·         Ladder changes – re-naming and adding a women’s ladder
·         New balls – G2 and Pure 2
·         Monitor changes
·         Court usage – changes
·

Non-Agenda Items:

Meeting adjournment

There have been a number of questions and rumors about Rich Skaare’s health lately.  Rich’s wife has asked me to put out the following:

Rich has been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre’ Syndrome (GBS).  It is a rare neurological disorder in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks part of it’s peripheral nervous system-the network of nerves located outside of the brain and spinal cord. GBS can range from a very mild case with brief weakness to nearly devastating paralysis.  Fortunately, most people eventually recover from even the most severe cases of GBS.

Rich is currently at Dell Webb hospital for the next few days and would welcome a call or a text from friends and clubmates.  His number is 352-598-9910.  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

I will update everyone as I know more.

Thanks
Troy

The Sun City Grand board of directors is having a board meeting workshop tomorrow, August 30th at the Sonoran ballroom at 1 PM. They will be discussing the basketball court proposal and other things. It would be great for members of the Pickleball club to attend.

We will be starting our normal routine of court cleaning on Monday, August 20th at 10AM. The schedule will be.
This shouldn’t cause any interruption in drop in play.

Monday – courts 4,8,12,16,21,22
Tuesday – courts 3,7,11,15,18,20
Wednesday – courts 2,6,10,14
Thursday – courts 1,5,9,13,17,19

If you are interested in helping the club out, please contact Craig at Craig160@hotmail.com and he will get you set up with training and scheduling.
We are looking at 2 people a day, working about 1 1/2 – 2 hours.

This does count for monitoring credit.
Thanks
Troy

1. Due to the terrible weather lately, we have unplugged the CAM card readers in the breezeways.  Please do not plug them in until they have been fixed.  You can swipe your CAM card in the card reader in the pavilion.
2. This is the last chance to sign up for the First Aid training class to be held before the club members meeting on September 11th at 1 PM in the Agua Fria room.  Just send me an email if you want to be included.  We have to give the instructors a roster.  If you have already emailed me, then you are on the roster.

Thanks
Troy

This email blast is not intended to incite, nor upset any club member.  It is strictly to inform everyone of the issues/opportunities faced by the Sun City Grand Pickleball Club.

1. There has been a PDP application( PDP application 18-013 – Outdoor basketball court) that was submitted and approved by both the Lifestyles and Architecture Committees in the past couple of weeks.  Why this matters to the club is that there have been 2 locations talked about to put the new basketball court in.  The first area is in a open spot by the Adobe Center and the second spot was on Court 22 of our pickleball courts.  So far nothing has been decided.  It will be going to the Board of Directors Workshop on August 30th at 1:00PM in the Sagebrush ballroom in the Sonoran Plaza and possibly on to their Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, September 13th at 1:00 PM in the Sagebrush ballroom.
2. Craig and I will be presenting the clubs PDP request for a Water Bottle filler/ Ice Machine to be installed in the breezeway located between courts 13 and 17, to the Lifestyles Committee on September 12th at 1:00PM in the Palm Center in the Mediterranean room.
3. I would like to see as many club members as possible attend these meetings to speak up, provide support and to show the Board and committees, that the Pickleball Club needs to be listened to.
4. Finally, both Keith Darrow (ARC) and Steve Berwald  (LAC) are now on these committees and are making positive changes to each committee.  There is currently an open vacancy on the LAC committee that will be filled shortly.  If you think that you can help make a difference in our community, please submit your name to be interviewed for the open position.  We need another club member on this committee.

Please let me know if you have any concerns or questions