Let the schedule begin

The playing schedule is up and starts on Monday, Nov. 11 — and happy Veterans Day to our veterans. Thank you for your service.

The big thing you’ll notice is Courts 6&7 are part of scheduled play and Court 1 — the cage court — is always open. The cage court is not to be used by players participating in scheduled play. There is a paddle saddle for the cage court.

For the time being, the courts are open during scheduled beginner lessons on Mondays. A couple trainers will be at the courts on Monday mornings to greet any beginners who show up and will take a court to introduce them to the game we love. Be welcoming to any new players, find a board member or trainer to help them and make a court available for them. Or step up yourself and teach the game, it’s very rewarding to help new players learn to love pickleball. Your cooperation is much appreciated as we revamp the program and seek a coordinator.

There are two paddle saddles at the courts. During weekday mornings, the top paddle saddle is for scheduled play, the bottom paddle saddle is for open play if any of the courts — 2 through 7 — are not being used for scheduled play. Often at this time of year, for example, advanced players won’t fill up six courts on Friday morning, so other players can use the bottom paddle saddle to utilize the open courts.

You will also notice that scheduled times for women, men, intermediate and advanced have been cut to 3 hours. Last year’s survey showed most players like to play about 2 hours and they usually start at the beginning of a session. We hope this will keep the courts more full.

NOTE: MEN ARE SCHEDULED FIRST THIS WEEK.

The High Intermediate level is for players who want to play at a high level, with harder and more consistent finesse shots. It is self evaluating at the present time so give it a try. Play where you’re comfortable, where you’ll have fun and where you can improve.

We need two more volunteers for the Competition and Development Committee. Management has committed to turning our tennis court into 4 pickleball only courts soon. As we anticipate that we need to start imagining other uses besides round robins for the courts and we need to figure out how to define High Intermediate players for their round robins and scheduled play at the courts.

We are also looking for someone to coordinate the Novice Round Robin.

One more thing we took out of our meeting with management, if you have a gripe or concern, please come to a board member and talk to us instead of going to management first. We can’t address or fix problems if we don’t know what they are. We want everyone to enjoy pickleball and our friends at Gold Canyon, that’s why we volunteered. Keep it fun.