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President’s Report Hello Sequim Picklers,
Please help me welcome our newest members to the 2022-2023 Board of Directors — Club Vice President Bill Schiffman and Secretary Bill Penczak. I look forward to working with Bill and Bill and the rest of the Board to continue growing the sport of pickleball in the coming year. Thank you again to outgoing Club Vice President Richard Cary, Secretary Lynda Schroeder, and Membership Chair Sue Felix for their outstanding service to the Club.
We are currently looking for an Interim Membership Chair to serve on the Board from September 1, 2022, through July 31, 2023. If you’re interested in serving the Club in this important role, please contact us at sequimpicklers@gmail.com. Put “Interim Membership Chair” on the Subject line.
This is an exciting time for Sequim Picklers, with more organized play, tournaments, and training clinics than ever before. As I write this, we have roughly 365 members in the Club, and new members are joining every week.
As your Board of Directors, we are here to serve you. Every decision we make is made with only the Club’s best interest in mind. Whether it is buying equipment and supplies, or coordinating new activities, the Board always puts safe, fun play as our first and foremost goal.
We are also responsible for looking after and using the Sequim Picklers’ money wisely, not spending it just because we have money in the bank. As Board members, we know that the smart thing is to enjoy the present, but also plan for the future.
As volunteers and human beings, we may not be perfect, but we always strive for excellence in our duty to you. That said, we can’t do it alone. In addition to your pickleball skills, every one of you brings a lifetime of experience and knowledge that can benefit the Club in the form of committee work, volunteering to work events, participating in community projects such as our quarterly Adopt-A-Highway program, and serving as ambassadors for Sequim Picklers in the community.
Thank you for helping make Sequim Picklers the premier pickleball club on the Olympic Peninsula.
Long may it wave…
A special Thank-You to Sequim Pickler Mike Cooper for putting up our beautiful new windsock at the Courts. (Are there any photos of you shinnying up that pole?) Thanks Mike!
DOCO* Update By Kendal Wake, Director of Court Operations* USA-Pickleball Ambassador
Hello Picklers, I hope everyone is having a fun summer and getting some pickleball in. I myself have been playing several tournaments. It has been fun.
One of the coolest things I saw this week was at the Pacific Northwest Classic Pickleball Tournament in Bend, Oregon. Pickleball pro Kyle Yates sent word over to our own Garrett Little that he wanted to hit with him. Pretty cool, our 16-year-old phenom from Sequim hitting singles with Kyle Yates. [ED: Yates was one of the first pickleball players in the world to go pro, amassing a total of six pro titles at the US Open and four at the USAPA Nationals.] While at the Bend Tournament, I played some fun pickleball, met some great folks, several who had been to Sequim or at least knew about our courts. I got a couple of new pro signatures on my paddle cover.
Clinic Update. Thanks for all those that attended the clinic last month with high-level pickleball player and teaching professional Devin Schmidt. I hope it was worthwhile.
Skinny Singles, Sundays, 5 p.m. Skinny Singles is one of the best ways to work on your doubles game. It may be the best way. You can also arrange your own Skinny Singles games outside of this time. Just record the games on the clipboard in the shed. I will be checking the recorded games each week. Once you have a few games logged, I will be calling you to have a conversation about where your rating should start out. I would like to get this initial rating close to where it should be from the start. I will commit to get you the help you need to improve your game if you are willing to work at Skinny Singles. Those folks on the Skinny Singles list in my mind are the ones that are willing to put the effort forth to improve and I will make them my priority to help them achieve their goals.
Instructional Classes for Beginner “grads,” Tuesdays, 1 p.m. Sequim Pickler Phil Milliman’s class is going well. This is for people that are newish but know how to keep score. Once people come out of the Beginners’ Classes, this is where they can go to get some more help with their games. Thanks to Sequim Pickler Gayle Powers for helping here.
Make your voice heard. I am hoping folks can attend (by Zoom or in person) the upcoming Board Meeting on Sunday, August 28, at 12 noon to voice their opinion (see meeting information and a link to the Agenda in this Sequim Picklers Update). The last Board Meeting I could not attend. “Members-only at Club Events” was not on the agenda, but it was brought up and a vote was taken without any input from the Director of Court Operations or any member of the Pickleball Court Operations Committee (PCOC) present.
First, I want to go on record and say I respect every past and present Board member. It can be a thankless job. I think all the Board members are very nice people with good intentions. But I have a different opinion than the last Board that voted on this without me. There are two schools of thought here.
— We pay the city a Special Event Permit fee for Saturdays. Because it is member-funded it should be for members only. It only costs $5 per Saturday. Not exactly breaking the bank, here. If we applied this same logic, the Beginner’s Class would be for members only. Now that would be a head-scratcher.
— Some may feel that unless we exclude non-members, the value of the membership will be diminished. I feel that we should build an excellent program that is inviting and welcoming to everyone. We are so welcoming that people join because they want to be a part of what we are doing. This strategy seems to be working, our membership has been growing. Standing at the gate saying you cannot come in unless you are a member does not seem in keeping with our Mission Statement.
— Some may feel like those that reside here in Sequim and play on the City courts but do not join our Club should be excluded from our activities. I think that we should talk to them. Ask them, why don’t you want to join? Is there something we can do to make the Club more welcoming to you?
— Some may feel like we do not need a high-rated court on Saturdays. I can tell you that I have protected that court for years now. Before me, Beverly Hoffman did the same. Why? Because that highest-rated court bleeds over and helps the 4.0s trying to get to 4.5. Without the 5.0s, the 4.0s are the highest-rated players. Soon, they will drop out and do their own thing. This has happened to tennis clubs across the country.
When you are in my position, your primary directive is to protect the highest level of play, because it trickles down and blesses everyone else in the Club. Let me be clear, I do not have anything to offer these high-level players. They can arrange better play than I could ever give them. Whenever they come out to a Sequim Picklers event they will be playing down. They have zero incentive to join the Club. But we need them. To be able to run my programs, I need them. No one knows how many times I am consulting with them on ideas that I have for the Club.
I have spent many hours trying to develop Rated Play. Just last week, I spent three hours entering Club games. We have almost 2,600 games logged. That is a lot of data. Our Rated Play is talked about all around the region. People hear about it from friends, and they come to Sequim on Saturdays to see it and play in it. I have a Welcome Mat for all these people. I have had out-of-town clubs contact me to get information on how to set up Rated Play where they are from.
Please excuse the length of my report this month. I feel the membership should see behind the curtain on this one and let the Board know how you feel. I have nine people on the PCOC who are running programs with me. I would invite you to ask any of them what their opinion is on this issue.
Please see the members of the PCOC with any questions or suggestions on court operations. Thanks.
Whitelisting
Are you tired of having to search your Spam, Junk, and Trash mailboxes for Sequim Picklers Updates and other Club communications? If so, it’s time for you to begin “Whitelisting.” Whitelisting means adding an email address to your Contacts list (in this case, sequimpicklers@gmail.com), so your computer “recognizes” it and doesn’t send it to Spam, Junk, or Trash folders. It’s super-easy to do. Select this link for step-by-step instructions.
Thanks, July 9 Adopt-A-Highway Clean-up Crew!
Pictured above, the July 9 Adopt-A-Highway Crew, from left to right: Diane Froula, Doug Webb, Char Curry, Jeri Neiberding, Janie Dicus, Mark and Sue Schaafsma, Mike Cooper, Ken Sorbel, Patricia Knapp, and Mary Helen Benapfl. (Not pictured is the camera-shy Pam Woodruff.)
A huge thank you Adopt-A-Highway Crew to the Sequim Picklers who gave up a beautiful Saturday morning to pick up trash along our section of Highway 101.
It was not too hot and not too cold, and even the amount of trash seemed less than usual. (Though that could be because it was all hiding in the undergrowth.)
Our fellow drivers along 101 seem to be suffering from a lack of imagination in what they throw away and there’s nothing exciting to report. Though the golf ball could be the result of a world-record-breaking drive. Thanks, Diane Froula, for helping me organize the crew.
Pickleball Rules!
Question: I called my partner on a service line foot fault. He said he had not faulted because his shoe had not actually touched the line, because the front end of his shoe curves upward, and what looks like a “touch” actually isn’t. Since then, I have noticed a lot of these types of footwear. Is there a fault if the shoe crosses over the line but doesn’t touch it because of the curvature of the shoe?
Answer: There are at least 13 references to foot faults in the 2022 Rulebook. And they all refer to the “foot,” not the “shoe.” If the shoe is touching the line, it’s a fault. It’s often difficult to determine whether a toe is touching the line, especially if there are shadows cast, but that is the risk a player takes by playing close to the line. If the shoe is curling up such that it’s not actually touching the line, then there is no fault.
—Have a question about something that happened on the court? Send it to me at Kathryn (“K.T.”) Thomas, Registered Trainer of Referees
Reminder from Club Treasurer Katinka Nanna If you are authorized to purchase supplies for the Club and need to be reimbursed, please sign the packing slip and or invoice and drop it in the black mailbox inside the shed.