For the health and safety of members and the public, SAPC is suspending all club-organized activities until further notice.  This is effective immediately, as of March 15, and applies to captain-led play sessions, clinics, mentoring, beginner’s lessons, tournaments, and registered play.

We will post notices and issue emails when play can resume. This may be eight weeks or more away, we suspect.

Those who have already paid for the March 30 rating clinic will either have a credit on their account, which can be used against any future online club fee, or can get a refund by emailing Treasurer@pickleballstalbert.ca.  Please be patient as it may take three weeks or more to process the refunds.

Stay healthy and keep that paddle up!

Dear Member - click the newsletter title to read articles on:

Finance and Technology Questions?	February Stats
Sticker Purchase Reminder	Membership Renewals

Always check the website calendars for the most updated play information. 

Finance and Technology Questions

Well over 98% of member's payments for sticker cards, rating clinics and membership renewals are entered readily by members and processed immediately by our credit card payment processor.  But with a new system (and a new payment processor), sometimes there are a few idiosyncrasies that give a few of us a bit of grief.  So we've set up a new website page to provide you with some tips when navigating the credit card payment screen on our system.  It is called the Finance and Technology FAQ page. You must be logged in as member to see the contents of this page. 

February Stats

  - including membership numbers by level

In the following tables, we report player attendance in terms of court capacity, which is the number playing on the courts at any one time. For example, if 16 players show up at Red Willow, which has a court capacity of 8, we divide the 16 by 8, convert the answer of 2 to a percentage (200%), and report the attendance as "200% of court capacity."  As a second example, a venue with 3 courts has a court capacity of 12, and if 18 show up to play, then the attendance is 18/12 = 1.5 or 150% of court capacity.

These are monthly averages; attendance on any particular day may be above or below these averages.

Most Crowded Indoor Play (Most Social Time!)

Rank	Average Attendance	Venue	Day/Time	Level
1	184% of court capacity	Red Willow	Fri 9am	All
2	169%	Red Willow	Fri 11am	Mens
3 (tied)	150%	Red Willow	Mon 9am	All
3 (tied)	150%	Red Willow	Thu 11am	Wom 3.0+
3 (tied)	150%	North Pointe	Mon 11am	3.5+

Least Crowded Indoor Play (Most Play Time!) - excluding Reserved Play and Clinics

Rank	Average Attendance	Venue	Day/Time	Level
1 (tied)	58% of court capacity	Bertha Kennedy	Fri 6pm	2.0-2.5
1 (tied)	58%	Sturgeon Hgts	Sun 9am	3.5+
3	83%	Sturgeon Hgts	Sun 9am	3.0+
4	88%	Sturgeon Hgts	Tue 6pm	3.0+
5	90%	Bertha Kennedy	Sat 12:30pm	3.0

Other Interesting Stats

91	Play and training sessions this month, excluding rating clinics and beginner's lessons
1129	Member-plays at the above sessions
7	Visitor-plays at the above sessions
0	Rating clinics this month (0 players)
21	Ratings clinics since May 1
258	Players rated by your club since May 1
620	Club members as of Feb 29 (631 as of Mar 5)

Open this file to see our membership numbers by level:  Membership PIe Chart 2020-03-06.pdf

Sticker Purchase Reminder

   

Returning snowbirds and others - please note!  It can take up to three weeks to have your ordered sticker card arrive in the mail, particularly if your order is placed right after the fulfillment process Marion so diligently carries out every week, and if Canada Post takes another two weeks.  Of course, Canada Post is usually quicker than that for local deliveries, but occasionally they are not.  And we won't even mention the delay related to you checking your mailbox, because you do that every day right? (I know, I don't either.)   In any case, thanks Marion for all you do!

If you run out, don't panic!  All our friendly members will sell you a sticker for $3.35 (or $4.00 if you only have loonies and toonies.) Always round up folks!

Membership Renewals 

Renewal reminders went out to all members on March 2. If you didn't get yours, check your junk mail folder.

You have until May 1 to  renew your membership, and you will get at least one more automated reminder if you haven't renewed by about April 20.  On May 2, unpaid memberships will lapse without further notice -- you don't want to get too many emails do you?

We hope you stay and come out and play more this year than ever before. 

Until the next time, "Keep your paddle up!"

Dear Member - click the newsletter title to read articles on:

Apr 4-5 Westlock Tournament	Welcome Tara
Welcome Faye, Gerry, Ron, Douwe, Ken	Thanks Team Members!
Survey Closing	Welcome Elsi and Karen

Always check the website calendars for the most updated play information. 

April 4-5 Westlock Tournament

Westlock Spring Ahead Pickleball Doubles Tournament

• Entry deadline: March 20, 2020.
• Location: Westlock Spirit Center, 9603 - 100 St, Westlock
• Entry form and more details: see linked pdf form. Submit entry with either pdf or MS Word form. 

Welcome Tara

Thanks to Tara Tchir for taking on the position of Facebook Coordinator for our club.  Welcome Tara!  Tara also captains some of the play sessions for you at our North Pointe Community Church venue.  

Welcome Faye, Gerry, Ron, Ken and Douwe

 

Thanks to Faye Hood for taking on the Tournaments Manager role and to Gerry Hood, Ron Parker, Ken Dentzien, and Douwe Spriensma for taking on coordinator leadership roles on our Tournaments Team.  Faye and the rest of the team look forward to using our new system to automate our club's tournament registrations and payments this year.

Welcome Elsi

Thanks to Elsi Lowe for taking on the Goods Sales Coordinator role.  Elsi and her team will be selling T-shirts and balls when warmer weather prevails.

Welcome Karen

Thanks to Karen Korotash for leading the Social Team this year. We look forward to the opportunity to chat, to make friends and to strengthen our connections with existing friends during the lunches arranged by the Social Team at our fun tournaments, and are very grateful for their work on the Volunteer Appreciation events each year. 

Thanks Team Members

And thanks to all the new and returning members of all our teams, including the captains that make up our venue teams and all those holding individual positions with our club.  We have an amazing number of contributors to our club's ongoing operations, and they all do a great job.

Over the next few weeks watch for the names of these team members to appear on our Teams and Committees page or on our future Captains page.  (Note that access to these pages will continue to be for members only, so you need to log in as a member to get to those pages.)

Survey Closing

Club members were issued a survey via email a few weeks ago.  Thanks to those who have already responded.  For the rest of you, the survey closes end of day Sunday March 1.  We will be back to you with the results, but we'll be busy with the analysis for a while.

Until the next time, "Keep your paddle up!"

Dear Member - click the newsletter title to read articles on:

Facebook Coordinator Needed	Rating Clinics Open for Registration
Welcome New Coordinators	January Stats

Always check the website calendar for the most updated play information. See also our SAPC Facebook site for any last minute notices. 

Facebook Coordinator Needed

Our club members make good use our Facebook site to connect with each other, communicate with each other about club and pickleball-related activities, and post club-related photos.  We are better connected and more engaged through Facebook.

The Facebook Coordinator's job is simply to:

• periodically review content to ensure it meets the club's suitability requirements, and
• review and approve about 1 or 2 requests per week from members to join our closed Facebook group.

No Facebook experience is needed -- we will show you the steps needed to look up members, approve join requests, and review content. Please join our large and expanding team of volunteers and help your fellow club members by taking on this small but important role. If you are interested, please send an email to stalbertpickleball@gmail.com, our new email address for our corporate secretary Douwe Spriensma.

New Rating Clinics Open for Registration

Are you itching to play up?  Want to see if the skills you've been developing are ready for the big time?

A new rating clinic for aspiring 3.0's will be held March 9 and a new clinic for aspiring 3.5's will be held March 30.  Maximum 12 per clinic. First "registered and paid," first served!

How to register?  This process has changed.  It is now as automated as we can make it, further reducing your club's administrative workload on volunteers.

• Find the rating clinic you want in the Rating Clinic calendar on our website. Click it to open it..
• Press "Register" and fill in the next couple of screens.
• Pay your $23.35 via credit card on the last screen.

If the clinic is full, please put your name on the automated waitlist. This gives you a shot at registration if there are any cancellations, and the more people on the waitlist, the sooner we'll schedule the next clinic.  People going on the waitlist don't have to pay until and unless a spot opens up and they choose to fill that spot.

Check out our Skill Levels and Ratings page ( https://www.pickleballstalbert.ca/Skill-Levels-and-Ratings ).  It contains valuable advice and links to the sheets that will be used by our evaluators during the clinic.  Practice the skills listed on these sheets.  And if you have any doubt about why skills like dinking are important, take one of our mentoring clinics or Google the many online videos available on pickleball tips and strategies.

By the way, please think of these rating clinics as fun -- just like play. Think of them as simply another opportunity to get advice on skills needed to further develop.  We know any "test" can be a bit nerve-wracking, but try not to tie any ego or pride on this.  Contrary to Yoda's advice, "just try." Ignore the thought of "passing" or "failing." If you don't make it the first time, you'll know what to work on for your next try.  And to repeat, above all, HAVE FUN.  We are a friendly club and want you play at whatever level you aspire to.

Welcome Rating Coordinators

Thanks to Gerry Gartner and Karen Cabot for stepping forward and becoming our new rating coordinators.  Welcome to your new volunteer roles Karen and Gerry!

January Stats

In the following tables, we report player attendance in terms of court capacity, which is the number of players on the courts at any one time. For example, if 16 players show up at Red Willow, which has a court capacity of 8, we divide the 16 by 8, convert the answer of 2 to a percentage (200%), and report the attendance as "200% of court capacity."  As a second example, a venue with 3 courts has a court capacity of 12, and if 18 show up to play, then the attendance is 18/12 = 1.5 or 150% of court capacity. Note that these are monthly averages; attendance on any particular day may be quite a bit above or below these averages.

Most Crowded Indoor Play (Most Social Time!)

Rank	Average Attendance	Venue	Day/Time	Level
1	240% of court capacity	Red Willow	Fri 9am	All
2	225%	Red Willow	Mon 9am	All
3	213%	JJ Nearing	Thu 6pm	2.0-2.5
4	211%	Red Willow	Fri 11am	Mens
5	188%	Red Willow	Mon 11am	All

Least Crowded Indoor Play (Most Play Time!) - excluding Reserved Play and Clinics

Rank	Average Attendance	Venue	Day/Time	Level
1	71% of court capacity	Sturgeon H	Sun 9am	3.5+
2	75%	Bertha Kennedy	Fri 6pm	3.0
3	86%	Bertha Kennedy	Sat 915am	3.5+
4	97%	Red Willow	Wed 230pm	3.0+
5	100%	Sturgeon H	Sun 9am	3.0+

Other Interesting Stats

91	Play and training sessions in January, excluding rating clinics and beginner's lessons
1309	Member-plays at the above sessions
11	Visitor-plays at the above sessions
4	Rating clinic this month (48 players)
21	Ratings clinics since May 1
258	Players rated by your club since May 1
616	Club members as of January 31

Until the next time, "Keep your paddle up!"

Dear Member - click the newsletter title to read this article on sound barriers at Alpine Courts.

Background

• Two residents close to Alpine courts have complained about the noise from the pickleball courts.
• The City administration assessed possible long term solutions and presented its proposal on Feb 10 to the Community Living Standards Committee, a committee of City Council composed of three City Council councillors. 

Feb 10 Meeting

• The solution presented was to erect sound barriers, affixed to the north and east side fencing. Posts would have to be removed and replaced with posts and post foundations better able to withstand wind loads on the solid sound barrier. Total estimated cost: $98,000. This solution will reduce but not eliminate the noise for adjacent residents.
• Councillors asked and were told that planting additional trees would not be a viable solution, as there is not enough available space between the courts and the housing to plant the required number of trees.
• Councillors also asked these other questions:
• • how many decibels of noise reduction would result from this solution?
  • where this solution has been used before (in the U.S.), did the noise complaints cease?
  • what is the annual cost to remove and re-install the sound barriers?
  • how long will they last?
  • what do they look like?
  • how long will delivery take and when would installation take place?
• City administration was asked to come up with answers to the above questions, and place the matter on the agenda of the March City Council meeting.
• One cost-conscious Councillor indicated she would not be voting for this solution when the matter comes to Council.

Bottom Line and Side Notes

• One Councillor asked about the position of the St. Albert Pickleball Club on this matter. The City administration correctly reporting our position: We are not too concerned with whether the sound barriers are erected or not. Our main concern is that all 12 courts be available for use, regardless of the whether there are sound barriers.
• In a side conversation with City administration, this reporter learned that the administration plans to include a refurbishment of the six Larose pickleball counts in its next capital plan. This would result in the six courts being rebuilt to the standards of the Alpine Courts. 
• The City administration also plans to propose the construction of additional outdoor pickleball courts in future community developments. Part of the rationale could be to distribute play to other locations and perhaps reduce the amount of play and resulting noise at Alpine.  (Of course, some of us expect that overall public demand for play will continue to grow and exceed all available outdoor court capacity for some time to come.)

Until the next time, "Keep your paddle up!"

Dear Member - click the newsletter title to read articles on:

Yellowhead West "Luck of the Irish" Tournament in March

Calendar Quandary

Always check the website calendar for the most updated play information. See also our SAPC Facebook site for any last minute notices. 

Yellowhead West "Luck of the Irish" Tournament March 27-29, 2020

Save the Date

The Yellowhead West Pickleball Club is hosting a new tournament March 27, 28 and 29. The tournament will be held at the Heritage Park Pavilion in Stony Plain. Contrary to previous information provided to our club, this tournament is not sanctioned.  As of March 3, registration details are not yet available to us, but indications are that this tournament registration will be handled through Tournaments.com.  See our Tournaments Calendar for the initial flyer.

Calendar Quandary

Do you miss the old style calendar?

We've heard at least one of you say that you miss the old calendar -- the one that had all the indoor events on one page.  You may be under the false impression that you have to go down to the lowest level in our menu, and pick the venues one at time, looking at each of the venue calendars separately.  Well we have some good news for you!  A calendar that is very close to the old calendar already exists on our system. It is the "Indoor Calendar."   Just click on the menu item called "Indoor Calendar" to see it.  Note the legend at the bottom of this calendar -- it shows the colour-coded location of each event.

As outdoor season approaches, check out the "Outdoor Calendar" to see both Alpine and Larose play times.

While you are checking out our menus, click on each top level and mid-level menu item.  Each of these top-level and mid-level menu headings also has a page with useful information on it.

Until the next time, "Keep your paddle up!"

December Statistics

December Stats

We hope some of you find the following statistics interesting. Some of you may also choose to shift your play times to the least crowded times to get more play time.

In the following tables, we report player attendance in terms of court capacity, which is the number of players on the courts at any one time. For example, if 16 players show up at Red Willow, which has a court capacity of 8, we divide the 16 by 8, convert the answer of 2 to a percentage (200%), and report the attendance as "200% of court capacity."  As a second example, a venue with 3 courts has a court capacity of 12, and if 18 show up to play, then the attendance is 18/12 = 1.5 or 150% of court capacity.

Of course, these are monthly averages, and past attendance is not necessarily indicative of future attendance!

Most Crowded Indoor Play (Most Social Time!)

Rank	Average Attendance	Venue	Day/Time	Level
1	255% of court capacity	Red Willow	Mon 9am	All
2	238%	JJ Nearing	Thu 630pm	2.0-2.5
3	233%	Red Willow	Wed 1200	2.0-2.5
4	228%	Red Willow	Thu 9am	All
5	219%	Red Willow	Fri 9am	All

Least Crowded Indoor Play (Most Play Time!) - excluding Reserved Play and Clinics

Rank	Ave Attendance	Venue	Day/Time	Level
1	83% of court capacity	Sr. Alphonse	Wed 7pm	3.5+
2	117%	Bertha Kennedy	Sat 1230pm	2.0-2.5
3	125%	Sturgeon H	Mon 6pm	3.0+
4	142%	Bertha Kennedy	Sat 230pm	3.0
5 (tied)	146%	Red Willow	Wed 230pm	3.0+
5 (tied)	146%	Bertha Kennedy	Sat 915am	3.5+

Other Interesting Stats

70	Play and training sessions in December, excluding rating clinics and beginner's lessons
1176	Member-plays at the above sessions
3	Visitor-plays at the above sessions
1	Rating clinic this month (18 players)
17	Ratings clinics since May 1
210	Players rated by your club since May 1
602	Club members as of December 31

Ratings Coordinator Positions Filled!

Please welcome Gerry Gartner and Karen Chabot as our Ratings Coordinators.

Thank you for volunteering!

Ratings Clinics

New Dates Confirmed

Ratings Clinic date for 3.0 is March 9th. 

Ratings Clinic date for 3.5 is March 30th

Watch our news in mid-February to learn about our new online process to register for these clinics.  

Pickleball Tip- Shoes

Members are reminded to bring clean indoor shoes to wear at all indoor venues. Do not use shoes that have been worn outside as the club is responsible to maintain the cleanliness of the facilties we use.

Hi Pickleball Friends,

Cassie Williams is the President of the Christina Lake Pickleball Club in British Columbia. christinalakepb@gmail.com   She has asked me to spread the word about a summer Tournament schedule for June 26 to 29, 2020.  She and husband Keith spend most of the summer at this Lake and have worked hard to build it up as the Pickleball Capital of Canada (with the help of a few other members of course).

Why such an early promotion?  Because registrations open on January 13, 2020 (in 5 days) and is limited as to number of entries.  More info and registration at https://www.pickleballtournaments.com/tournamentinfo.pl?tid=3977#menuDirections

She would like to see some summer holiday visitors from the Edmonton area come to Christina Lake   https://christinalake.ca/

Have Fun in the BC Sun !!  Leave your snow shovels at home!

Cheers .... Ken Hurshowy

Introducing the Canadian Pickleball Series 2020! Happy New Year to all of our Pickleball friends and family! We are thrilled to share with you a series of competitive events for this new decade and upcoming calendar year. Beginning in February 2020, we will be hosting a variety of different events across Canada to promote and grow this great sport. We look forward to seeing you on the courts. Toronto Cup February 7-9, 2020 Register below on logo Burnaby Cup March 26-29, 2020 Register below on logo Kingston Cup April 17-19, 2020 Register below on logo RSVP Now Please let us know if you have any questions regarding any of our events. Sincerely, The Canadian Pickleball Series Team ©2020 Sports Travel Experts | Toronto, Ontario

Dear Member - click the newsletter title to read articles on:

Ratings Coordinator Wanted	Captains Needed
Rating Clinics	Shoot Out

Always check the website calendar for the most updated play information. See also our SAPC Facebook site for any last-minute notices. 

Volunteer Opportunities

Ratings Coordinator Wanted - (Three people have now offered to fill this. Thanks!)

Do we have an opening for you!  Are you looking to get a bit more involved with our club?  Would you like to get involved in a small job, just as we streamline it to make it easier than ever to do?  Would you like the chance to interact a bit more with a few of our members? Pad your resume? Learn a bit about our wonderful new membership management and event management system?

Then here’s your chance!  The bulk of our ratings clinics have now been carried out or planned (and will be wrapped up by January 27) and the demand for more is subsiding, but we still need to offer about one clinic every month to our club members, starting in March.  The job of running ratings clinics is about to get much easier, as 80% of the former work can now be automated through our new system. The job will only require about two hours per month to carry out. Here’s the job in a nutshell:

-          work with our Venue Manager and our ratings services (Sean and Leslie from In A Pickle) to pick the next rating clinic date,

-          set up the clinic in our automated event calendar (we’ll show you how to do this and be there to provide on-going coaching as needed),

-          monitor the event (watch the system automatically take registrations and payments), ensuring the event fills up, and

-          attend the start of the clinic to introduce Sean and Leslie to members, and to designate an attending member to captain the closure of the event (storage of nets and locking of doors).

That’s it!

If you are interested, please send an email to President@pickleballstalbert.ca with the subject “Ratings Coordinator.”  We’d love to have you on board and welcome you to our growing team of volunteer organizers.

P.S. This job can easily be handled by a snowbird as some tasks can be shared or delegated and we are completely online!"

Captains Needed 2.0-2.5

There are several Friday dates available where play can be offered at Bertha Kennedy.

Play is now offered for 3.0 on the evenings the school is available.

It could be offered to 2.0 - 2.5 if captains would come forward.

The evenings available for Friday for 2.0-2.5 would be the following.

• Jan 24th (nets stay up)
• Feb 7th (nets stay up)
• Feb 28th (nets stay up)
• March 20th (nets come down)
• April 24th (nets stay up) 

The information included about the nets is important as it is an easier venue to manage when you need only have to put up the nets.

If anyone can captain these sessions for 2.0-2.5 please email venuemanager@pickleballstalbert.ca

If no captains come forward these dates will be offered to another level of play.

Thank you to Bev and Judy for captaining the Saturday 12:30-2:30 play at Bertha Kennedy. 

As can be seen from the requests below captains are needed for play on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons. It would be extremely sad to not make full use of this venue as we worked hard to have pickleball on Saturday.

If a new captain steps forward an experienced captain will meet with you and give you assistance.

Captains Needed 3.0 

Captains are needed for 3.0 sessions at Bertha Kennedy on Saturday’s at 2:30-4:45

If anyone can assist at any of the dates where no captain is assigned, please send an email to:

venuemanager@pickleballstalbert.ca 

• Jan.11th Stella
• Jan 18th Chryss
• Jan 25th Chryss 
• Feb 1st   Chryss 
• Feb 8th   Kathy M 
• Feb 22nd
• Feb 29th
• March 7th Kathy M 
• April 4th   Kathy M 
• April 18th
• April 25th
• May 2nd
• May 9th
• May 23rd
• May 30th

Nets are always put away after Saturday play.

Captains are also needed on the following Friday nights at Bertha Kennedy from 6.00- 9:15 for 3.0 play. The information about the nets is important as it is an easy venue to manage when you need only to put up the nets. 

• Jan 10th (leave nets up) Douwe
• Jan.31st (leave nets up) Chryss 
• Feb.14th (nets come down)
• March 6^th (nets stay up) Kathy. M
• April 3rd (nets stay up)
• May 1st (nets stay up)
• May 22nd (nets stay up) 

Rating clinics 

There is ONE SPOT left for the 3.0 clinic at 6 pm on Jan 27. Cost is $23.35.  To apply, please email rating@pickleballstalbert.ca ASAP.

Watch our news for the notice regarding the next available rating clinics which will likely be in March. For the March clinics and beyond, we will have a new registration system in place.  You will register and pay online rather than emailing.

If you are not club rated via one of these clinics and are not tournament rated, you may play at any session on the calendar marked for "All" play or for 2.0 or 2.5 level play.

Members must be rated at the 3.5 level to play at 3.5 or 3.5+ events and must be rated at the 3.0 level to play in 3.0 level play.

Shoot Out

Shoot out registrations are full for both 3.0 sessions on Alternate Tuesdays at Sturgeon and 3.5 on Friday evenings at Vital Grandin. If you wish to go on the waiting list as numbers of people who play fluctuates email organisedplay@pickleballstalbert.ca

You will receive an email when your name is added to the play list. 

Sunday at Sturgeon 3.0 and 3.5+

Play started at Sturgeon on Sundays from 9:00-11:45 January 5th 

On a trial basis, the first and third Sundays of the month will be for 3.0+ play and on the second and fourth Sundays of the month, it will be  3.5+ play.

A decision will be made at the end of January to decide if play will continue for both levels after the January data is examined.

Mentorship

The club provides mentorship once a month at Bertha Kennedy on a Friday night. 

We have changed our mentoring sessions into 2 groups.

The first is 6:45-7:45 PM and the second is 7:45-9:30 PM

We are capping each session to 12 participants. This limit should eliminate wait times.

It is extremely important that everyone is at their session 10 minutes prior to start time.

This ensures that each session starts on time.

Dates vary so you need to refer to the calendar. Mentorship is not just for beginners. It is for anyone who wants to practice/improve their skills and especially a great opportunity for those planning on going to a ratings clinic.

We will try to get those that are none rated or beginners into the first session and others into the second. We will try to get long term members that are not rated into the second session.

Please NOTE:  You need to register for this. You must register via the website or send an email to training@pickleballstalbert.ca. You will receive a confirmation within 24-48 hours. Cut off for registration is the day before the session.  If you have not registered you will not be able to attend.

Until the Next Time,"Keep Your Paddle Up!"