In this issue:

Conclusion to Outdoor Play/Thank Yous	City Council Presentation
Exciting New Indoor Venues	September Outdoor Play Stats
Club Membership Statistics

Conclusion to Outdoor Play / Thank You to Volunteers

From Eileen (as Venue Manager):

Saturday October 19th was the closing of our Alpine outdoor season.  As we close out the season and move to indoor play, I want to thank all of our awesome volunteers!  Special thanks to the following individuals:

• Wally Peltonen who kept our storage areas sorted and kept us up to date with our ball supply 

• Jeanine who kept on top of our first aid supplies

• Our captains for all of the hours you volunteered for our members

• Our DUPR captains as there is so much work behind the scenes completed so that members can just show up and play!  A special shout out to Kim Sabourin and Cathy Anderson! 

• Our League organizers and team captains

• Judy Murray and those who helped with the cleaning of the courts

• Nela for our binder creator  and for all of the sheet which she organizes

• Our tournament director Ken, Ron Yanew for chairing the social committee and all those who volunteered at the tournaments in so many different capacities

• Gary Cheetham our organizer and leader of coaching for Special Olympics and all of the coaches

• Nicole Currie our head trainer who organizes the mentoring and  for the coaches who mentor our members and for the coaches who coach the school students

• Nela, our binder creator, for all of the sheets which she organizes

What a team of volunteers we have!!  We are an awesome Club!!! 

Club Presents to City Council

The outdoor pickleball players of St. Albert have already outgrown the space at our Alpine and Larose courts.   St. Albert's outdoor courts are full and demand for more play continues to grow at more than 20% per year.   More outdoor courts are needed ASAP!

Your club has worked to inform our City and, in particular, our City Council of this need for more courts.

Our latest presentation to City Council, which was on October 15, 2024, may be seen by clicking on this link.  In this video, go to:

• Minute 4:28 to 9:40 to hear our President Eileen's 5-minute presentation
• Minute 9:40 ++ to hear Council's questions to Eileen and our Club's responses
• Minute 32:00 to 44:00 to hear Council's pickleball-related questions to City administration

Club members showed their support for new courts by attending our President's presentation to City Council on October 15.

Thanks to the SAPC Facilities Team for all they are doing to help build our pickleball future in St. Albert!

New Venues

Raise Athletics

Our Venue Manager has negotiated an arrangement with the management of an exciting new indoor venue called Raise Athletics which is located in Riel Business Park at 2A, 9 Richardson Drive in St. Albert.  This brand new massive sports facility is due to open in just a couple of weeks!

Raise Athletics Club play sessions will begin in just a few short weeks and registrations are already open - visit the Raise Athletics Calendar by clicking on this link.

YEG Pickleball

Please stay tuned regarding an opportunity for our members to play at another new facility called YEG Pickleball at 14025 156 St in Edmonton.  These sessions will be advertised soon in our Calendars and eligible members for each level of play will receive an invitation shortly.

Thanks Eileen for all of your hard work to develop these exciting new play opportunities for our members!

September Outdoor Play Statistics

In case you are interested in numbers, please see the Alpine outdoor play statistics for August below:

Rating Level              Attendees

         2.5                              439

         3.0                              334

         3.5                              861

         3.5+                            336

         4.0+                            397

         4.5+                              24

         ALL                             175

          70+                              65

    League Play                  120

    Partner Play                 258

      3.0 DUPR                       76

      3.5 DUPR                    115

Total Attendance      3,009

By comparison, August attendance was 2,440, July saw 2,360 attendees, June had 2003 participants and May attendance was 1,820.

Club Membership Statistics  

We now have over 1,000 active members!! This sport and our Club are really taking off!  The breakdown of our members at the end of September (with comparative figures for August) are as follows:

                                   August       September (Current)   Inc/(Dec)

No Rating                   341                          348                                7   

2.5 Rating                     43                             47                                4

3.0 Rating                   157                          157                                

3.5 Rating                   257                          263                                6        

4.0 Rating                   183                          186                                3          

4.5+ Rating                   54                            54                          

Total Members      1035                      1055                              20