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!"

St. Albert Pickleball Club

NOTICE OF GENERAL MEETING

Called by the SAPC Board

When:                  Friday, January 24, 2020

Time:                     6:00 p.m.

Where:                 Vital Grandin School

                               39 Sunset Boulevard, St. Albert

Purpose:             To approve the following Special Resolution:

The bylaws of the St. Albert Pickleball Club are repealed and replaced with the attached bylaws.

Reason:              

We received notice that due to incorrect wording of the Special Resolution we passed at our June 24, 2019 AGM to change our bylaws, the Corporate Registry was not able to file our  bylaws. The changed bylaws will go into effect only after they have been filed.

As a result we have to document and re-submit a properly worded and approved Special Resolution.

Note:                  

There are no changes to the attached bylaws from those that were approved unanimously by the membership at the June 24, 2019 AGM.

No other bylaw changes, amendments to the agenda or new business will be considered or accepted at this meeting.

Quorum:             Article 3 Meetings (3.6) 

At least 10 members in good standing have to be present at the beginning of the meeting.

Agenda

1. Member Sign In prior to meeting

2. Call to Order at 18:00

3. Motion to approve the following Special Resolution:

The bylaws of the St. Albert Pickleball Club are repealed and replaced with the attached bylaws.

4. Vote will be by ‘a show of hands’ on the motion, 75% or more will carry the motion

5. Meeting Adjourned

Reference:

The bylaws ,as approved at the June 24, 2016 AGM, posted on the SAPC website.

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

New System Implemented!	GST is Here but Club Holds Overall Pricing
New Sunday Play	November Stats

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

New System Implemented!

Well it took months of conceiving, researching, proposing, planning, learning, developing, and testing, but now we can announce the birth of our new system!

To access the new system you use the same web address as our old one: www.pickleballstalbert.ca.

You can access nearly everything at our site without logging in, but you will need to log in to buy sticker cards and to see some member-only information under the “Members” menu. You will also need to log in to see and update your profile.

To log in the first time, you will need a new password:

•          click the icon of a head and shoulders in the top right corner,
•          enter your email address.
•          press the “forgot password” link,
•           in a couple of minutes, get your new password from your new email message.

Please take a few minutes to review the new site. Log in with your new password and:

•        then access your profile under the head and shoulders icon,
•        look at the Store page under the Members menu – that is where you buy indoor venue sticker cards

If you have a question for the club, please review the site in detail before submitting your question. Chances are the answer to your question is already on the site.  Note that there are now two FAQs (sets of frequently asked questions) – one under the “Explore joining” menu and one under the “Play” menu. Can you spot which FAQ answers the question, “What are the specific steps for buying an indoor play sticker card?”

Note also that the menu headings themselves lead to web pages. Click on each menu heading to learn more about each menu subject.

Lastly, come back to the site often for updated news, most of which will be under the News menu.  We plan to post all key news here, keeping most emails to you very short.

GST is Here, but Club Holds Overall Pricing

This year, our club has passed the threshold at which non-profit organizations must start collecting and remitting GST.  Accordingly, you will find membership and sticker card fees to reflect GST in our new web system.

The good news is that we are still projecting a small surplus for the year, so we are not raising overall prices at this time.  For this year at least, we will absorb the GST.  So memberships remain at $30 for now, and sticker cards are still $67 after application of GST. 

You may also notice in the new system we have split out the postage costs from the sticker card costs – meaning you will save a few cents if you order more than one at a time, as you only pay the postage cost ($0.90) once.

Accounting for GST is a chore, but we are proud to support our country and its people this way. We know we benefit greatly from our country’s many fine institutions, from its infrastructure, and from its services, freedoms, and protections.

New Sunday Play

Thanks again to our wonderful Venue Manager (and President), Eileen, and the Sturgeon Heights School, we have now added an amazing 30+ play times to the indoor play calendar.  Starting Sunday Jan 5 and repeating each week, we now have play for 3.0+ at Sturgeon Heights from 9 am to 11:45 am. Please come out if you can -- we need enough attendees to make the expense worthwhile.

It is quite an accomplishment to be recognized by the school in this manner -- it shows we have earned their trust to treat their property with respect.  They know we lock up securely when we leave, keep the door locked (never propped open) while we are there, never leave a mess, and never wear outdoor shoes in their gym.  And being granted this opportunity shows that we have a great, long-standing relationship with the school, as we do with our other venue providers.  

Our club continues to grow in size, now numbering 600 members (as anticipated in the budget), and we continue to snap up any venue space that comes available.  We are fortunate to have all of the public and private facilities we do, but are always on the lookout for more -- all to give our members more opportunity to play, to socialize, to engage and to have fun.

November 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	241% of court capacity	Red Willow	Mon 9am	All
2	209%	Red Willow	Tue 9am	Mens 3.0+
3	200%	Red Willow	Mon 11am	All
4	200%	Sturgeon H	Mon 6pm	3.0+
5	198%	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	67% of court capacity	Bertha Kennedy	Fri 6pm	3.0
2	75%	Bertha Kennedy	Fri 6pm	2.0-2.5
3	100%	Sturgeon H	Tue 6pm	3.0+
4	119%	Sr. Alphonse	Wed 7pm	3.5+
5	121%	Bertha Kennedy	Sat 1230pm	2.0-2.5

 

Other Interesting Stats

90	Play and training sessions in October, excluding rating clinics and beginner's lessons
1454	Member-plays at the above 86 sessions
7	Visitor-plays at the above sessions
2	Rating clinics of 12 players each in Nov
16	Ratings clinics since May 1
192	Players rated by your club since May 1
600	Club members as of mid-December

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

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

Training	Play Reminder
Reserved Play Change	New Website

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

Training

4.0 Level Test Preparation

For those members who would like to be rated at the 4.0 level soon, the club is having two mentor sessions, October 29 and November 12th to help you prepare for test. Each session limited to 12 players and will focus on the skills from IPTPA ratings requirements. The second session is a repeat of the first session so that 24 members can be mentored. Dave Barton and Ken Dentzien will share their respective experiences. (Thank you Dave and Ken). 

Please keep in mind when registering for one of these nights, that you should only attend if you are planning on testing for 4.0 in December. A date has yet to be decided but it will take place in December! If interested in this training, send an email to: training@pickleballstalbert.ca stating which of the two evenings you would prefer.

Play Reminder

Now that indoor play is in full operation please remember that for all venues you bring indoor shoes for play. You can not come in wearing outdoor runners and then go on to the courts to play. We want to keep our church floors and school floors in excellent shape. Thank you.

Reserved Play Change

As some of you may have noticed, we are continuing to offer reserved play two times per week: on Monday at Red Willow and on Thursday at North Pointe. These have been successfully filled in the last few sessions, and plans are to continue these as long as they remain popular (i.e., full). To get in on the Reserved Play action, see the web page "Reserved Play" under the Membership > Members menu, once you log into your club's website.

We have cancelled the Tuesday Reserved Play session as of Oct 18. It was not very well attended. This 9 am session at Red Willow has now been changed to a Men's 3.0+ drop-in session and so reverts back to the cost of one sticker to play.

Thanks to Carol P for continuing to coordinate our use of Sign Up Genius and our Reserved Play reservations.

By the way, if you need to cancel a reservation, please follow the proper procedure as described on our web-site. Adding a note in your reservation that says "I can't make it" doesn't cut the mustard because it doesn't actually release the spot for another player to use.

New Website

Your club is hard at work developing a new web-site using a new membership management platform. The current plan is to launch the new site in December or early January, before the next annual membership renewal cycle. The newer technology allows us to automate more club functions in future to serve you better. We also know it will avoid some of the problems we've had in the past. Stay tuned for more news as we begin rolling out the new system. And thanks to Tamas, our Membership and Volunteers Directory, for leading this exciting club project, and thanks to his web team too.

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