In this issue:

Tournament Volunteers Needed	Other Volunteer Roles   Available
Red Willow Registered Play -     Cancellations	Sticker Ordering for SAPC Play
Outdoor Play - Membership Cards

Tournament Volunteers Needed

In this issue:

Ratings Clinics	Board Nominations/Recruiting
Indoor Play

Ratings Clinics

Bells

Just a reminder about the school bells.  With the new COVID regulations and security at the school, all schools have added a new bell; the bell is connected to a microphone so that when you press it the school office answers and then grants you access to the school.  DO NOT PRESS THIS BELL as no one can hear it after hours.

The "regular bell" is usually close by the new bell button.  Each school bell is a different color so pay close attention to ensure that you are ringing the correct bell.  The  captain or designate will wait at the door for the first 10-15 minutes before play is scheduled to begin.  We ask that members be on time to avoid members who are playing having to leave the gym to answer the door.  Please note that if members arrive early/on time, there will be no need to ring the bell for access.

Stay safe and don’t forget to bring your QR code, club ID and of course indoor shoes!

Until next time, keep your paddle up!

We wish to extend our thanks to the 2.5 and 3.0 groups on Saturdays at Bertha Kennedy whose sessions were bumped for rating clinics and apologize for the inconvenience (our options were limited).

Please note that we will not be offering any rating clinics in December; they could commence in January, 2022 depending on the demand.

Congratulations to all participants of the rating clinics held since July including those just conducted yesterday.  Also, many thanks to our raters Sean and Leslie.

Best regards,

Karen and Gerry
Ratings Co-coordinators

Pickleball is one of the sports played in Alberta's 55 Plus Games.

Would you like to compete in or watch the pickleball play in Alberta 55 Plus Winter Games or Summer Games? Then check out this poster.

By the way, the "Zone 5" referenced in the poster refers to the Alberta Sport Zone 5 -- the Black Gold / Yellowhead zone. This zone excludes Edmonton but includes St. Albert, Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and Sherwood Park. A zone map is here.

In this issue:

Mentoring	School Venues
Vaccinations	Indoor Play
Facility Strategy - Feedback	More Thank Yous

Mentoring

Mentoring is happening once a month on Friday evenings at Bertha Kennedy School.  Members can request a place at mentoring by sending an email to training@pickleballstalbert.ca to make their request; when doing so, the Member should state the level that they wish to attend (for example, if you have a 3.0 rating you may state that you want to be mentored for a 3.5 level).  The evening will be divided into two sessions and the levels being mentored at each session will depend upon those who are registered (based upon "demand").  The cost for such mentoring is one sticker.  There are a few spaces left for the November 19th session.  Registration for mentoring each month will start at the beginning of that month.  The mentoring coaches cannot do any booking as this is all organized through the training coordinator (Nicki); she will contact each member registered stating the time that they can attend and any other information they need to know. 

School Venues

Be on time! 

Members are asked to be on time for the venues.  We give a window of 15 minutes, however if this is a new venue for you to attend, it is imperative that you be on time to verify your identity, vaccination status, etc.  If you arrive early at any venue wait outside until you see the captain access the building.

Joseph Demko

Most venues are accessed through the front door, but Joseph Demko is accessed through the gym door at the back.  If you park in the parking lot you will see the basketball court and the double gym door is visible from there.  DO NOT go banging on other doors of the school as this has created an incident at the Joseph Demko school.  The way to the gym door is very dark with minimal lighting, especially now with the time change so please be careful!

Important:  We cannot access Joseph Demko 3.5+ until 6:50.  Please do not arrive earlier than this.  The access is through the gym door so the captain will watch for the caretaker to open the door. 

Sister Alphonse

Sister Alphonse 3.5+ has a new time; future sessions will take place from 6:15 - 9:00 pm on Wednesday evenings.

Be Respectful

We are so lucky to have the venues and by treating the venue and staff respectfully, we have been able to have a great relationship with the schools.   Any abusive behaviour or disrespect to the staff will not be accepted and could lead to the member not being granted future access to that venue (or all venues depending on the severity/nature of the incident or encounter). 

Vaccinations

We will be changing our process for checking members' vaccination records.  As are many other organizations, we will be following the new provincial rules.  We believe that this will be a more secure and standardized process for everyone involved.  The QR code is effective November 15th provincially; therefore, starting on November 16th, members should bring be prepared to display their Alberta Vaccination QR codes at all SAPC venues.  Thank you for your help and cooperation as we make the transition to the new process.

Indoor Play - Other

Playing up

This is a reminder that there is no “playing up “ at this time. In the summer when members had registered for a rating clinic we accommodated them “playing up” as we had 10 courts.  However with indoor venues having only 2 to 4 courts we cannot accommodate players playing up. 

Red Willow - Captains 

With snowbirds travelling south we need captains for Red Willow for 3.0. Please email nicolecurrie@live.com if you are interested and available to captain these sessions.

Facility Strategy - Input Strongly Desired

As noted in our last Newsletter, we have now posted a draft of our new Facilities Strategy - our 5 to 10 year vision for more pickleball facilities in St. Albert.  Please note that this document is a work in progress - some blanks need to be filled in and member input is needed to make this strategy even stronger.

Please read the draft strategy, which is now posted on our Plans and Policies web page, or jump straight to the report here.

Have a look and ask yourself - do you share this vision?  Is this how we should go about pursuing these new facilities? 

After reviewing the draft Facility Strategy document, if you are so inclined, you are strongly encouraged to send an email to the Facilities Task Force c/o Treasurer@pickleballstalbert.ca with the subject line: Facilities Strategy - Member Comment.  In your email, please identify one or more of the following questions by number and provide a response to each question you have identified:

1. Do you agree there is or will be a need for more pickleball facilities in St. Albert in the years to come?
   
2. Do you agree with the three priority objectives laid out?
   
3. How would you strengthen or alter the rationale for one of the priorities?
   
4. What else needs to be added to the plan for one of the priorities?
   
5. Do you have some information on other pickleball facilities that can fill in the blanks in an appendix or add to the strength of the research we have provided?
   
6. Do you have suggestions regarding an advocacy approach with the City of St. Albert?
   
7. Would you like to join our Facilities Task Force and add some more muscle to help us realize a future as glorious as these golden days of pickleball in St. Albert?  This is the legacy we will leave to our children and grandchildren.  We'd love to have you join our team!

We look forward to receiving all of your feedback whether it be general or detailed, positive or negative.  The best plans are generally made by considering all view points and ideas, including many that we may not have even thought of - remember this is YOUR Club!

More Thank Yous

In addition to the many thank yous in our last Newsletter, the Club would also like to extend its thanks to Nicole Currie who manages Red Willow and organizes the lessons and mentoring sessions.  She gives readily of her time again and again - thank you Nicki!

Thanks also goes out to the entire training team which currently consists of the following dedicated and talented members:

Ken Dentzien
Dan Stoker
John Sandmoen
Bill Moyes
Jeanine Au
Art Au
Annette Campbell
Casey Campbell 
Brad Hurshowy
James Porter
Shelley Porter
Rick Storfield
Blair Bashaw
Nicole Currie

In response to our request for additional personal thank yous from members, a special thank you also goes out to an "unsung hero" - Judy Murray.   According to a number of members, Judy deserves a thumbs up "For all the work she does before most members even set foot on the court.   She’s always there early making sure the courts are cleaned up before play (Alpine this summer).  Plus she is a true ambassador for the club anytime she sees a new face, not to mention the time and patience she spends assisting new players.  Judy does all this behind the scenes and most members don’t even know everything she does for the club."

Until next time, keep your paddle up!

In this issue:

Facility Strategy Takes Shape	Thanks to Volunteers
Website References for FAQ's	Member Ratings - Other Clubs
Indoor Play	Red Willow Registration/Cancellations
New Communications Director

Facility Strategy Takes Shape

Your Facilities Task Force wants your input!  Help shape our future or just see what is going on.

We have now posted a draft of our new Facilities Strategy - our 5 to 10 year vision for more pickleball facilities in St. Albert.  Please note that this document is a work in progress - some blanks need to be filled in and member input is needed to make this strategy even stronger.

Please read the draft strategy, which is now posted on our Plans and Policies web page, or jump straight to the report here.

Have a look and ask yourself - do you share this vision?  Is this how we should go about pursuing these new facilities? 

After reviewing the draft Facility Strategy document, if you are so inclined, you are encouraged to send an email to the Facilities Task Force c/o Treasurer@pickleballstalbert.ca with the subject line: Facilities Strategy - Member Comment.  In your email, please identify one or more of the following questions by number and provide a response to each question you have identified:

1. Do you agree there is or will be a need for more pickleball facilities in St. Albert in the years to come?
   
2. Do you agree with the three priority objectives laid out?
   
3. How would you strengthen or alter the rationale for one of the priorities?
   
4. What else needs to be added to the plan for one of the priorities?
   
5. Do you have some information on other pickleball facilities that can fill in the blanks in an appendix or add to the strength of the research we have provided?
   
6. Do you have suggestions regarding an advocacy approach with the City of St. Albert?
   
7. Would you like to join our Facilities Task Force and add some more muscle to help us realize a future as glorious as these golden days of pickleball in St. Albert?  This is the legacy we will leave to our children and grandchildren.  We'd love to have you join our team!
   

Note that this is the second piece of our overall facilities strategy. The first piece was our SAPC Facility Reserve--Investing in our Future.  Over 30 members commented on that paper, validated this approach, and strengthened our financial resolve.  If you missed that paper you can review it on the same webpage referenced above.

Thanks to Volunteers

Thanks to all the captains who led and organized our summer play and who signed up to captain our indoor play.  We know COVID safety has made your jobs just a bit more of a challenge, but you have risen to that challenge and are keeping us safe.  Kudos to all of you!

Thanks to Eileen, not only for your tireless work as our President, but also for your separate work as Venue Manager.  You and your team of Venue Coordinators have again secured a great roster of indoor play venues (the envy of all other clubs in the region), you have liaised with venue contacts, organized captains and play times and met with and supported our captains.  It is an inspiration to see you go -- you make us dizzy at the start of each season!

Thanks to Mark Nadeau, our very capable Equipment Coordinator, who along with his helpful partner Arlene, have done an absolutely fantastic job organizing and inventorying our equipment, buying new nets and balls and much, more more - and always with a smile!  Here's hoping we can continue seeing your "around the post" play in person this indoor season, and not just via videos (great acting though - we've nominated you for the Academy Awards for that!).  Thank you for organizing volunteers to do the sad, but necessary, equipment take down to end our outdoor season at Alpine Courts.

Thanks to Nela Alfonso, our Binder Minder, who stocked and organized all our captain's venue binders, helping to make us ready for indoor play and thanks to Douwe for having those sign-in sheets printed.

Thanks to Marion Spriensma for pumping out and mailing all those sticker cards our members are ordering as we ramp up for indoor play.

Thanks to our Rating Coordinators Gerry Gartner and Karen Cabot who organized all of our rating clinics and even attended the ones on that very chilly day in September.

Thanks to Carol Peabody, our Registered Play coordinator, for setting up our summer shootout events in our calendars and for setting up all the reserved play for our indoor season.

Thanks again to Ken Dentzien and all the people who ran SAPC's biggest tournament ever this last September.   We are now set up to run even bigger tournaments in the future!   (thanks to James Porter and his team for working hard through the technical issues with the tournament software).  It is worth noting that such tournament events are very important for our club; not only did 20% of our members participate and have FUN, such events can significantly raise SAPC's profile in St. Albert.   We would like to hold more tournaments in the future.  Multi-day tournaments, for example, have economic development spinoff benefits for St. Albert hotels, restaurants and other businesses and they can be used to generate publicity further raising our profile with the City of St. Albert and attracting more members.  All of that helps as we begin to collaborate with the City to build more pickleball facilities as noted in the first article of this Newsletter.

Speaking of that first article, many thanks to Ray for his hard work and many hours spent working on this first draft of our Facility Strategy.

There are many, many more volunteers we have to thank -- sorry we didn't get to everyone this issue. To all of you, thank you for your interest, your caring and your time. All our members and our entire community benefits from your spirit.

Do you have one or more volunteers in our Club that you would like to thank in particular?  Send your name(s), your "one-liners" of thanks or your stories to communications@pickleballstalbert.ca -- or post it directly to our facebook page!   We would love to pass those along.

Website References for Frequently Asked Questions

"You've got questions?  We got answers!"

We'll bet that several of you would like to be reminded of the answers to one or more of the following questions.  Well, you're in luck!  Here's how and where to find answers - click on the links provided below to direct you to the correct webpage:

1. How do I reserve a play spot at Red Willow?  See the Reserved Play webpage.

2. What are the rules for indoor play these days?  See the Guide to Indoor Play Fall 2021 article on our Home page.

3. How do I use a club credit?  See the Finance and Technology FAQ webpage.  Please use your club credit when you renew your membership for 2022 - you can only do that by following the steps provided.   Use it or lose it!

4. How do I renew my membership for 2022?  See the summary information here.  To learn more about the new process, see this new SAPC FAQ page on Pickleball Canada memberships  (Note: If you are using a club credit to pay for part of your membership please alter this procedure based on the process referenced in the question #3 above).

5. How do I add my picture to my membership card?  How do I print or save my membership card to show captains?  These questions are also answered on our Finance and Technology FAQ page.

As you will have noted from this short list, the SAPC website is a treasure trove of good information with answers to many if not all of your questions - be an archeologist this Halloween season and do a little diggin'... it will be fun!

Member Ratings - Other Clubs

With more and more members playing in multiple jurisdictions including down south, the question often comes up as to whether a SAPC member can use another club's rating for purposes of organized SAPC play.  The answer is yes, under the following conditions:

• The other club must have a formal club rating system using certified or experienced raters and a database of members' ratings.

• Proof of rating must be provided to an SAPC Rating Coordinator and must contain:

Note that if the proof is a letter or email, the originator must be a current or past club president, rating manager or other position responsible for ratings and must state the writer's position.

The following will be accepted as partial proof of rating, but must be accompanied by any other information needed as described above:

• A member's rating evaluation form containing the evaluator's name and contact information, date of evaluation, evaluation result and the successful rating level achieved.
• A membership card with a club rating on it.
• A screen-shot (image capture) of a member's profile with a club or tournament rating on it. 

All of the above can be referenced by clicking on this link to our website.

Note - VERY IMPORTANT:   It is the SAPC Member's responsibility to comply with this rating policy and for the Member to provide the information requested as noted above; the Club will NOT seek out this information on your behalf nor contact anyone on your behalf to obtain same.

Indoor Play

Just a reminder to members that for those beginning to come indoors to play that all the information about playing indoors can be found in the previous, September 30 Newsletter.

Red Willow Registration & Cancellations

When you register at Red Willow and the session is full you can decide to add your name on the waiting list.  If you do this, it is very important that you check your e-mails right up until the start of the event because a member can cancel at any time (try to avoid late cancellations as noted below).  If a member cancels, you will automatically receive an e-mail that you are now registered.  Therefore, if you don’t check your e-mails, you won’t realize that you are in the system and expected to play at Red Willow for that session.

If you need to cancel from a registered session please do so as early as possible to allow time for the above process to take place and another interested Member to register for the session.

By the way, once your name is on the wait list you cannot remove it by yourself should you change your mind.  The only way to remove a name from the wait list is within the program by the site manager; to have them do so, please send an e-mail to regplay@pickleballstalbert.ca.

New Communications Director

The Club is pleased to announce that we have a new Communications Director.  Roger Hutlet has agreed to take on this role and to join the SAPC Board - welcome aboard!  Roger says that he is looking forward to working with the SAPC Team including all volunteers.  This is his first Newsletter so please be patient with his sense of humor, misspellings, etc.

Until next time, keep your paddle up!