Chapelgate Gym Update - I spoke with fellow member Jim McKee, the executive pastor from Chapelgate regarding the use of the Chapelgate gym for indoor pickleball on Monday nights. Unfortunately, Chapelgate has once again shutdown their use of the gym for indoor activities, other than school functions, due to the spike in COVID-19 infections. Jim informs me that the Church won't consider indoor activities until the infection rate goes below 5%. So our hope to have access to the gym for indoor pickleball is once again put on hold due to the pandemic.
Looking for another distraction opportunity - check out Julie Issac's forum post within the Members Discussion Forum.
2021 Pickleball Rule Changes - Fellow member Peggy Gaegler sent me an article that explains some of the upcoming rule changes for 2021. I have posted a link to this article under the menu item "PB News". You can also access this article via the link below. I recommend you review these rule changes since this may impact your game.
Indoor Pickleball - Unfortunately, there are not many options for our association to play indoors in a cost effective manor. Previous alternatives have been eliminated due to policy changes. We lost access to the Howard County Community College due to increased insurance requirements. We lost access to the Howard County Public School System's facilities due to a change in fee policy where we had to pay room fees for each room used. Add in the COVID-19 pandemic and we end up with limited indoor options. One alternative open to the public is the Howard County Recreation and Parks Open Play where you can register to play at the Meadowbrook Athletic Center. Another alternative if you are a member of Columbia Association is to rent a lined tennis court at their indoor facility in Long Reach. Finally, periodically the 40 West Tennis Club offers indoor play on Friday nights. This Friday night will be the last one of 2020 and they will start again on January 15, 2021. For more information on 40 West, contact Sharon Tiahrt (sharontiahrt@aol.com). If you are aware of any other indoor alternative that you would like to share with our members please add a topic to our Member Discussion Forum. When you log onto our website you will see a list of recent topics posted to the forum.
New sign-up tool - Due to limitations with the Doodle application, I will be utilizing a new sign-up tool for pre-registration for our Pickleball open play sessions. We will be trying out the free version of the SignupGenius application so we will have to put up with the advertisements on the page. You will still be accessing this tool via the Organized Play page which will contain one link for all sessions. However, you should be able to bookmark the link so that you can then access it without going to the Organized Play page. At present, I intend to continue to update this weekly on Sunday mornings and will also update the published date on the home page once I've added the new sessions. However, this may change in the future as I learn to use the tool better.
The tool allows each person to access the web page without establishing a SignupGenius account. You can access this application via your computer, phone or pad. Once you sign-up for one or more pickleball sessions, you will receive an email confirmation. Be sure to save this email because this is the avenue to deleting your sign-up entry if you are unable to play. However, if for some reason you are unable to locate that email, the application provides a means to receive another email with the appropriate link to delete your entry. As with any change, there will be a learning curve to deal with, however, I believe the application is fairly easy to use so please be patient. I intend to create a tutorial on the use of this tool for our purpose and will post this under the menu item "Assoc. News" as well as send out an announcement once it's published. We will be switching to this new tool this weekend although with the weather as it is, there may not be as many play opportunities.