Thanks to the St. James pickleball players who volunteered their time over the past two weeks to instruct the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students at Southport Elementary to play pickleball.
The students and coaches alike had lots of fun learning and playing and are looking forward to our return next year to expand on what they have learned.
Many thanks for all the coaches, Janet Banks, Kathy Goliszek, Diana Kelly, Eileen and Mike Kopunek, Diane Norton, Kim Nowakowski, Robin Pantalena, Karen and Jan Pasquale, Cathy Rienth, Marilou Rubright, Stacey Stanzel, Linda Troiano and Deb Warner.
The students were also very appreciative of the new nets and pickleballs donated by the St. James Pickleball Association’s Sunshine Committee. They have made a significant improvement in the program.
The 55 players who attended the SJPA Mixed-Up Doubles event on April 24th did not let the wind deter them from having a great time!
The Round Robin format helped ensure that all players had a great experience and the random selection introduced more players to one another. Smiles and laughter were a testament to the good time and provided instant feedback that the event was a success.
We love to see new players make new friends and to see old friends reconnect.
Kindness, respect, and fun was obvious on all the courts during this social event which mixed all levels of players.
Thanks to all of the players who came out to have FUN with us on the courts and special thanks to those who donated food to the Southport-Oak Island Southport-Oak Island Interchurch Fellowship (SOIIF) Food Pantry. Our donations are truly appreciated by SOIIF.
Finally, thanks go to Andrea Velez for setting up the event, to the volunteers who helped ensure that the event ran smoothly, Lynn and Peter Albrecht, Leo Pacyna, and Robyn Smith, and to our wonderful volunteer photographer, Carolyn Graziano. Their work and dedication to St. James Pickleball makes these events possible.
Here are a few photos for you to enjoy. If you’d like to see all of the pictures that Carolyn took, just click here.
After several days that included heavy rain and high winds, over 100 members of the SJPA gathered for a perfect evening at the beach bonfire party. The party included s’mores, games, catching up with old friends, meeting new, and a perfect sunset.
Huge thanks, once again, to Liz Wilson and the SJPA Social Committee. You all always do a great job!
Special thanks to Carolyn Gaziano for the wonderful pictures of the event.
Enjoy the photos below and be sure to check out the other photos, including some wonderful portraits, taken by Carolyn.
All St. James residents are invited to SJPA’s 3rd Annual Spring Fling. All proceeds from the Spring Fling will benefit the Southport Oak Island Interchurch Fellowship Food Pantry (SOIIFF.)
Join us on Sunday, April 14th, from 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm, at the St. James Beach Club for the annual St. James PIckleball Association’s Beach Bonfire Party. Let’s get out and have a fun, relaxing, beach night!
The third pickleball play event of the year, St. Patrick’s Social, hosted over 50 players during two sessions. Kindness, respect, and fun was obvious on all the courts during this social event.
As with past events there were both new and familiar faces. It was great to see people talking and introducing themselves to one another.
As a bonus we had Kim Mihan, Troon’s Pickleball Pro, join in the fun as she played and offered pickleball tips, to the delight of our players. The round robin format ensured that many players had an opportunity to play with Kim as well as with other players.
Many thanks go to the event coordinators, Andrea Velez, Lynn Albrecht, and Robyn Smith, for the food, decorations, photos, and for joining in to play where needed. Their work and dedication to St. James Pickleball makes these events possible.
We also thank the players who joined in the FUN, and special thanks to those who donated food.
The SJPA Progressive Dinner was held Friday, March 15. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to move around the room and meet fellow pickleball players. The evening started with a social hour and was followed by salad, dinner, and dessert, each at a different table with different people. So many individuals have had fun excursions and led exciting careers before coming to St. James. The Progressive Dinner provided the perfect opportunity for enjoyable conversations, hearing what brought all of us together to St. James, and how we got involved in pickleball.
Thanks to Middle of the Island caterers for a delicious meal, to all who attended and especially to the SJPA Social Committee for their time and expertise putting together this event.
We look forward to seeing everyone at future Social Events. Please check the Event Calendar for details.
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE SJPA VALENTINE SOCIAL EVENT AND WHO TOOK THE TIME TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY.
The SJPA Board and the Events Committee believe that a survey without any reply or action is a waste of our members time. Here are the results and action items.
First a few numbers. Twenty-nine of approximately 65 players completed the survey (44%).
There were 6 questions with answers ranging from Excellent (in some form) to Poor (in some form). The feedback was:
Excellent – 62%
Very Good – 30%
Good – 6%
Fair and Poor – 2% (1% each)
All in all, some very positive feedback by the numbers, but the best information for us comes out of the comments.
All of the comments were viewed by the SJPA Board and the Events Committee as constructive, positive, and greatly appreciated, as we strive to offer events that are fun for the vast majority of SJPA members.
Here are the major improvement recommendations along with the Event Committee’s reply to those comments.
1) The cold weather (8 of 29) – It was cold and dreary
The committee is working hard with the powers that be to control the weather. Guess we will all have to wait and see how that turns out
2) Skill Level (4 of 29 responses) – People wanted to play with people at their level
The majority of people understand that the social events are intended for people of all levels to play with one another, have fun, gain experience, and meet new people. Going forward, we will continue to reiterate this message as we announce events on the web page and during event kick-off.
Based on the comments, the Events Committee is also in the process of trying to figure out how to best set up events for the more competitive players. Stay tuned.
3) How it was run (6 of 29 responses) – People wanted more mingle time. The rules were a bit confusing. Offer 2 sessions right up front.
As a pickleball social, people want to get as many games in as possible while being able to meet new players during play. More time in between games to socialize will reduce play time which doesn’t seem to fit with what people really want.
We are always looking for new formats for mixed play, and the rules sometimes are even confusing to us, so we do appreciate your patience as we navigate through these events. One of the determining factors for how we manage play is the number of people that actually show up for the event. This tends to fluctuate right up the start of the event.
For future events, based on the type of event, we will try to offer two time slots, back-to-back, when the event is announced.
4) Overly aggressive play with less skilled players (1 of 29 responses) – “Some of the women slammed the ball to kill”
ALL players should have fun on the court. While we realize that there are times that the ball will be slammed, we will continue to remind all players at the beginning of each social session that KINDNESS, TOLERANCE, HELPFULNESS, and FUN should be the cornerstones of these events.
The positive comments were overwhelming and a testament to the team that put this event together.
Most of the comments were positive and were related to organization, camaraderie, emphasis on fun, socializing, playing with different levels of players, and meeting new people. The Event coordinators, Robyn Smith and Becky Jennings, along with their support team, Bernadette Clinton, Cherie Nichols, and Dick Cournoyer, greatly appreciated the kind words from the players.
Going forward, our plan is to not overwhelm you with surveys. We plan to do only a couple more this year to gather some more valuable feedback on different types of events.
Thanks again to all of you who took the time to answer the survey. Your feedback does matter and we need it to continue to make the events even better for all.
You may have seen Kent Silhanek’s recent message that Troon has accepted a recommendation that the SJPA Board forwarded to them regarding the open sessions, based on Whiteboard court usage and on SJPA member feedback. Our main goal in formulating this proposal was to maximize the opportunities for as many members as possible to play pickleball. Up to now, the open sessions provided times when anyone could play, and times when those at a specifically defined playing level could play.
Members of the SJPA board monitored court usage for the past two months and it remained clear that many courts were being left open – not available for reservation, but not used during the opens because there were too few players to fill all of the courts. This was especially true during the sessions that were assigned to the advanced beginner and intermediate levels. Based on this data and member feedback, we recommended all courts be used during the times scheduled for whiteboard play and that courts be segregated by level of play.
There is one aspect of the SJPA recommendation that Kent’s message did not mention relating to flexibility in which of the four levels (beginner, novice, intermediate, and advanced) players choose to play. The vast majority of players who have been rated by Troon, either by Greg Rymer or Kim Mihan, currently have ratings of 3.0 (47%) and 3.5 (40%). However, there are many more players who have not been rated or whose ratings are years old and may not accurately reflect their level of play. We believe that these players have a sense of where they would be rated based on who they play with. To encourage all players to join the open play where they feel that they belong, we recommended that the boundaries for levels should be somewhat “fuzzy”. The following graphic is meant to convey this.
Our desire with this approach is to allow more players to feel that there is a place for them to play comfortably in the new open schedule. We hope that players will welcome the broader definitions of levels and find the play enjoyable.
Additionally, it seems likely that the individual court designations will also need some flexibility depending upon who shows up to play on any given day. For example, if there aren’t enough advanced players to use both courts 7 & 8, players from another level should be able to use the one(s) that are not being filled by the advanced group. If more advanced-level players show up later, then those courts would revert back to the designated level. We expect that players will be able to work this out cooperatively as conditions necessitate.
Finally, we would like to thank our membership for all of the open feedback. We hear you and appreciate your input! Your frankness helps us to put together recommendations like this that are intended to support our membership in working with Troon management to make pickleball enjoyable for all. We will continue to monitor, listen, and make recommendations for additional modifications as appropriate.
On Thursday, January 18, SJPA held its Winter Party. This year’s event included a Trivia Contest and music provided by the Back Porch Rockers that included opportunities to “sing along” with the band. A fun time was had by all! SJPA is proud to support Matthews Ministry on Oak Island and all proceeds from the registration fee and 50/50 drawing, in the amount of $2,225, were donated to this great cause. Thank you to all who participated.
A cold and dreary day did not deter SJPA members from coming out and playing some heartfelt Pickleball at Valentine’s Day Social.
This was the second event of the year and, again, the event filled quickly, with a waitlist of over 25 people on the first day of registration. As a result, the event was split into two sessions in order to accommodate more players. And accommodate we did! Both sessions filled completely, allowing nearly 70 SJPA members to enjoy the event.
There were many familiar and new faces on the courts, making this a great afternoon of pickleball and meeting new people.
The “King of the Court” format was used to mix up the play and it did a great job of getting everyone where they needed to be quickly and smoothly.
The event coordinators, Robyn Smith and Becky Jennings, along with their support team of Bernadette Clinton, Cherie Nichols, and Dick Cournoyer, really did an amazing job making sure there was plenty of love in the air and refreshments on the tables.
Thank you to the members who came to enjoy some fun pickleball, and a special thanks to those who donated food.
We look forward to our next event in March, “Come Play with a Pro” where we will have Kim Mihan, our pickleball pro, playing with us as well.
Jeff Franken, SJPA Event Chair
In addition to a great day of Pickleball, the participants donation over 100 non-perishable items for Southport-Oak Island Interchurch Fellowship (SOIIF) Food Pantry.
