Event date: January 22, 2023
Beginner to 2.5 and 3.0 Rated Players will play from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm
3.5 and 4.0 Rated Players will play from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm
Find out more and register now!
** Beginner to 2.5 Rated Player – Mixed (men and women)
**if you are new to Pickleball and haven’t been rated, this will be your grouping.
3.0 Rated Player – Mixed (men and women)
SJPA is sponsoring a Winter Dance to benefit Matthew’s Ministry, featuring the Salty Dawgs, on Thursday, January 19th from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm at the St James Community Center.
Cost is $10.00 per person. BYOB, food and bring extra money for all the great raffle items!
This event is open to ALL St. James Residents.
The first annual Greg Rymer Memorial Pickleball Tournament was a huge success. Despite the rain and wind that tropical storm Nicole brought to North Carolina, the strong-willed committee did not throw in the towel.
The tournament was held at the Greg Rymer Memorial Pickleball courts in St. James and had over 100 registered players. The competition was fierce, but in the end, only four teams were crowned champions of this inaugural event. Nancy Souza and Kim Cravinho won the women’s 2.5/3.0 division. In the women’s 7.5 division, Leslie Gourley and Sun Maher took the prize. The men’s 2.5/3.0 winners were Gary Purcell and Ron Walters. In the men’s 7.5 division, Dan Heatherly and Tom Alderdice came out on top.
The pickleball tournament was a fundraiser for the Greg Rymer Endowment Fund. Greg Rymer was an Assistant Teaching Tennis Professional and founding Pickleball Professional at St. James Plantation. Greg spent his life coaching, mentoring, and developing skills for racquet sport athletes at all levels. He had a particular interest in helping youth development through sports. Sadly, Greg passed away in October 2020. His wife, Katie, set up the endowment fund to honor his commitment and passion for working with junior players. The endowment fund provides grants to the National Junior Tennis and Learning Chapters, making it possible for the underserved children in Brunswick County to enjoy the life-affirming benefits of racquet sports. According to the United States Tennis Association, “The National Junior Tennis & Learning was created as a way to gain and hold the attention of young people, with the hope of teaching them the importance of character, getting an education, and becoming productive citizens.”
Many local businesses and service providers sponsored the tournament. With their generous support, the kindness of many anonymous donors, and the participation of the registered players in the tournament, we raised $15,700! This is more than twice our initial goal!
On December 12, 2022, we presented a check to Karen Holbrook, the director of N.J.T. & L, Southport Chapter. The funds will provide educational classes, after-school tutoring, life skills curriculum, anti-bullying programs, and tennis lessons for under-resourced children in Southport. With the donation being more significant than anticipated, there is hope to expand the program to other areas of Brunswick County and maybe even add some pickleball instruction!
We want to give special thanks to our very generous sponsors.
If you’d like to participate in this wonderful event next year, please reach out to Karen Fania at kkfania21@icould.com. The many people who made this fundraiser a huge success show that it truly takes a village.
Please stop at the St. James Community Center to see the wonderful display of Christmas trees. The SJPA is building a beautiful, must see tree. You can see the set-up activity in these early photos taken today. Stop at the Community Center to see the finished products and support the Service Club Charity Event.
WHEN: Friday (today – December 9th) and Saturday (December 10th)
TIME: 2:00 – 5:00 pm each day
ADMISSION: $10
STOP OUT AND SEE THE SJPA PICKLEBALL HOLIDAY TREE
SJPA Christmas Tree: “Who Pickled the Grinch”
A question was sent asking about court etiquette. Whether you are new to racquet sports or a seasoned player, we all know there are a few actions we should all follow to respect the other players on the court.
Pickleball is a “social” sport. This generally means that pickleball is as much about interacting and socializing with people as it is about physical activity and competition. This “social” culture around pickleball is one defining characteristic of the sport itself. In connection with this unique culture, it is important to understand some “pickleball etiquette” tips before hitting the pickleball court. These include:
| President: | Deb Chiarello |
| Vice President: | George Johnson |
| Treasurer: | Kathy McArthur |
| Secretary: | Mary Heatherly |
| Communications: | Al Hausmann |
| Tournaments & Events: | Jeff Franken |
| Social: | Liz Wilson |
| Instruction: | Christine Cournoyer |
| Sunshine Committee: | Kathy Goliszek |
By-Laws were updated in July and must be approved. You can access and read a copy of the By-Laws on the SJPA website under the category Pickleball Docs. This is a Brief explanation of changes made to By-Laws:
Three new board positions:
o Communications
o Social
o Tournament and Events
• Maximum term for the following is two years:
o Treasurer
o Secretary
o Communications
o Social
o Tournament and Events
• Maximum term for the president is one year since they already served 1 year as VP
• Committee Chairs and those participating, supporting, or assisting must be paid sport or golf members, members of SJPA, and residents of St James Plantation
• All media of any type and use of the logo must be approved
The Holidink event will be held on Sunday December 11th from 1:00-4:00pm.
We are suggesting that the participants bring some light snacks/food to share with the group but please bring your own drinks.
Participants should feel free to wear their favorite holiday apparel.
The number of participants will be limited to 48. We will randomly
assign participants to courts for fun social play.
There is no rain date for this event
REQUIREMENTS:
–Sport or Golf Member
–SJPA paid member at the time you sign up
Well, the weather can never keep a great tournament down.
The tropical storm, Nicole, was supposed to bring two days of rain and wind. Like much of our weather, it was unpredictable. We thought we could play on Thursday, but then it started to rain, and it rained most of the day. The second day of the tournament, Friday, had the greatest chances of rain, so the tournament was cancelled, but the day turned out pretty nice. Who knew! But the tournament organizer, Karen Fania, did not want to give up! She rescheduled all of the matches to Saturday and Monday, and the event, the games, the people, and the support were fantastic!
The winners are:
Women’s 2.5-3.0. Nancy Souza & Kathy Cravinho
Women’s 7.5 Leslie Gourley & Sun Maher
Men’s 2.5-3.0 Gary Purcell & Ron Walter
Men’s 7.5 Dan Heatherly & Tom Alderdice
More photos from the event:
See many more pictures from the tournament (This link may require that you log in to your Amazon.com account. Please report any issues to Al Hausmann.):
NOTE: An email with a link to vote was sent to all eligible members.
We solicitated for 2023 SJPA Board Officers in October. Filling these positions is critical to the growth and success of pickleball in St. James in 2023. These three positions have received the following submissions and are running un-opposed.
My wife, Marion, and I moved to St. James in August 2019 and were introduced
to pickleball that fall. After COVID hit, pickleball became our primary activity. As we played, we formed many friendships and developed a love for the sport as
well as for the St. James pickleball community.
We joined the SJPA as soon as we heard about it, and we have enjoyed
participating in its social and on-court activities. I ran a pickleball ladder league
with sixteen 3.0-level men in spring 2021, was captain of one of the teams in the 2021 Summer Fun League, continue to run two weekly round-robin groups, and play with other groups whenever I can. I am currently on the SJPA “Saints” 3.5 intercommunity league team, where I enjoy competing in both the men’s and the mixed matches.
In my previous life I taught mechanical engineering at a university on the west
coast known for its philosophy and practice of “shared governance” between the faculty and the administration. This meant a lot of committee work throughout my 40-year career, with increasing levels of responsibility. My last committee work involved undergraduate admissions, a critical activity where, at this university, the faculty establish the parameters under which students are
admitted. I was chair of the campus admissions committee and later chair of the systemwide committee. This involved regular meetings with senior university administrators as well as navigating the differing needs of the nine
undergraduate campuses. I believe that both the faculty and the administration
viewed me as a creative problem solver, a good listener, and a consensus
builder.
I look forward bringing these qualities to the SJPA Board to help grow and
support the wonderful pickleball community at St. James
I have been the treasurer of the SJPA since January of 2022. Previously I was a member of the St. James POA Finance Committee. My responsibilities included compiling the POA budget each year. In 2020 I was the Finance Committee liaison to the Safety & Security Committee. In 2021 I worked on the 30-year plan.
I have lived in St James for 5 years. Prior to moving to St. James I worked in Higher Education as a budget manager and eventually a finance director. I have a B.S. in Accounting from Fairfield University in Fairfield, CT.
I have been a Business professional with over 30 years of experience, including 20 years in management and a track record of high performance in human resources, project planning, operations, compliance, integrity, and leadership. During that time, I served on several Non-profit Boards, including the role of Board Secretary for a number of years. I have a BS in Accounting from Villanova University.
From 2016 until I retired in 2018, I served as the HR and Office Manager for a large mega church (50 employees and 90 acres of property.) I was able to bring much of my corporate experience to help develop processes and procedures that had not been previously documented. As part of that body of work, I also participated in the weekly leadership meetings and was responsible for the detailed meeting minutes.
I currently serve on the SJPA Social Committee as Secretary, documenting the detailed notes regarding the committee’s activities.
—Events & Tournaments: Jeff Franken
—Social: Liz Wilson
—Instruction: Christine Cournoyer
By-Laws were updated in July and must be approved. You can access and read a copy of the By-Laws on the SJPA website under the category Pickleball Docs. This is a Brief explanation of changes made to By-Laws:
Three new board positions:
o Communications
o Social
o Tournament and Events
• Maximum term for the following is two years:
o Treasurer
o Secretary
o Communications
o Social
o Tournament and Events
• Maximum term for the president is one year since they already served 1 year as VP
• Committee Chairs and those participating, supporting, or assisting must be paid sport or golf members, members of SJPA, and residents of St James Plantation
• All media of any type and use of the logo must be approved
Copy of updated 2023 By-Laws waiting for approval from the association:
Throughout your journey as a pickleball player, you may find yourself sending your shot over to your opponents’ side higher than you would like, more frequently than you would like. That’s not ideal because the higher you send the ball over to the other side, the more likely you are to be attacked. Especially if your opponents are further up in the court.
What separates a great pickleball player from the rest is their ability to keep the ball low at key moments and on demand. Keeping the ball low makes it more challenging for your opponent to make successful aggressive plays against you.
Here is a link to a YouTube video done by PrimeTime Pickleball.
November 16 @ 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Kim & Adam invite you to challenge us.
There will be 2 opportunities for you to teach us a thing or two. We look forward to your challenge and having fun with you on the court. You have an advantage
because Adam and I have never played together! We encourage all levels of play to take advantage of this opportunity. We, as the pros, promise to play in a way that challenges your level of play, whatever that may be.
Both events: Challenge the Pros, Drop Shot Challenge will be held at the Greg Rymer Courts. The Franklin Ball will be used. Prizes will be on hand.
There are many ways of winning, the first is by participating! I want this to be fun for every challenging team/player.
Kim & Adam invite you to challenge them to a 10 minute game. Challengers can be:
— Mixed team
— Women’s team
— Men’s team
It’s up to you!!
*Our schedule will have 1-2 minutes between games
*Our time will allow for up to 10 teams to challenge
*You may play on 1 team only
*As each team arrives, we ask you to use your paddles to determine order of play
*Arrive early to be one of the first challengers
*You can place your paddle in queue once both of you are present
For this to run smoothly we’d like to see at least 3 teams in queue
by 3:30, and 3-4 after that.
ONLY TEAMS THAT HAVE SIGNED UP CAN PLAY.
ONLY 10 TEAMS CAN SIGN UP.
Play will begin promptly at 3:30pm.
I have my partner’s information I want to sign up now to Challenge the Pro!
Kim & Adam will feed balls & provide targets which are tomato cages, for you to hit &/or sink your drop shot from various areas of the court.
How we will play the game:
–If you, the player, successfully hits or sinks a ball at or into the
cage from a particular area, then the pro is given 3 chances to do the same.
–If the pro can match the shot, then the score is even (think Corn Hole).
–Pros feed all balls and pros alternate turns to even out the score.
There are four time slots and eight people per time slot.
First start time:
–1:30pm (sign up)
–1:45pm (sign up)
–2:00pm (sign up)
–Last: 2:15pm (sign up)
Open to ONLY 8 different players every 15 minutes. Please sign up for a time
slot.
REQUIREMENTS:
–Sport or Golf Membership
–SJPA paid member
Please join us for the SJPA annual meeting at the Community Center to celebrate the successes of 2022. Registration to attend ENDS on November 29th.
–Social will start at 5:30 pm to give everyone some time to visit and settle in (reminder BYOB).
–There will also be a boxed dinner provided by the SJPA. Your food selection will be part of your registration below.
–Meeting will start about 6:15 pm
There will be a summary of the events, both social and competitive, and a synopsis of the finances for the past year.
You will have the opportunity to join or renew your SJPA Membership for 2023 and meet the new Board of Directors (checks only, no cash).
–There will be three baskets of fabulous goodies to be raffled at the meeting.
–Each member attending the meeting will receive one free raffle ticket.
–If you join or renew your SJPA membership at the Annual meeting you will receive an extra ticket!
–Each attendee must register separately.
Water will be available: BYOB
This new feature we added will make it easier for you to keep up to date.
We added a form to the upper section of the home page and at the bottom of most pages. The form is a sign up to receive notifications every time we publish a new article to the Latest Posts. Note: when you sign up you will receive an email and you must click on the link in the email to validate that it is your email address that subscribed to the service.
This way you will never miss one of the newest articles posted to the website.
Try it out. If you are getting too many emails from us you can always unsubscribe.
Picture of John Waters, President, WAVES 4 K.I.D.S., accepting a check for $763.75 from Sharen Hausmann, President, SJPA, from all the sneakers that were collected and turned into cash as a donation to WAVES 4 K.I.D.S. This was the first of two checks that we will be receiving from GotSneakers, as they are still processing the sneakers mailed to them.
2nd check given to John Waters, President, WAVES 4 K.I.D.S., for $212.50 from Sharen Hausmann, President, SJPA, along with team members Kathy Goliszek and Cynthia Mendoza. We shipped nearly 100 bags containing over 1,100 pairs of sneakers. Not only did we raise money for the SJPA donation to WAVES for K.I.D.S., but we helped our environment by keeping sneakers out of landfills through recycling and reuse. Special thanks to Diana Kelly for heading up this partnership with WAVES 4 K.I.D.S.
To allow more time to for some of the Summer Pickleball matches to wind down, I am pushing back the start date of the Fall Tournament League to November 2nd. That gives you this week to go ahead and register via the website (www.compassdraw.com/pickleball).
Here is what we have available:
Women’s 3.0 Doubles: 2 spots filled, 6 spots available
Women’s 3.5+ Doubles: 1 spot filled, 7 spots available
Men’s 3.0 Doubles: 1 spot filled, 7 spots available
Men’s 3.5 Doubles: 3 spots filled, 5 spots available
Men’s 4.0+ Doubles: 8 spots available
3.0 Mixed Doubles: 2 spots filled, 6 spots available
3.5+ Mixed Doubles: 2 spots filled, 6 spots available
We will post the initial draws on November 2nd. If we have fewer than 8 teams in a division, we can either put in a ghost team (if we have 7 real teams) or we will use a round-robin format if we have 4 – 6 teams. You only need to play one match every two weeks. To help accommodate travel schedules, we have an easy substitution policy where you can always use a sub for ONE of the team members. We also typically add a few days here or there as needed around holidays if multiple teams are impacted.
This is a great way to practice your game with your favorite partner and meet other teams from around Brunswick county. The cost is only $20 per player and we have prizes for the winners of the main bracket and consolation bracket. Everyone will get at least five matches, where each match is best 3 out of 5 games to 11.
If you are interested in playing but don’t have a partner, you can always check out the Partner Finder lists on the website (accessed via buttons located below the division listings) and either find a partner there or add your name to the list.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions or need any help registering. Thanks and see you out on the court soon!
Membership is Free!
It only takes a minute to register on the website (compassdrawpickleball.com) and it is completely free! You only pay for any specific tournaments you choose to enter.
Even if you don’t plan on playing in the upcoming tournament, you should still become a member. This will ensure you are kept informed about any new tournaments and will also let you follow the tournament to see how your friends (or rivals) are doing.
WEBSITE: COMPASSDRAW.COM/PICKLEBALL
