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.
-Jeff Franken, SJPA Event Chair