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President’s Report by Arvo Johnson
Hello Sequim Picklers, The Sequim Picklers Board of Directors met on Sunday to chart a path forward after Kendal Wake‘s resignation and the resulting Director of Court Operations (DOCO) vacancy. We are working to keep organized play rolling until we can welcome a new DOCO to the Board.
Rumors are still flying around the courts regarding the Board’s decision to limit all Sequim Picklers organized activities to members only, including Saturday Rated Play.
One rumor is that the Board has excluded all nonmembers from any organized Club play. This is simply not true. Visitors to Sequim, including family and friends from out of the area, are always welcome to participate in any Sequim Picklers’ activity. The Board’s decision had to do with nonmembers who live in the area or who travel to Sequim every week from out of the area to play, but choose not to join the Club. To repeat, our decision does NOT say vacationers and visiting friends and family cannot try their hand at Rated Play.
Our decision to limit Rated Play and other organized activities to Club members only was the result of nonmembers who regularly take advantage of member time without paying the $50 a year to join the Club. By contrast, in my 4.0 Round Robin group, two of the players travel to Sequim every week from Port Orchard and Port Townsend to participate. They thought it was worth joining Sequim Picklers for the opportunity to play in certain members-only activities and use Club balls to practice.
Of course, when Rated Play was established five years ago, there were only 140 members. Today, Club membership is approaching 400. Having nonmembers fill up organized Club activities is not fair to our new and existing members.
I am not sure what the long-term goal is of those who insist on talking badly about the Board members or other players, but if their goal is to not have a Board, a Club, tournaments, social events, and members, then they might just succeed. We need members to stand up to individuals who are trying to create mistrust and tear apart the Club. Before listening to or spreading rumors, find out the facts:
1. If you see a Board member on the courts, ask them about your concerns or what you’ve been hearing.
2. Drop the Board a Contact Us form with your question.
3. Attend a Board meeting. We always try to send out an agenda two weeks in advance of the meeting. Take a look at it and see if there are any issues you would like to know more about or speak to. We can accommodate a good number of members-at-large in our new meeting room at the KSQM-FM radio station.
4. “Attend” a Board meeting via Zoom. Although we haven’t got this Zoom thing down yet (we’re definitely still in the learning stages!), we WILL eventually figure it out and are planning to continue covering Board meetings via Zoom, which means you don’t have to leave the comfort of your home to attend.
Our membership is growing every week and our new members are excited about being part of such a great group. Volunteers, Board members and members-at-large alike, make up the heart and soul of this organization, contributing many, many hours to benefit our Club as a whole.
Whether you’re a long-time member, or new to the Club, Sequim Picklers belongs to you. Let’s not let a few individuals tear apart the Club we’ve all worked so hard to create.
Congratulations New Sequim Picklers You’re now a member of the premier pickleball club on the Olympic Peninsula. As of Thursday, September 8, our membership count was 392! (That’s a whole lotta pickling goin’ on…) We can’t wait to see you on the courts.
Pickle on!
“Wait! Where’s my super-cool Sequim Picklers Name Tag?” No worries! Your name tag has been special ordered and will arrive in about four weeks. Watch for it on the Name Tag display hanging on the Shed Door.
Welcome a-Board, Janie!
Sequim Pickler Janie Dicus has been named to the 2022/2023 Board of Directors as Interim Membership Chair through July 31, 2023, replacing Sue Felix.
Hi, my name is Janie Dicus, your new Interim Membership Chair. You will find me on the courts most days working on my game and helping out where needed. I always enjoy welcoming new members and answering questions about our organization. I feel I owe much to the Sequim Picklers and pickleball in general. I learned about the Club from Beverly Hoffman with whom I took yoga. After my husband died, I found myself alone with many hours to fill and having an outdoor exercise which was also a fun social activity fit the bill perfectly for me. I love our Club, and I am happy to join the Sequim Picklers Board!
Pickleball Rules!
Question: Are quick serves legal? Like, if we’re obviously not ready, can the server just call the score anyway and then serve?
Answer: Quick serves, i.e., serving before the opponents are ready, is illegal. Rules 4.C and 4.D say that it is the server’s responsibility (or the referee’s in a tournament) to be aware if the receivers are in position and ready for the serve BEFORE calling the score. The caveat here is that the rules also add “or should be ready,” meaning that if receivers are chatting with someone, cleaning their shoes off, or even just stretching, and it is determined that they “should be ready,” then the score may be called and the ball served.
Rule 4.D says that the score must be called — all three numbers! — clearly, and loud enough for the opposing players to hear it after the players are ready. Not calling the score, or calling only one or two numbers of the score, is NOT calling the score (Rules 4.A.1 and 4.M.11).
The 2022 Rules were changed so that now a server may start the serving motion before all three numbers are called, but must not strike the ball until after the third number has been called (e.g., my score, your score, and which server is serving, 1 or 2). In a refereed match, if you serve before the ref has called all three scores, the ball is dead and replayed. If you serve while the ref is calling the score, it is a fault (Rule 4.M.11).
Members-only Links
Pick up your toys. BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE COURTS FOR THE DAY, take a minute to look around. If other Sequim Picklers are still playing, gather up the balls you’ve been using and drop them in the bucket in the shed. If the table you’ve been using is empty, fold up the umbrella, return it to the shed, and go enjoy the rest of your day.
If you are the last Sequim Pickler to leave the courts, take five minutes to put away all balls and umbrellas, and toss any abandoned items (water bottles, sweatshirts, paddles, what-have-you) in the Lost & Found box in the shed. When the courts are neat and tidy, lock the shed and give yourself a Gold Star for a job well done.
Wear your badge. We’re always hearing from other pickleball players how cool-looking the Sequim Picklers name tags are. Yet, if you’re like most of us, you don’t think about wearing your name tag until you get to the courts and see everyone else wearing theirs. Why not store your name tag in your pickleball bag? That way, when you see other members wearing their cool Picklers name tags, you can whip yours out of your bag and snap it on. Easy-peasy.
Donated paddle use. First, thank you to all our generous members who have donated paddles to the Club. These donated paddles, stored in the shed, are only for use in Beginner’s Classes (Sundays at 3 p.m.) and Instructional Classes for Beginners (Tuesdays at 1:30 p.m.).
Whitelisting. If you’re tired of having to search your Spam, Junk, and Trash mailboxes for Sequim Picklers Updates and other Club communications, add the email address sequimpicklers@gmail.com to your Contacts list. You’ll find step-by-step instructions here.