Here it is already the middle of December! Time flies when you’re having fun!
Boys & Girls Club Play: There are now 18 sessions up and running at Boys & Girls Club! Players are now allowed to sign up for 3 sessions in the coming 6 days. To check and see if you are allowed to sign up for a session:
- Log in to SignUp Genius.
- Click on My Account in the upper right corner of the page
- Look under “Items I’ve Signed Up For” for a list of your current sign ups.
- If you have less than 3 signups, you’re good to go.
- You may have one extra sign up for an open session on the day of play.
The SUG Administrator checks the list daily to ensure compliance with sign up rules. Please don’t sign up for extra sessions just because someone else has, as this only creates more work for the administrator and causes havoc on the page.
Player rotation: Earlier this month an experiment was done to evaluate a different rotation scheme. The idea is to balance the available playing time among all players. Under the existing system, winners would stay in for two rounds, and losers for 1. The experimental rotation had all players staying in for two rounds. While the experiment did cause some confusion (for which we apologize profusely,) it seemed to be preferred by most players. For that reason, Sherie and David have adopted the rotation plan for all sessions. Effective immediately, here it is:
For the first round in the session (all three courts): Winners stay in after the first game, and the losers go out. Losers in the very first round only play one game.
All subsequent games: All players stay in for two successive games, win or lose.
After every game, two people will be leaving the court, and it will be the two people who have just played two games. The two that are left on the court will split up if they just played together, or pair up if they were split. If there are 17 players in the session, the same two people will not be going back in to the same game. If the lead or someone sees that happening they should tweak the rotation a bit so that players get mixed and don’t get in a rotation with the same person all of the time. The objective is to get each player as much play time as possible and with different partners and opponents.
Players should not be allowed to cherry pick partners or games. When they are up, they go in. We are counting on the cooperation of all players to keep things running smoothly.
Player Etiquette: Two areas that need some attention are loose balls and player changes. A little consideration by all players in these areas will go a long way toward speeding up play and reducing aggravation.
Loose balls on the courts: This affects all courts and tends to stop play in all courts. To speed things up, when you see a loose ball, please pick it up and make an effort to throw or hit it back to the correct court. Simply kicking or sweeping the ball away from your court slows everything down.
Player changes at the end of a game: HUSTLE! If you’re waiting to go in, you should know your place in the order and be ready to go when more players are called for. When you go in, wait for play to stop in a court before you cross the court. Move quickly on and off the courts. Play is usually stopped in the first court while changes are made and players who dawdle or chat or stroll casually on and off are slowing play in other courts.
Pine Nursery Park: Brian Firebaugh reports that you have missed out on some pretty good days for outdoor play at PNP! If you’re interested in outdoor play, please use the SUG for outdoor play and let people know you will be there! That will help more people to show up for play. A link to the SUG is on the BPC website, under the PLAY tab in the PNP section.
Upcoming tournaments: The Oregon Senior Games Tournament (June) is open for early bird signups. The Big Country RV Bend Pickleball Tournament (August) will open on January 1. Start corralling your partners and get signed up! Links to both tournaments are on the BPC website under the TOURNAMENTS tab.
Tournament Winners: The Timberhill Winter Blast Tournament was held in Corvallis from December 5-7. Many Bend Pickleball Club members made the trek to compete. Congratulations to Rochelle Neal and Shannon Morton for their Silver Medal win in 3.5 Women’s Doubles, and to Kim and Ron Bessling for their Bronze Medal win in 3.5 Mixed Doubles!
New members: We would like to extend a warm welcome to the following new members who have joined us since November 22: Hank Failing, Patti Bates, Ron and Holly Myers, and Patty Pachtman. Thanks for becoming an important part of Bend Pickleball Club!
Have a safe and joyous holiday, however and wherever you plan to enjoy it! We look forward to seeing you all again soon!
