Quote:
Originally Posted by michbird
I started playing in January and have only felt comfortable at Water Lily open play for the last month. I was there that Sunday. There are many regulars who show up for open play daily starting about 7:30. By 9:00, there are usually around 30 to 40 regulars playing. I only noticed a handful of non-regulars show up at 10:00 am, I'm assuming for beginner's open play. I'm not sure if there were even enough beginners for one court, so it appeared that some of the regulars would have to play with the beginners for them to even have a game. It was not a case of advanced players showing up for beginner's play, but advanced players not leaving when the beginner's play time slot started. Some of the guys are pretty good, so it seems you were unlucky enough to be paired with them. Water Lily has six courts and two gates. Maybe the rec center staff could hang a Beginner's Open sign on the opposite side of the courts where everyone lines up for open play. If twelve beginners showed up, then the regulars would be limited to three courts, while beginners would have three courts. There are several groups who have the 10:00 to 11:50 time slot reserved every week day. During peak snowbird season, those groups typically need all six courts, but lately, they only need one or two courts and are happy to share the other four courts with the regulars.
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It has been a long while since my wife was trying to find a beginners court that was truly only beginners. It was frustrating for her. She went to Mulberry where they have 3 pods. The rec center staff actually came out to the designated pod and announced that that pod was for beginners only and all others please leave. Kudos to that rec center. Would be nice if they all did that but I know they don't and most won't.
I agree with you that there is no reason the courts can't be shared if the demand is small. However, the "regulars" usually end their time in open play at 10. Anything after that requires a designated time slot in some group name or willingness to give way to whoever does.