Pickleball Courts

[hunt9791]

I have spoken with a number of Pickleball players at Odell and Colony who are offended at being kicked off the courts at 10AM when private clubs come on. These clubs are closed to membership and some of the club participants are rather rude in telling players to vacate the courts. I have heard the CDD will limit private club functions at prime time in the near future! Does anyone have any details? I have also noticed Pickleball courts north of 466 are not similarly scheduled. They have league play, but few private clubs.

[Russ_Boston]

Hunt - Who are the private clubs? Are you referring to the leagues and beg/structured play and neighborhood groups who reserve the time? I don't understand why they feel offended. These schedules are well publicized in the rec news every month:

http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/content/current/sections/actsched.pdf

It still looks like there are plenty of open times. It's not just Colony and Odell that have the reserved times. It looks like many of the 'northern' courts have reserved time as well.

I think you need these structured leagues and clubs to keep interest alive. Having all open courts would not work. Have you tried to get into any of these leagues/groups? Maybe hang on the waiting list for awhile? Or serve as an alternate in the beginning. I've run many golf leagues and we always try to maintain a alternate/sub list as a means of keeping the numbers up. I would love it when alternates could fill in and then eventually become a permanent member of the league.

Just my view/opinion from afar.

[dadspet]

The leagues and lessons/Structured play come on at 10. Almost everyone knows that (its posted also by the courts) and prepares to leave by then if they started early. Private Clubs ?? must be something like neighbor hood leagues or social groups that again are well posted so everyone know or should know when they come on. Even in winter there are plenty of courts for everyone as long as you play attention to the well posted schedules. I would sure hope, and would doubt, there wasn't any attenpt to limit organized play.

I would agree, who the groups are and how to join them could be published better to give others a chance to join if they fit in.

[foxmeadow]

The private clubs are ones like "The Pickleball Queens", "The Good Time Picklers", etc. Many times these "private" clubs have reserved court time and then do not even show up. I understand some restrictions will soon apply to how often and when they can reserve courts. There seems to be another problem in diminishing open play time. The folks who instruct beginner play has now decided to begin lessons at 9A.M. instead of the normal 10A.M. time frame. It has always been my understanding that open play on every court was until 10. It's great to have the places for beginners to go, but we, as experienced players, need to be assured of our play time also. Maybe we should all be addressing these issues with the so-called PAC (Pickleball Advisory Committee).

[iaudit]

The private clubs are ones like "The Pickleball Queens", "The Good Time Picklers", etc. Many times these "private" clubs have reserved court time and then do not even show up. I understand some restrictions will soon apply to how often and when they can reserve courts. There seems to be another problem in diminishing open play time. The folks who instruct beginner play has now decided to begin lessons at 9A.M. instead of the normal 10A.M. time frame. It has always been my understanding that open play on every court was until 10. It's great to have the places for beginners to go, but we, as experienced players, need to be assured of our play time also. Maybe we should all be addressing these issues with the so-called PAC (Pickleball Advisory Committee).

I am an experienced golfer, however, I am not assured of my tee time unless I am willing to golf when an opening is available.

[foxmeadow]

TO IAUDIT......I'm not sure of the comparison you make regarding golf times and "Open Court" times, but the fact is, TV's has always had a rule that ALL courts are OPEN PLAY from 7AM to 10AM every day. It's my understanding this is done to assure EVERYONE an opportunity to play without enrolling in a structured setting. Now as for your GOLF.......I think you were the person I saw playing his ball from the center island on Buena Vista. Naw, just kidding!

:agree:

[Russ_Boston]

TO IAUDIT......I'm not sure of the comparison you make regarding golf times and "Open Court" times, but the fact is, TV's has always had a rule that ALL courts are OPEN PLAY from 7AM to 10AM every day. It's my understanding this is done to assure EVERYONE an opportunity to play without enrolling in a structured setting. Now as for your GOLF.......I think you were the person I saw playing his ball from the center island on Buena Vista. Naw, just kidding!

:agree:

Sounds like a reasonable ruling to me.

[jeffy]

Yes, there are "private groups" like the PBQs that are able to reserve courts at 10:00 and later. These private groups are villagers. The PAC and the Rec dept are trying to start restricting the number of days that each of these groups can get the reservations. However then these groups come to the rec dept and say "Look it is 10:00 and no one is out on the courts right now, why cant we reserve the courts for our group?" It is hard to please everyone, but I can assure you that the rec dept really does try and please people. I sit on the PAC committee and Pam Henry is at most of our meetings. This is how I know that the rec dept tries their best to keep the villagers happy.

The beginner lesson program is just now starting into the summer season, so yes the beginner programs are now running from 9:00 to 10:30 instead of 10:00 to 11:30. This is because it is now getting hotter earlier, and daylight earlier. Hence open play can also start earlier. We will go back to the regular schedule after the summer heat.

jeffy

[champion6]

Thanks for that explanation.

[gongoozler]

The problem is there needs to be more pickleball courts . . . between route 42 and 466 on the west side of Buena Vista there is not a single pickleball court! On the East side of Buena Vista there are only 8 courts at Mulberry and 6 at Saddlebrook to service all the communities in this part of The Villages (El Santiago is the next closest set of courts to this area). So 14 courts service all of the residents in Marion county (Chatham, Calumet, Mulberry, Springdale, Woodbridge, Piedmont), Bell Air, Summerhill, Harmswood, Glenview, Glenbrook, the Cottages.