GROWING
YOUR
CLUB
BY AJ FRATIES
This short (but regular) column may help
you grow your pickleball club. Here we share
what we’ve learned from participating in the
ground-up development of successful clubs
like the Bend Pickleball Club in Oregon and
from having helped other clubs, like Palm
Creek, featured in this issue, to grow to what
they are today.
We start with asking whether we really
need a club. There are pros and cons, with
some of the positives including:
• Helping to increase your community’s
pickleball players.
• Arranging places to play.
• Collecting dues for balls, misc. other needs.
• Raising money to build courts.
• Buying liability insurance (to obtain a
certificate of liability).
• Organizing play and rating players.
• Delegation of responsibilities.
• Easy way to interface with USAPA
Ambassadors.
We’ll talk more about those separate issues
at other times. For now, first question –
how are clubs designed? Traditionally (not
always), sports clubs are hierarchical, with
one person “in charge” and being the formal
club “voice” and with others “below” her.
Think President and Board of Directors.
Well-organized clubs give each “board
member” a specific and defined job to do, not
just a title. Even a “Director at Large” can
still be assigned a specific role – intra-club
communications, court utilization, medical
team, or even tournament director.
Does a pickleball club need a legal
structure, too? Certainly there are options,
but in the U.S., if money is collected, you
should file a tax report, and a good structure
is the “Not-for-Profit Social Club” aka a
501(c)(7) club. This can keep taxes down
(but not always out, LOL!). Very occasionally
clubs go with a 501(c)(3) structure instead,
generally to assure donors they can
make tax‑deductible contributions. State
requirements exist and vary.
Whew...want to say lots more but can’t.
In our next column we’ll begin to talk about
funding your new courts! Game on! •
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HELPING PICKLEBALL CLUBS AND PLAYERS
EVERYWHERE TO GROW THE SPORT!
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We just love it when we can view in person the awesome play of another new
wave of athletic, talented players who have entered the pickleball arena. And with
so many tournaments throughout the world to choose from, fantastic players of
all ages are taking pickleball to a new level. Junior players traveled to the recent
2015 Nationals from Florida, California and Tennessee, to name a few. Even the
age 80+ events had a couple dozen entrants. Fantastic!
Tournaments are always such a whirlwind of fun action-packed days. We
personally were going for our 5th year in a row winning Gold in Women’s Open
Doubles at Nationals – but it was not our day and we finished the tournament
in 4th place. Several lessons, both mental and physical, were learned at
that tournament which will be shared in future columns. But to experience
competition, either as a player or spectator, is something we recommend to
everyone – try it, do it, conquer it – all are priceless. The beauty of competition
is that once you have done it, no one can ever take away the memories of your
personal accomplishments which stay forever in your heart (and maybe hang in
your home!).
View pickleball only in person, you say? Well, no! For the first time ever in
pickleball history, Nationals VII offered live streaming, with multiple camera
angles and live commentating, taking pickleball again to a new level. On just the
first day of live streaming there were 60+ countries tuned in and over 350,000
viewers. What awesome numbers!
Another exciting first for our sport
Jennifer Lucore and
is this inaugural issue of Pickleball
Alex Hamner started
Magazine. Congratulations to USAPA
playing pickleball in 2010,
and have competed in
and Dollard Publishing for making it
numerous tournaments
happen. We look forward to the next
in the USA as well as
50 years of tremendous pickleball
Jennifer competing
internationally. Between
growth and future issues of Pickleball
them they have 21
Magazine.
National titles, but they
are perhaps best known
Thanks for reading, and now –
for winning the Gold
GO PLAY!
Medal in Women’s Doubles at Nationals for four
With fun and laughter,
consecutive years (2011-2014). They live with their
respective families in North San Diego County.
Jennifer and Alex
Smart Pickleball: The Pickleball Guru’s
Guide was released in November 2014 by
internationally renowned pickleball coach
Prem Carnot. Available in paperback, ebook,
and audiobook formats through Amazon.
com, thousands of players of all ages and
abilities are already applying the practical
strategies contained in this book to play
better and win more.
“The beauty of pickleball is that a player
new to the game can usually become the
best on the court in a matter of weeks if you
have a basic physical ability and the right