Good morning LPPC Picklers,

Well, it’s been a full week of our official new court schedule and I thought I would offer some thoughts and ideas.

First- Many thanks to those of you who contributed to our ‘court fund’ this past week. We raised over $1000 to help us keep working on the projects to beautify the courts and get us ready for the Frontier Days tournament. It is great to see people step up and help out when they can! THANK YOU!!!

Second- We’ve had many folks donate/buy/make things to help us operate the courts better. Matt B. made those cool paddle holders for each of the courts. He’s also working on permanent wood benches and picnic tables. Suzanne C. and Vince L. donated those 3 benches you now see along the courts for you to sit on while waiting for the next game. Ruth N. and her husband ‘permanently loaned’ a Stihl gas blower after getting it fixed up for us. Lolita M. and Bill W. donated some chairs. And I’m sure I’ve missed other things, but please know that we are all grateful for the help. If you think of something you have that might be nice for us to have at the courts, let us know about it and we’ll let you know if we can utilize it.

Third- Balls: We started playing on these courts a little over a week ago and have gone through pretty much our starting supply of balls. The problem is, as many of you are aware, the cold mornings in central Oregon. They are hard on certain balls like the Dura Fast 40. However, once the day gets going, these become a nice ball to play with. But we can’t afford to go through balls that fast. So we are going to try a different ball that might be better for us, and is cheaper. The Engage Tour ball is a good compromise that’s a little more durable, but still feels competitive. Many of you play with Franklin and that could be a good choice going forward as well. However, the Franklin tends to get out-of-round faster than others. It’s not a perfect scenario any way you look at it, but we’ll keep trying…

Fourth- The Schedule: We’ve noticed a few things. The rec players are not showing up for their play times as much as we had hoped. Captains are missing in a few spots. There is a mixing of levels of players throughout the day. And what to do with walk-in public? Just yesterday we had a couple come through and of course, were looking for a game. Being the nice folks we are, they were allowed to rotate in with the SUG group. All of these things will need to be addressed in time, but I’m excited that we are having some of these problems. It means there is interest and word is getting out. Just this week, I think we’ve added 10 or so new or returning members to our roster.

We are meeting as a board tomorrow to go over some of these things and will keep working on them. Please understand there is no perfect answer. And throw in COVID-19 protocols and it’s even more challenging.

I know I said I wouldn’t do this, but for this blog I’m going to turn on the comments. I don’t want this to be a gripe session. But if you have a POSITIVE suggestion or idea about the courts, please leave a note here. We are always open to other ideas and who better to pick the brains of then our playing members. Keep in mind your comments will be viewed by the entire world here, so write with that in mind.

Thanks again for all of you chipping in and helping out! We have a great group out here and now we have great courts to play on!

Oh, one last thing- There is a new publication called ‘Central Oregon Pickleball’ that will debut in September. The owner of the magazine came out and took some pictures a few days ago and will showcase our courts in an article in the magazine. Pretty cool, huh?

Jim Price

President, LPPC