Sunday news from Kate

Hi all,

Wheew!!!  I’m still overwhelmed by the news that the park is, this week, going to start working on the conversion of all of the pickle ball courts at the tennis center to tennis courts.  Once the nets on the pickle ball courts come down I would like to hang the Palm Creek tennis club banner across the entrance to the walkway.  The courts are going to be renumbered so that one to four is on one side and five to eight is on the other side.  Once the new courts open Mark and I will be revising the schedule on ReserveMyCourt.com.   We still have a couple of weeks before these changes take place.  As many of you may have noticed we have not updated the white board beside the current court #1.  This is because whatever we did would have to be redone with the new court numbering.   We promise we will have the organized play and the permanent court times posted on the white board as soon as the new court numbering take effect.   For those of you not currently in the park, you can watch the progress on Sue Helpler’s website www.PalmCreekUpdate.blogspot.com.  Sue and Don Hepler did an excellent job on sharing photo and videos on all the projects in the park.  I am sure they will do a great job keeping us updated on the progress of our new tennis courts.

Windscreens

Yes, its that time again.  Walt has just arrived at the park and we are ready for the installation of the windscreens.  If you can come out to help it would be great and if you have a ladder, bring it out.  We are going to install the windscreens on the 5 existing tennis courts on Saturday December 1^st starting at 11:30 AM.  Your help is always appreciated!!! 

Holiday Celebration

I have attached an email (scroll down it is at the end of my email) I received from Gwen and Wayne Black.  If only I could package their enthusiasm I would be rich!!  I know that many of us leave the park in December to visit our grandchildren for the holidays.  But, our new courts are projected to be ready on December 10^th.   I’m thinking maybe we should do a celebration on Saturday, December 15^th.  Yes, I know that some of you will have already left the park, but I think we will have enough players here to have a great event.  This is not the “grand opening” as I want to do a special event in January, when many of our tennis players arrive, to formally open the courts.  However, in considering a Holiday Celebration, I think you understand, I cannot take on anymore projects.  So, is anyone interested in hosting a “Celebrate the Holidays” tennis event?  Gwen and Wayne hosted our November Welcome Home Tennis Party, the Arkansas Crew is hosting a January party.  Is there anyone or group willing to step up to host this?  I loved Gwen’s enthusiasm and I did not make any changes or edits to her email as I think she has some great ideas.  Waiting for a volunteer.

Desert Cactus League

The people managing this league have finally come to the realization that in this area, Palm Creek is where the greatest number of tennis players reside.  So, the day of the week for Ladies, which was Mondays and Mens which was Tuesdays are now under reconsideration.  I think it is going to be a fantastic opportunity for everyone.  It will give our new 2.5 players some opportunity to get out and play some games and it will give our higher level players some additional competition.  Orly, one of the people managing this,  is back to the drawing board on the schedule and I will get back to you as soon as I hear from her.

Lost and Found

I received a call from Ann Lykens in Activities that, an I-pod was found on the tennis courts and turned into activities.  It has already been claimed but thanks to the finder for taking care to get it to the Activities lost and found right away.  Remember, if you find something on the tennis courts please take it down to the Activities lost and found.

People

-Many of you have asked me about Susan and Rick.  I got the following email from Susan Manganaro and Rick Jaccarino.  “We sold our motorhome and bought a house in Trilogy (NW Phoenix).  I often think of everyone at Palm Creek and hope everyone is well.”  Maybe they will come down to Palm Creek for our Grand Opening of the new tennis courts – we can hope!!

-Glenn Arnold broke a rib!!  Yup, he was riding his bike, chatting with Rita Yates and before he knew it, he fell off his bike.  Glenn will be missed on the tennis courts until he heals!!  Helen is dealing with a sore foot so now they can keep each other company.  Wishes from the tennis club for a speedy recovery to both Helen and Glenn.

Its an exciting time for Palm Creek Tennis,

See you on the courts,

Kate

Here’s Gwen and Wayne’s wonderful note:

Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 12:59 PM
To: Mark Costello & Kate Perrie
Subject: RE: Palm Creek Tennis Club - One more thing to be thankful for

Dear Kate,  and all players,  past, present and future,

It's impossible not to be grateful this Thanksgiving for the stoke of luck which brought Kate and Mark to Palm Creek.  Like many before them they've work tirelessly to bring about a cohesive attitude whereby we are known for our friendly welcoming of new players to the courts and indeed the Park.   

Like Phoenix rising from the ashes Palm Creek Tennis has the opportunity now to grow into something of which all of us can be proud.   Since reading Kate's happy messages at the courts and online,  my mind's been going like a pin wheel trying to come up with ideas that will prove we are deserving of this investment by the Park to return our three courts to us.

My first brainstorm after Social Tennis this morning was to ask Sandy Murray and Jalene Carter what sort of things were done in their Mesa park to encourage new players.  They have a great one in the form of an Open House play/party/fund-raiser at the courts.

For myself,  I'm thinking a fun Saturday or Sunday lunch gathering to celebrate Christmas in the form of a tree which we'll decorate with the most colorful, imaginative, tacky or beautiful, tennis-looking ornaments we can come up with.   We could get strings of colored lights for the palm trees down the passageway between the courts too.    We could fill all the courts with best of three games,  then move and switch clockwise.      Or it could be a giant round robin.    

Next I'm thinking big bright banner for across the end of the courts as you start down the row.    I would like to offer a design challenge to the ladies of Palm Creek Tennis,   for submission by Dec 10.      Please submit on an 81/2 by 14 sheet of paper.    All suggestions for where this banner could be made are gratefully accepted.    My money's where my mouth is if any other gal would like to join me in this endeavour.

Do we have senior players who would be willing to give one hour a week to work one-on-one with a new players or folks who haven't worked up the courage to return to a sport they played years ago?      Could we do a mailer to all sites through our own Post Office?  

Lastly,  I want to say thanks to all the folks who started tennis in Palm Creek.   Using ladies like Marg. Wildman and Bonnie Morgan,  and gentlemen Bob McConnell and Bill Howisey as sterling examples,  we want to thank those men and women who welcomed and encouraged us to keep trying when we were new.   As I reflect back,  there are so many and while I'd like to start a list,  I know I'd miss someone.

Sincerely,

Wayne and Gwen Black 

Weekly News - November 18

A big thank you to Gwen and Wayne Black for hosting the “Welcome Back Happy Hour” we had today.  It was wonderful to have all of our courts full of tennis players followed by quite the crowd in the tennis pavilion  to share an amazing spread.  Great job everyone.  And a big thanks to Gwen and Wayne for stepping up to take on a tennis club social event!!  You guys are just a wonderful tennis club members and we are so thankful to have you as part of our group!

A reminder of some changes in the scheduled play:

·         Couples Open will be played on Sundays from 1- 2:30 from now on.  Please sign up on the sheet on the tennis club bulletin board

·         Wednesday Evening Tennis – Yes, it is back to Wednesday evening starting at 6:30 pm.  Sign up sheet is on the bulletin board.

Desert Cactus League

Kate went to a meeting on this last Saturday and here are some of the details:

·         They are trying to get two courts at all levels.  All players on both courts will be of the same level.

·         The Women play on Mondays at 2pm, Men on Tuesdays at 2pm (this is a change in their schedule) and Mixed on Saturdays at 2pm.  They will then take a one week break and start the next session, but most of us in Palm Creek will not be here for that session.

·         This session will go for 7, possibly 8 weeks.

·         Regular tennis scoring and play out all ads.  Third set will be a 10 point tie breaker – 1^st to 10 winning and 2 points ahead.  Tie breaker counts as one game for team scoring

·         Team Scoring –

o   If you win in two sets the winning team will get 14 points and the losing team will get a point for every game they won in the two sets up to 8 points

o   If you win in three sets the winning team gets 12 points and the losing team will get a point for every game they won in the three sets up to 8 points.

·         They know of our conflicts on the dates of the Palm Creek Tournament and the Cancer Awareness tournament and they will schedule a flex match on another date.

·         They are also going to add a night league that you can sign up for.  This will have play on Thursdays at 6:30 pm.  You will only need 3 people on a team as one group will play doubles and one person will play singles. 

·         I will get the names of all of the players when play is scheduled at Palm Creek and get passes for the outsiders to get into the park.

·         As they changed Men’s play to Tuesday and we have tennis lessons on Tuesday at 2pm , and we probably will not have the additional courts ready at the beginning of this session, we will not be able to host play.  Tuesdays will be played at Robson Ranch.  Men’s League plays from 11 – 1 on Tuesday so if you are really energized you can play in both.

·         I have Roster Forms if you would like to fill one out for a team and send it in.  Or you can go online https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?llr=jciwg5bab&oeidk=a07e6j9v2vhd9404f73&oseq= and register online.

·         The fee to register in each session is $15 per player.

·         If you have any questions, feel free to call me or call Orly Mayron 561-212-1641 or you can email Orly at:  orly@palmtennis.com

·         If you don’t have a team you can sign up as an individual and Orly will match you with 3-5 other players to form a team.  She will try to get as many Palm Creek players on the same team as possible.  I am going to sign up as an individual as the ladies at my level will be playing in the ladies league.  I have a schedule conflict at 11AM so I am going to try this out

Lost and Found

If you find anything on the courts, please take it to the Activities Department to put in their lost and found.  Please try and check the courts before you leave so you don’t leave anything behind.  Someone left a white shirt and a glove at Saturday’s round robin.  You can collect them at the Activities Department lost and found.  Also, Gwen noticed we have quite a few pieces that were left at happy hour last year.   We will set them out at the next happy hour.

Water at the courts

Pickle ball is not playing at the tennis center and therefore not filling the water containers.  In order to have the water containers filled we would have to get someone certified in a class and they would have to take on the responsibility to fill the containers up to twice a day.   As this is a lot to ask anyone we are going to have the water container removed.  Tennis players are very good about bringing a water bottle to the courts.  If you run out of water there is a water fountain at the tennis shed that provides cooled filtered water.

Sympathy Card

Marion Gavin, Site 1708, has a sympathy card from the tennis club to send to Jack Hardy on the loss of his lovely wife, Lois.  If you would like to add a personal message to the card, please let Marion know.  We are sending a check to the B.C. Cancer fund as this was the request in lieu of flowers.  If you would like to contribute to this donation, please let Marion know.  You can call her at 7708 or email her at jabluefins@yahoo.com.

Permanent Court Time

You can sign up to reserve a court  up to one week in advance by going to www.reservemycourt.com.  If you have any questions on how to register to use this website, please let me know.  However, only Mark or I can reserve permanent court time.  If you would like to reserve permanent court time, let us know and we will take care of it for you.

See you on the courts,

Kate

Welcome Home Social

There was plenty of bright sunshine welcoming our tennis club members as they gathered for the first social activity of the season.  Members filled all five courts for some friendly play and then gathered at the pavilion to share snacks and drinks as they critiqued each others games and shared stories of their summer adventures.  A good time was had by all!

A mid-week update from President Kate

Hi all,

Happy Hour – Sunday, November 18^th 4pm – all are welcome

Just want to remind everyone that this Sunday, November 18^th we are having a happy hour to welcome everyone back to Palm Creek.  This event is open to all tennis players and spouses.  So please,come on out and join in the fun.  Or, if you have lots on your schedule, just stop by so you can say hello!  This event is open to members and non-members.  Just BYOB, grab a snack or an appetizer to share if you can and join us at 4:00pm in the tennis pavilion.  If you would like to play some tennis, there will be tennis play from 2-3:30.  No need to sign up just show up.  I hope to see you there.

Tennis Stringer

Mike Murray is in the park at site 1488 and he strings tennis racquets.  Mark just had two of his racquets restrung by Mike.   It only takes him about an hour to get your racquet done so you can drop it off and pick it up the same day!!!  And, the total cost for most stringing is only $20.  The basic rule of thumb is the number of time to get your tennis racquet restrung in a year should be equal to   the number of time you play tennis in a week.  So, don’t wait, give Mike a call at 7488 and schedule a date to get your racquet(s) restrung.

Status on the three new tennis courts

Wayne Black, Bob Gibson, and John Blessen met with Wendell to provide additional support for the tennis clubs needs for the additional three courts.  Their presentation was very well received by Wendell.  He appreciated their support of the tennis club and the opportunity to hear from this group.  It gave Wendell assurance that the feelings of the membership of the tennis club is in line with what he has been hearing from me.  Bottom line result of the discussion is that: 1) the pickleball nets will be removed by the Palm Creek Maintenance Crew – date not specified. 2) The tennis club will be getting back the three tennis courts  3) The conversion date is dependent on budget availability.  If Wendell can find the monies the conversion will take place in December.  If not, as their fiscal year ends on December 31^st, he will put the conversion into the 2013 budget and the conversion will take place in January.  In addition to the conversion of the pickleball courts to tennis courts, Wendell is hoping the vendor doing the conversion will also make some repairs to the cracks in the existing courts.   A special thank you to Wayne, Bob and John for taking the time to work on this for us!!

Hope to see you on Sunday,

Kate

President's Weekly Update

Hi all,

People Update:

On behalf of the entire tennis club we send our heartfelt condolences to Jack Hardy on the passing of his lovely wife Lois.  If you would like Jack’s email address, please let me know and I will send it to you.  Jack’s mailing address is:

525 Montroyal Place

North Vancouver, B.C.

V7N 3E5    Canada

Lois’s Obituary

It is with great sorrow we announce the passing of beloved wife, mother, grandmother and friend to many,  C. Lois Hardy on November 10, 2012 after a brief battle with cancer.

Lois was born on a farm near Donavon, Saskatchewan, on January 11, 1930 and settled in North Vancouver in 1957 with her husband Jack. They met in Hamilton, Ontario in 1953 while she was training as a dietician after completing her degree in Home Economics. She worked as a dietician until giving birth to her son, Jim and daughter, Dana and then dedicated her life to being a full time mom to her children and a partner to Jack in his retirement.

Lois and Jack have been blessed with many great friends and Lois loved entertaining them at home with her excellent cooking skills. She enjoyed curling, skiing, golf, tennis and traveling, and later in life took up painting. In the last 25 years, since Jack’s retirement, they spent winters in Arizona, escaping the rains of Vancouver.

Lois is predeceased by her brothers Willard and Gerald and will be lovingly remembered by her husband Jack, son Jim (Deb), daughter Dana (Mike), granddaughters Ellen and Alexa, brother Arnold, sisters in law Joyce and Loretta and numerous other extended family and friends.

There will be a celebration of life in the Jim Graham Lounge at The North Shore Winter Club, 1325 E. Keith Road, North Vancouver on Saturday, November 17, 2012 at 2:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the BC Cancer Foundation would be welcomed.

The Palm Creek tennis season is starting to  kick into gear:

Organized Play

-Thursday evening tennis (it used to be Wednesday evening but was changed because there were lots of conflicts on Wednesday evenings) begins on 11/15 at 6:30 pm.  Bob and Jean McConnell x 7066 and Larry Marik x7647 are the co chairs for this The sign up sheet is posted on the bulletin board.

-Men’s Intermediate will start on Friday, 11/16 at 11 AM.  Sign up sheet is posted.  Original sign up sheet was in error showing a Thursday start but this organized play is scheduled for Fridays . Bob McConnell x 7066 chairs this organized play

-Couples Open starts on 11/18.  Gwen and Wayne Black  x 6917chair this organized play.  This week’s play 11/18  will be from 2-3:30 followed by a “byob/bring a snack” happy hour.  After this week the Sunday Couples Open will move to a 1-2:30 time slot.  As Gwen so aptly put it “You don’t need a marriage license to play.”  So find a partner and sign up!

Court Captain Badges

I just received the court captain badges.  This year they did not put a year on the badge so we can use them from year to year.  If you are in the area of site #459, please stop by and pick it up.  I will make every effort to get them to you or get them to someone who will be seeing you on the courts.  Please wear your court captain badge when you are in charge of an organized play activity.  And, it would be helpful if you wore them when you are on the tennis courts so if someone has a question, they can quickly identify you as someone who can help them.  Thanks.  I have also ordered court captain badges for all the volunteer positions.   Thanks to all of our volunteers – you make this club the great group that it is!

CPR

Sieny Kouwenhoven and Brian Younge are going to represent the tennis club at the CPR training.    I am sure there will be more  CPR classes offered so I will be looking for more volunteers as spots open up.  It is a huge benefit to everyone to have more people who have been trained on the new equipment down at the tennis courts.  Last year someone collapsed on the pickleball courts and luckily they had someone who was very knowledgable on the courts to help.

Evening Entertainment Chair Set- Up

A big thank you to Ken Swanson who has volunteered to head up this project.  It is only five nights later in the season ( from 2/22 – 3/17).  It helps the tennis club because we get paid for doing it, and it helps the park because it would cost them a lot more to pay their employees to do it.  I have received emails from members of our Arkansas contingent in their willingness to help out as well.  The more people we get to help out the faster we get it done.  I will let you know when we need help for this in the weekly email message for that week. 

Volunteer needed

Sorry to be going back to the well once again.  This year, we created a volunteer position to manage the inventory of paper plates, napkins, cups, plastic cutlery, etc. in the social bin.  Carol Miller volunteered.  But her arrival has been delayed.   This is not a large time consuming job so my hope is that someone will step up and take care of this for us.  Our tennis club is run entirely by volunteers.  Here is your chance to join in the volunteer base that makes our club so great.

Desert Cactus League

Registration is now open.  But, you need to register by December 14^th is you are going to play in this league.  If you have a 4-6 players then you can register as a team.  If you don’t, then you can register and they will try and put you with other Palm Creek tennis players to form a team.  If there are not enough Palm Creek tennis players then they will put you on a team with players from the other venues.  This league will rotate play between Palm Creek, Robson and Mission so your matches will rotate from week to week.  I will have more info on this league in the next weekly update.

Court Maintenance

Glenn Arnold has been working at getting our courts cleaned up but it is not an easy job.  If you can help, please contact Glenn x6865.  We will wait until Walt Krahl arrives the end of November to get the windscreens put in place.

Pickle ball

The new pickle ball courts will officially open on Thursday November 15^th.  This should greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the pickle ball play at the tennis center.  I have not received a date yet as to when the conversion of these courts to tennis courts will take place.  I will let you know as soon as I hear

See you on the courts,

Kate

Schedule changes and volunteers needed

Saturday Round Robin – starting 11/10  9:30-11:00

The Saturday round robin starts this Saturday and the sign up sheet is on the bulletin board.  You are assigned a partner and a competing team and then for the next round you are assigned a new partner and new set of competitors.  Saturday round robin is open to all levels and is a lot of fun.  Sign up and try it out – I am sure you will have a lot of fun.

Evening Round Robin – new date Thursday 6:30PM -8:00PM

The evening round robin has been moved from Wednesday Evenings to Thursday Evenings.  This organized play begins on Thursday, November 15^th.  The sign up sheet will be on the board soon, so keep an eye out!

Chair Set Up – Evening entertainment

I need a volunteer to chair the 5 entertainment event set ups.  This is a little easier than the bingo take down as you don’t have to deal with any tables – just setting up chairs.  The schedule for the events we are responsible for are: Friday, 2/22 noon, Sunday, 3/3 -3pm, Wednesday, 3/6- 3pm, Wednesday, 3/13 – 3pm, Sunday, 3/17-3pm.   I will help this volunteer  by sending out a request for volunteers in my weekly update letter the week before you need the help.  This person will be the one who coordinates with Activities on how to set up the chairs and direct the volunteers.  PLEASE GIVE THIS SOME CONSIDERATION – OUR TENNIS CLUB IS ONLY AS GOOD AS LONG AS OUR MEMBERS GET INVOLVED!!!

Just a short update,

Kate

Weekly Update November 4, 2012

Tennis is set to get started this week with :

-          Social Tennis(offered Monday thru Friday) starting Monday, November 5  at 9:30 AM.  We are asking Non-Members to sign in so we can capture their information.  There is a clip board in the social tennis ball bin with the clip board, pencils and the sign up sheets.

-          Ball Machine 101 (offered every Monday) starting Monday November 5^th at 2pm

-          Men’s League starts on Tuesday, November 6^th.  Sign up sheet is posted on the bulletin board

Couples Open is scheduled to start on November 18^th.    The first week play will be from 2pm – 3:30 followed by a Happy hour.  The following Sundays will move to play from 1-2:30.  As Gwen said on her sign up sheet, “You don’t need a marriage license to play.” 

Palm Creek is turning over 12 new pickleball courts to the Pickleball club on Monday November 5^th.  The grand opening for the new pickleball center is now scheduled for mid November.

The water fountain by the tennis shed has had a thorough cleaning and is clean, filtered water.

CPR

There are 2 slots available for volunteers from tennis who spend lots of time at the courts that would like to be trained in CPR.  Class is Wednesday Nov 14 from 9am - 3 pm in Sonora North.  Wayne Black attended last year and found it to be a very helpful class.  It would be great if would could get two people to volunteer as we have new machines down there (machine that will talk you through procedure). We want to make sure there are people around who know how to use these in case the need occurs.  I need to let activities know by November 8^th so please get back to me ASAP as I need to get the names back by Thursday.

Contact info

It was brought to my attention last week that a call was made to Ann Lykens in Activities because maintenance cleaned one of our courts and as a result had some mud placed on another court.  This was because the maintenance crew did not finish the job before their workday ended.  They did continue working on it the next day.  The courts are much better, but still need some more work.    The bigger issue is, if you have a concern about the tennis courts or anything related to the tennis club, please contact me (520-876-6459 or just 6459 from within the park).  If Activities had to take every call from softball, lawn bowling, shuffleboard, pickleball, etc.  they would be overwhelmed.

Reservemycourt.com

We will once again be using Reservemycourt.com for all court reservations.  Mark and I are in the process of updating the calendar for all of our planned activities.  Also, if you would like to schedule permanent court time, please give us a call.  As we still only have 5 courts, permanent court time will be available from 11AM forward when there is no organized play scheduled on the courts.  If you would like us to wipe out your registration information because you can’t remember you id and password, please let us know.  Then you can reregister.

Desert Cactus Tennis League

I have heard from a few of you who are interested in playing in the Desert Cactus Tennis League.  But, I have not heard from enough to make up a team.  If you want to play in the league and don’t have a team, they will match people to create a team.  The cost is $15 per person for each Divison.  The deadline for registration is December 14^th.  Registration is jnow open and you can register by clicking on this link: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?llr=jciwg5bab&oeidk=a07e6j9v2vhd9404f73&oseq=

Divisions offered in January 2013

WOMEN 

LADY DIVISION - Beginner 2.5-3.0
plays Mon @ 2pm - starts Jan 7th 

PRINCESS DIVISION - Intermediate 3.0-3.5
plays Mon @ 2pm - starts Jan 7th 

QUEEN DIVISION - Advanced 3.5-4.0
 plays Mon @ 2pm - starts Jan 7th 

MEN 

ROYAL DIVISION -Beginner 2.5-3.0
plays Fri @ 2pm- starts Jan 11th 

KING DIVISION - Intermediate 3.0-3.5
plays Fri @ 2pm - starts Jan 11th 

EMPEROR DIVISION - Advanced 3.5-4.0
plays Fri @ 2pm - starts Jan 11th 

MIXED 

PRICKLY PAIRS - 3.5 and under
plays Sat @ 2pm - starts Jan 12th 

PRICKLY PAIRS - 3.5 and over
plays Sat @ 2pm - starts Jan 12th 

Individual players that do not have a team can register individually or with a partner. We will make every effort to place you on a level appropriate team for the first season. If you are uncertain of your level, please email me: orly@palmtennis.com so that we can determine the best placement for you. 

So, contact your tennis friends and form a team, or register as an individual or as partners and they will match you on a team.  The play will rotate between the courts at Mission Royale, Robson and Palm Creek.

See you on the courts,

Kate