Pickleball members wait their turn for a court.
Andrea Molberg
Recognizing the popularity of the sport, the value to home sales, and the community’s wishes for more pickleball strongly expressed in the HOA2 Strategic Planning survey, the HOA2 Board of Directors has proposed $50,000 for pickleball in the 2016 budget. The funds will be used to help prepare the site for court construction at MountainView. The SaddleBrooke Pickleball Association (SPA) will pay to build six new regulation courts, as it did the Ridgeview courts. These additional courts at MVCC will keep SaddleBrooke attractive to current and future residents and provide more opportunities to play this game with the funny name.
In the meantime, the club’s 699 members (with one pending) are struggling to find the best way to share the six current regulation courts at Ridgeview. For now, there are 116 members per court.
At the SPA October board meeting after much thought and discussion, tough decisions were made about the winter court schedule. Seeking a way to get the best use of its six regulation ball courts and maximize the time that members can play their beloved sport, the board voted unanimously to use a “drop in” schedule every day all day for November through January or until more courts are available. Unfortunately no schedule will meet the needs of all. A drop in approach allows the most people access, and those who like to play with friends can come to the courts at the same time. The new schedule is a temporary action; the SPA board will revisit the schedule and schedule open play reservations, drop in, and POP based on the results of the SPA member survey as soon as possible. More information is available on the SPA website.