Leaders in the pickleball community are urging players not to sign a petition being passed around the courts.
The petition, which is going to be presented to the Community Improvement Council, looks to move the start time of all league play from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
The pickleball petition (which you can view below) says:
“Although the pickleball courts open at 7:00, most people begin playing between 8:30 to 9:30 in the fall and winter months. When the leagues begin at 10 a.m., many of the league players arrive at 9:30 a.m. to warm up which now brings at least 16 more players to take up the court time and the full lines become that much longer.”
The petition suggests that an improvement would be:
“If the leagues are moved up to 11 a.m. they are done by 12:30 and still have time for lunch and afternoon activities. We would like to change the starting time for all pickleball leagues from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. ”
Villager Oliver Welch is urging his Good Guys and Crew pickleball groups not to sign the petition.
“Starting pickleball at 11 a.m. is a bad idea, not only because of the heat but also because of conflicts with lunch and hence afternoon golf and myriad activities,” Welch said.
He also said the “Play Level” designations took a long time to put in place.
“They were well thought out by the Recreation Department and Group managersand purposely scheduled prior to the Group designations. This has been a three to four year process since the Group starting times were moved to noon. The petition would undo all that work,” Welch added.
He said he is advising his fellow pickleball leaders to advise players against signing the petition.
Paulette Graeven of the Community Improvement Council said she was unaware of the petition being circulated.
