The gym floors are being refinished at Fern Bell.

The Fern Bell Gym will not be available for pickleball from 01-Apr-2024 thru 28-Apr-2024 because the gym floors are being refinished.

Additional Pickleball play times are now available.

Now that youth basketball has ended, additional play times are available as follows:

Saturday Open Play at Fern Bell is back. Hours on Saturday are from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.

Evening open play at Challenger Gym is now available Monday thru Friday from 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm. Hours during HCS Spring Break (3/11-3/15) are as follows: Monday – Friday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.

HPC Womens’ Pickleball Clinic on April 2nd

HPC is hosting Stephanie Lane, a pickleball teaching pro from Nashville on April 2nd.

Women’s only clinics on April 2, 2024 at the Launch Pad, 2650 Jordan Lane, Huntsville.

Clinics are available for 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0 players.  Levels 3.5 and 4.0 are for very experienced players.  Many of these individuals are tournament players.

Each participant will receive 2 hours of instruction as well as another 30 minutes of Guided Play

The clinic schedules are on the posters below.  

Each participant must sign two waivers:  one for HPC and the other for the clinicians.

We will arrange for an all-mens’ clinic soon.

See the poster and waiver files below.

Saturday Open Play for Members Only in March

To provide an option for indoor play on Saturday mornings in March, HPC has reserved the gym at Trinity United Methodist Church, 607 Airport Rd. 

Open play will be available on 3 courts this Saturday, March 9, from 9am – noon.  Park in the rear and enter the door on the West side of the building (the same door we used for Glow Play).  We will try to have the club’s green flutter flag nearby to help identify the entrance. 

HPC MEMBERS ONLY – for liability purposes.  Use the link below to join or renew your membership before you arrive.  

Open play will also be available on Saturday, March 16, from 11am – 2pm, and on Saturday, March 30, from 9am – noon.

Hope to see you there!

Link for membership…

Membership – Huntsville Pickleball (pickleball-huntsville.com)

January 27th Meeting Notes

Please see below meeting notes from the Annual Membership meeting on January 27th, 2024. Also, included are the 2023 HPC Committee Notes.

Huntsville Pickleball Club (HPC)

General Membership Meeting

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Trinity United Methodist Church

Meeting called to order at 9:05AM.

Executive Committee (Ex Com) Members present:

Sandy Greene, Kay Corder, Sue Marshall, Kim Minkinow, Robert Hoffmann. 

For the record, just prior to this meeting, Scott Schutzenhofer resigned as Equipment/Facilities Manager, and the executive committee voted in Robert Hoffmann to take over this position.

Members Present:  50

Vote on Incoming Executive Committee Members

Sandy Greene opened the meeting by introducing the candidates for the open positions:

                Nancy Parker, Secretary for 2024 and 2025

                Leslie Macher, Vice President for 2024/President for 2025

                Kim Minkinow, President for 2024

A motion to approve these candidates for these positions was offered by Kate Lahti.  Motion seconded by Gail Tipps.  The motion to accept these candidates was approved unanimously. 

Kay Corder will remain in the position of Treasurer.  Sue Marshall will remain as the Club Development Chair, and Robert Hoffmann has assumed the role of Equipment/Facilities Manager. The position of Social Chair remains open. 

Comments from Kim Minkinow, President Elect

Kim thanked Ryan Noe for his service as president for 2023 and presented him with a card of appreciation, along with a gift card.  Kim also noted the year in review chart for the club, which is attached, and expressed appreciation to SportsMed for their sponsorship in 2023 and their continued financial support in 2024. 

Kim introduced Kate Lahti, who presented details for the Pickleball on the Moon event coming up in May.  All club members were encouraged to volunteer to help with this event, along with other club events planned for the year.

Open Play

When the business portion of this meeting was completed, all members were allowed to enter the gym at the church and play on 3 available courts until 12:15PM.  For this open play session, players of different skill levels gravitated to specific courts and paddle piles were formed at each court.  Players could move from court to court, as desired.  This format allowed club members to mingle and interact but still experience competitive play at individual levels.

Bags of snacks leftover from the Holiday tourney were provided, along with fresh donuts and bottled water (donated by SportsMed).  Leftover bottled water was taken to the club storage unit.

The event was completed by 12:30PM. 

Social Committee Report 2023

Submitted by Kim Minkinow, Chair
Committee Members: Deb Dell, Rita DeGraaf, Gail Tipps, Sandy Greene, Connie Carr

The following Events were supported by HPC Social Committee volunteers in 2023:

February – Annual Meeting (Members Only Event)
supported with snacks

May – Pickled Pink Fundraiser
Set up, stocked, manned the Hospitality Tent
Committee volunteered as needed to dry courts, set up tables, chairs, tents
Stocked with Bananas, water, Propel powders, crackers, fruit gummies
Managed the raffle items, taking payments and answering questions, as well as securing the items
Obtained donation of 250 bottles of water from SportsMed (POC Charley Davidson)
Attended planning meetings at Huntsville Hospital to support operations

September – Huntsville City Labor Day Tournament
Provided key volunteer support to the event
Taped Courts – ALL
Retaped throughout the tournament as needed (this was necessary unique to this surface)
Served as Court Monitors

October – Glow Play Social (Members Only Event)
Reserved and Set up 3 Courts for play
Set up 3 volunteers for Paddle rotation – with microphone/whistle, 2 tables Sue Marshall, Connie Carr
Set up reception area in the Lobby (Gail Tipps + volunteers, 2 tables); Kay Corder (Treasurer/Membership) to accept new memberships (2 tables)
Set up Large storage container for sock/hat donations going to First Stop @ the door as participants entered.
Set up 2 tables for snacks, water, Halloween goodies – (Rita DeGraaf)
Set up SportsMed Banners for publicity and recognition of sponsorship
Contracted with Steve Metz, Metropolitan DJ Svcs for lighting, additional speakers
Decorated the upper walkway with glow banners, blow up skeletons, other glow wall decorations; and covered all door windows utilizing diagrams/planogram developed by Sandy Greene.
Set up 3 HPC nets from storage; during breakdown one net was placed in a closet at the church (by an unknown person) and found 3 days later. All nets were returned to HPC storage.
Played 7 minute games; stopped at whistle; rotated to the left court and began again until rotating off the 3rd court. Set up volunteers to direct players off Court 3 out the correct door.
Bought Glow Paint, wristbands, glow tape, glow balls(discovered our outdoor balls were perfect under the glow lights). Sandy Greene
Taped floors with Glow tape – Connie Carr and team; reserved Friday morning to remove tape if requested by the church.
Forwarded pictures of the event to Judy Hayes for inclusion on the HPC Facebook.
Requested sponsorship of event from SportsMed to cover the cost of Lightning. POC Hayden Henderson
Attendance @90 members
Total Cost: $2480.59; SportsMed gifted $1350 for the lighting contract; Total HPC funds spent – $ 1130.50.

December – Holiday Tournament Social (Members Only Event)
Reserved UAH University Fitness Center supporting 9 Courts; 7 hours 8A-2P. POC: Reggie Scott
Taped courts for 2 hours Friday morning, with special permission from our contact Reggie Scott and no additional charge. 3 courts needed taping the other 6 were already in place as badminton courts.
Ordered and purchased tape for the floors – Sue Marshall
Picked up 7 nets from HPC storage; recommend bringing 8 in case a net set is incomplete. UAH had 3 nets in place. Sandy/Kim
Set up court nets – Gail Tipps
Provided snacks with some Holiday goodies – Rita DeGraaf
Provided water donated by SportsMed – Kim
Set up SportsMed Banners for publicity and recognition of sponsorship
Purchased Event Insurance for the day as required by UAH POC: Kim/ David Bell @Rocket City Insurance
Conducted tournament from 9:45-12 with open play until 1:30P.
Collected 560 LBS of food for North Alabama Food Bank; transported by Connie Carr
Set up signage to direct members to parking (very specific since on University property) and volunteers to direct participants – Deb Dell
Removed tape, packed nets(returned to HPC storage), stacked chairs and broke down tables. Requested 7 tables and 30 chairs.
Set up gift table, snack table, sponsorship table(SportsMed swag), operations tables per planogram provided by Sandy Greene
Utilized free software downloaded by Sandy Greene.
Utilized a point system for costumes, volunteer points, and playing points – Sandy Greene
Forwarded pictures of the event to Judy Hayes for inclusion on the HPC Facebook site
Attended by @130 members
Requested. Sponsorship of event from SportsMed to cover the cost of facility rental. POC Hayden Henderson
Total Cost: $ 2405; SportsMed sponsored the event with a contribution of $1575 for the rental cost of the facility; Total HPC funds spent – $830.17

2024 General Membership Meeting

We have scheduled the 2024 General Membership Meeting for Saturday morning, January 27.  Rather than a formal meeting, we will provide access to 3 indoor courts in the gym at Trinity United Methodist Church, 607 Airport Road, for everyone to enjoy from 9:00am – noon.  While you’re there you can renew your membership on-site (with cash or check), meet the members of your 2024 Executive Committee (Ex Com), say “thanks” to former Ex Com members, and provide feedback on the club’s plans and objectives.