Category: Announcements

Do you want to play Pickleball?

  • Do you want to play Pickleball? Here’s how to request an account and gain access to reserve courts!
  • New to Pickleball? Check out our free demonstrations (equipment provided!) to learn how to play safely and gain basic skills!
  • Court Reservation Rules  – All the information you need to know about paddle & ball requirements, reserving courts, adding guests, play times, and play limits.

Good News!

The latest State/County Health Orders allow Singles play for Two Households for Pickleball, Tennis, and Bocce.
Good news! Under these new County orders we still can only play Singles Pickleball (only two people allowed on a court at once), but they may now be members of two different households. For example:
Bob and Cathy from one household can play singles.
Bob and Dan from two different households can play singles.
Bob and Cathy cannot play against Dan. Only two players only on one court!
You must still make reservations on YourCourts.com prior to play and can only use approved paddles and balls.
Please do not enter the court prior to being checked in by the assigned Designated Participant.

If the County further relaxes the regulations, another notification will be sent out.

Stay safe,
Bill Pomeranz, President

New Courts are open and they’re beautiful!

The new Pickleball Courts opened today. A remarkable and beautiful addition to the Villages! Thanks to all the groups, donors, Villagers, Villages Club Board, and Staff that worked so hard to make this a reality!

 

Today the Pickleball Courts open for same household singles play. We all hope we can expand play early next year.

PLEASE – be very careful when leaving the new Pickleball golf cart parking lot and use extreme caution when crossing the streets to and from the new courts.

Residents will not be used to the increased traffic in that area and we want all to be safe. Public Safety will increase its presence in the area to bolster safety efforts as well.
 
Happy Pickleball day for singles play from the same household!
Bill Pomeranz, President

Please send David Cook (dc@argus.mx) your best pictures for inclusion here on the website.

Order Your Pickleball Gear

Due to popular demand, The Villages Pickleball Club is taking orders for Pickleball Shirts, Hats, Visors and stemless wine glasses! Orders can be placed until January 8th.

Prices displayed are for the minimum Club order and will go down if more items are ordered.

REST ASSURED – If minimums are not reached, orders will NOT be placed without my contacting you first. All goods have the Pickleball Logo, all will be billed to your house number.

Player Limits back in force!

The latest State/County Health Orders put us back into limiting the players for Pickleball, Tennis, and Bocce.

Under these orders only members of two households can play at any time, and must stay on one side of the net. This puts us back into playing singles, doubles limited to two households, or Australian rules. Please see the statement from Club Board President, Mike Falarski below.

Many thanks to Mary Tatum who has spent two weeks attempting to get a variance from State and County officials . Regretfully we were just notified by the County our request for a variance was denied based on the County’s legal team’s recommendations. Effective Monday, The Villages is requiring us to regress to these rules. All reservations for Monday or later with more than two households will be cancelled.

As you can see the contractor is making terrific progress on our new courts. Depending on the availability of city inspections, we may get use of the courts around Thanksgiving time. I can’t wait.

Stay safe,
Bill Pomeranz, President

Message from Club Board President Mike Falarski:  

The Villages was made aware of a discrepancy in the number of households that can play together for tennis, pickleball and bocce.  Previously up to four different households were playing on a court at one time.  It was discovered that the State indicated only singles could play on a court while the County said two households could play on a court.   The Community Activities office has spent the past two weeks requesting clarification from the State and County public health officials as they pertain to tennis, pickleball and bocce.  A variance was requested last week to allow up to four households to play together providing all other public health order requirements were met.  Unfortunately, on Tuesday November 10, The Villages received word that the variance was denied.

Effective Monday, November 16, tennis, pickleball and bocce may only have two households playing per court.
Example – Tom and Mary Smith can play Joe and Sally Jones, or Mary Smith can play Sally Jones, or Tom and Mary Smith can play Joe Jones.

It is a regression back to when the courts were first able to open.  The Villages is aware other businesses offering these amenities may be operating outside of public health order compliance.  The Villages is obligated to follow the State and County health public health orders and follow the more restrictive of the two.  If these orders are willfully not followed by The Villages, there are legal and liability coverage consequences.

The public health orders can and do change.  We diligently keep abreast of current information.  Meanwhile, we encourage you to still get outside and find a friend or neighbor to play bocce, tennis or pickleball with.

Pickleball Monitors are now “Designated Participants”

Effective Today, August 24, 2020

In the latest innovation to meet County Health regulations while utilizing club volunteers, all the court sports – Pickleball, Tennis, and Bocce are today switching from volunteer “monitors” to volunteers who are “designated participants” for each play time slot.  

A little extra paperwork and some new obligations to our volunteers – please thank them for volunteering so all of us can play.

More details about the rules and procedures here

 

New PIckleball Court Scheduler

The Villages Pickleball Club will be using an online reservation system from YourCourts.com that is going live on Thursday, August 13th. Your account has been created, using your email address as your login and “Villager” as your password. You will be required to change your password the first time you log into the system. 

NOTE: All signups done in the current system this week will be transferred to YourCourts.com.  Do not sign up using YourCourts prior to Thursday! 

All signup restrictions previously announced are in place effective for any reservations made for Monday, August 17th and later.

  • Players can only play once per day.
  • Players can only play 5 times per week.
  • Players can only have 3 active reservations (regardless of whether you make the reservation or someone lists you as a player).

Example: If you are playing Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, you will not be able to play (or be listed on a reservation) until after you play on Monday. After playing, you will only have two active sessions left. This helps to ensure all members have access to play time. 

  • Reservations must contain at least two and no more than four players. Do not enter anyone as a partner without confirming with them!

We are very excited about this system as there are many benefits to our community. This is the same system used successfully by the Villages Bocce Club. We have attached a user’s guide that will help you to learn how to use the system. However, it’s very straightforward and easy to use. This should help to alleviate reservation issues our members have had.

Contact vgcc_pb_yourcourts@googlegroups.com,  with any immediate questions.

Please be understanding during the initial implementation while we work out any growing pains!

If you already have a YourCourts account set up for Bocce or a different club with the same email, you have two options:

  1. If you use the same password, you will be prompted with a list of clubs that that your account has access. You can choose which club you want to access for that session.
  2. If you prefer to use two different passwords, your access is controlled by the password you enter.

Thank you,
The Villages Pickleball Board