October 8, 2025
Hello Silveridge Pickleballers!
Well, where did it go? Our summer?! The leaves have turned into the beautiful fall colors and are floating to the ground. I hope you had an excellent summer, and this update finds you and your family well.
The Executive Committee has met monthly since the last season ended in March. Your comments on the membership survey and our observations of how last season went prepared us for establishing our vision for the club and what we wanted to accomplish for next season. Some activities will remain the same and some new ideas are coming forward.
Monday, October 27th is when our 2025-26 season officially begins with organized play so mark that date on your calendar!
During the June 4, 2025 Executive Committee Meeting, this mission statement was approved and can be found in the “Club Org” page on our website.
Silveridge Pickleball Club Mission Statement:
To foster a vibrant and inclusive pickleball community in Silveridge, our club’s mission is to promote the game through fun, friendly games, skill development, and social engagement for players of all ages and abilities, while upholding the values of sportsmanship and respect.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of what that means:
- Fostering a Vibrant Community:
We’ll aim to create a welcoming and inclusive open culture where players feel safe, comfortable and connected, regardless of their skill level or background. - Promoting the Game:
We’ll actively encourage participation in pickleball through organized play, clinics, tournaments, and social events. We’ll ensure our court schedule has open play times for non-members to use the courts as well. - Fun and Friendly Games:
We’ll emphasize the enjoyment of the game and promote a positive, supportive atmosphere where players can compete fairly and have fun. - Skill Development:
We’ll offer opportunities for players of all levels to improve their skills through coaching, drills, and practice sessions. - Social Engagement:
We’ll organize social events and activities to foster camaraderie and build relationships among our members. - Upholding Values:
We’ll promote good sportsmanship, respect for partners, opponents and officials, and fair play. - Community Focus:
We’ll strive to be a positive and active part of the Silveridge community, partnering with Silveridge RV Resort Management and the Activities Office.
Club Budget: For the first time (that I’m aware of) the Executive Committee sat down and put together a documented projected budget for the coming season. The many hours of hard work ended in being a balanced budget (revenues minus expenses = zero!).
Protective Eyewear: protective eyewear is highly recommended while playing on Silveridge Pickleball courts. Pickleball paddles and balls, though lightweight, can cause injuries if a player is hit in the eye, often from a misdirected or fast-moving ball. Safety goggles or glasses are a good precaution to prevent serious eye injuries. The Executive Committee encourages wearing eye protection to reduce injury risk.
Communication: We have moved to MailChimp to send out our newsletters instead of using our club email because that takes up storage space and we would have to pay for more storage space if we continued sending it that way. If you no longer wish to receive the Newsletters, you can unsubscribe at the bottom of this newsletter at any time. Promise, no hurt feelings! The newsletters can always be found in the “News” page on our website.
New Member Orientation: This year we are going to host “New Member Orientation” sessions. New members will learn all about our club and how it works.
Website Refresh: An external person was hired to update the look and upgrade the security on our website. The new website went live on October 7th. Visit our website and see for yourself.
New Logo: We created a new logo, which you will see on this newsletter, our website, any communication we produce and on our club merchandise too.
Point of Sale: The Executive Committee has done the research and has implemented the “Square” point of sale system so members can use their credit card to pay for membership fees, merchandise, social events, etc.
Membership: We have gone online with our membership form. No more trying to read your handwriting and us making mistakes, and calling or emailing you to get clarification. The final step when completing your online membership form is your payment option. Pay with your credit card online (link is provided to Square) or put your cash or check in an envelope, writing your name and lot number on the envelope and delivering it to the designated drop box. As always, once your membership is completed and payment is received, a “Welcome to the Club” email will be sent to you with further instructions and information. Then the fun begins!
Perks: Just in case you need to buy yourself a birthday, Christmas, Valentines Day, or just because gift, these two pickleball businesses provide a discount to our members. The information below can be found on our “Membership & Perks” page on our website.
Pickleball Cabana is located at 1400 S Arizona Avenue in Chandler. They have a huge selection of paddles, some accessories and provide a club discount of 10% to our members who purchase either online or at their store. The discount code is “SILVERIDGE” www.pickleballcabana.com If you’re interested, they also offer a “Try Before You Buy” paddle demo program.
Pickleball Central “PickleballCentral.com” Use the discount code “CRSilveridge” to receive a 5% discount off almost everything purchased and the same 5% of the purchase price goes into a “Club Reward Fund”. Silveridge Pickleball Club will use this club reward fund to purchase products that our club needs. They offer a FREE 30-Day Paddle Test Drive, the lowest price guarantee and a 30-day 100% happiest return policy.
Round Robin Workshops: This is one area we are making big changes to and are excited about our vision. This past season, we noticed a few things happened: 1) harder to get volunteers to instruct clinics, 2) clinics had low turnouts, 3) the David Ott Workshops were not always well attended, and 4) members were asking for help during their round robins. We established an enthusiast Player Development Committee (Mike Savre, David Ott, Julie Nosko and Donna Stensrud) who talked about the challenges and came up with a few new ways of making player development live and well for our members:
- We will establish a group of coaches. These coaches will be provided with the skills/shots to be worked on – first by showing them, second by providing written instructions and thirdly they will teach what has been identified.
- Round Robin Workshops: we are planning five workshops for each skill level, twice a month in January and February and once in March during the round robins. The group of coaches will lead a 45-60-minute workshop at the beginning of the identified round robin sessions, with attendees learning/practicing 1 or 2 specific skills. If you don’t want to participate in the workshop at the beginning of your round robin, you show up after and join the workshop participants and play your games for the remaining time. Coaches may stay for a bit longer after the workshop to help mentor the participants/players.
More detailed information on the clinics will be provided later.
Tournaments: There will be one tournament for each skill level in January, February and March. The King/Queen of the Court format will be used.
Court Schedule: Tom Drouillard, did a great job leading our discussion for establishing the new court schedule. It is never an easy job putting the puzzle of ideas together. The Executive Committee looked at what didn’t work well last year, the comments on the membership survey, and came up with some new ideas, while following our established criteria: 1) each week have a group play twice on courts 1-4 and twice on courts 5-8, 2) each group has as a variety of time slots, 3) combined group play will continue once a month, 4) groups with more participants will get more than 4 courts to play, 5) round robins will be played between 10 am and 4 pm. We tried our darndest to follow this criteria but sometimes it didn’t always work out. The new court schedule is on our website for your perusal: Court Schedule.
New court schedule ideas we are trying are as follows (we look forward to your feedback once we get them going):
- Round Robin Combined Group Play: will occur for all groups during the first full week of each month. This will allow for mentoring, growth of skill sets, experience playing with the upper groups, and having some fun social games for players to get to know each other better.
- Mixed Doubles for all skill levels: remains on Sundays with 2 play times; 4 pm to 6 pm and 6 pm to 8 pm. It’s a time to have fun social games, no matter what the skill level.
- Ladies League Round Robin for levels 3.25 and up: will be on Tuesdays at 12 pm on courts 1 to 4.
- Ladies Round Robin for All Levels: will continue on Monday evenings and a new time on Fridays at 12 pm has been added.
- Men’s League Round Robin for levels 3.25 and up: on Tuesdays at 12 pm on courts 5 to 8.
- Group 2.0: this small group of players will continue to have a weekly combined group round robin session with group 2.5 on Fridays.
- Challenge Courts: on Saturdays from 2 pm to 4 pm on courts 5 to 8. This will be a drop-in format when groups 4.0+ and 3.5 play together on a court(s), and the remaining groups (2.0 to 3.25) play together on a court(s). The paddle rack system is used to rotate players on and off the courts: challenging the winners. Rules will be posted at the courts.
Printed copies of the court schedule will be available in the document holder hanging on the court 1 fence beside the gazebo.
Moving Between Group Levels: As you may or may not be aware, assessing a players skill level and determining how to move between skill levels can be and often are the most controversial subjects in pickleball clubs and on the courts. Our club is no exception and is currently one of our biggest challenges.
As an Executive Committee, we have committed to trying something different during the 2025/2026 season because we want our culture to be inclusive, fun, and social. Our goal is that players will select their appropriate skill level so their round-robin sessions will be fun while having tight, close games with people of a similar skill level rating.
We are taking the approach to not police or monitor an individual’s skill level rating except on an exceptional basis. Saying that, we ask all of our members to be accountable and use the Club Skill Level Guidelines when determining their skill level and realistic about their abilities. Please keep in mind, being in the wrong skill level has negatively affected the level of play for a round robin group.
During the season, if a member wishes to move to a different skill level, they send their request to silveridgepickleball@gmail.com. In SignUpGenius we will move the member to the new skill level group and send a confirmation email to the member and affect Round Robin Captains. A discussion with your Round Robin Captain can be initiated regarding your skill level. Round Robin Captains will not be responsible for making the decision to move players from one skill level group to another.
We don’t think we have come up with the perfect process, nor a process that would work for all other clubs. We have come up with a process that we are hoping most members will find is fair, dignified, gentle, accomplishes the purpose of round robin play (a natural grouping of similarly skilled players which provides for fun close games) and allows the members to make the decision if they are in the right skill level or not.
We will seek your input in early 2026 on how this process is working for our club. If it is not working well, we may make small adjustments or create a small group of members to work on revising the process (for the 2026/2027 season) for determining skill levels and/or moving players between skill level groups.
Note: the self-regulated skill level is the concept that is used by the Pickleball Club in Delta, British Columbia (Donna’s Club). For the most part, it works well with some redirects and reminders.
Volunteers: Our membership has always excelled in volunteering. We arguably have the best pickleball club around – not simply because our members are so friendly and fun to play with – but also because of the numerous well-planned events our members can partake in all season long. Let’s keep it rolling next season! If you are willing to help a little or a lot, please indicate on your membership form or approach an Executive Committee member. Some volunteer opportunities have sign-ups on SUG. Hopefully you can help at an event that fits your busy schedule. THANK YOU in advance for your generosity!
Speaking of volunteers. Our Secretary, Mike Gross, has made the decision to resign due to personal issues. The Executive Committee would like to thank Mike for his hard work and dedication while on the Executive Committee. We wish Mike and Sharon all the best.
To fill the vacancy, Suzan Ott has agreed to step in as Acting Secretary. Thank you, Suzan! We look forward to working with you. As per our by-laws, as president I’m filling the vacancy now, which will be ratified by a majority of members at the March 7, 2026 annual general meeting. The secretary tasks are as follows: works as an active team member and assists other Executive Committee members to get jobs done; prepares and distributes meeting agendas; records and types up meeting minutes; uses Club Google Drive to store club documents; creates and sends Zoom meeting invites; oversees the club fundraising initiatives and club merchandise ordering and sales; and works with committees and volunteers for fundraising activities. Before the annual general meeting, Suzan will have the option to let her name stand for election. Otherwise, we will post the vacancy before the election and let others who are interested in volunteering step forward. We will provide training and be there for your questions because we work as a team on the Executive Committee.
During the March 7, 2026 Annual General meeting, as per our by-law, the following positions will be up for election for a 2 year term: First Vice President, Treasurer and Communications Officer. The individuals currently in these roles can run again if they wish to stay on the Executive Committee. If you have questions or you’re interested in running for any position contact a member of the Executive Committee.
Social Events: Our social committee will be hosting several fun social events this season, starting with a Fun Play Time event from 1 – 3 pm and at 4:30 pm the Season Opening BBQ on November 15th!
- December 13th: Fun Play Time, 1 – 3 pm followed by a Christmas Celebration Dinner event in the ballroom at 5:30 pm.
- January 17th: Fun Play Time from 1 – 3 pm. Trying something new with a poolside Happy Hour Social at 4:30 pm.
- February (7 or 14, date yet to be determined due to the potential Silveridge Park Olympics): Fun Play Time from 1 – 3 pm. Poolside Happy Hour Social at 4:30 pm.
- March 7th: Fun Play Time from 1 – 3 pm. The Annual General meeting starts at 4:30 pm and dinner will follow.
- March 21: Fun Play Time from 1 – 3 pm. End of the Season BBQ at 4:30 pm.
For the social events that have a charge to attend, a “please click here to pay for attending the event” link will be provided as an option if you want to use your credit card to pay. Otherwise, if paying with cash or check please place your payment in an envelope and indicate your name and lot # on the envelope. Immediately after signing up, please drop the envelope off at the designated location as indicated on SUG sign-up. Thank you.
If you attend the happy hour social events, you will be asked to bring an appetizer/food to share. To make the organization of appetizers/food easy peasy we will be using a system called “Signup.com”.
Other Events:
- Club merchandise will be displayed and orders will be taken at the November 15 and January 17 Fun Play Time events. Orders can be placed from the Merchandise Committee throughout the season.
- On January 17, we will have a paddle demo day during the Fun Play Time from 1 – 3 pm.
- Barry Halpenny has offered to facilitate another Rules Review Session this year on January 19th at 4 pm.
- The Club will host an event for the Sunshine Acres children on Saturday, January 24th in the afternoon. We will be using all 8 courts for workshops and play games with them. If you can volunteer to assist with the event, let an Executive Committee know or send us an email to silveridgepickleball@gmail.com.
- Mark your calendars to play bingo on Wednesday, February 18th to show our support for the Renters Association as they have provided financial funds in the past to improve our club.
Visit the Club’s Activities page on silveridgepickleball.com for more information about our events.
Again this year, we will have printed copies available of the Activity Calendar in the document holder hanging on the court 1 fence beside the gazebo.
Ready Or Not: During October, the Executive Committee and Tom Carli will be working through the pre-season checklist to ensure everything is ready to go on and off the courts before Monday, October 27th when our 2025-26 season and organized play officially begins!
Thank you for taking the time to read my long newsletter! Sorry. My goal is to keep you informed and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me or any other Executive Committee member.
If you haven’t travelled to our fabulous park yet, safe travels. I’m counting the days before Tim and I arrive on October 20!
Looking forward to seeing you on the courts!
Donna
Your Executive Committee:
Donna Stensrud, President
Julie Nosko, First VP
Tom Drouillard, Second VP
Suzan Ott, Acting Secretary
Debbie Nelson, Treasurer
Kathy Port, Communications Officer