President’s Report

I am delighted to share some exciting updates and reflections on the recent happenings at our Club:

Christmas Party

Our Christmas Party was a resounding success with a fantastic turnout and overwhelmingly positive feedback from our members. It’s heartening to witness the growing enthusiasm for our club, and I extend my gratitude to everyone who contributed to the festive spirit.

Club Growth & Merchandise

We are rapidly approaching a membership milestone of 150, a testament to the widespread interest in pickleball within our community. Don’t miss the opportunity to showcase your club pride—our distinctive tee shirts and caps are available for purchase. Feel free to reach out to Mar Lar Deane who will be happy to assist you.

School Partnership

We are thrilled to announce our collaboration with Barrenjoey High School. Starting Wednesday afternoons next school term, we will be facilitating pickleball classes as part of the school’s sports program. Beginning with 16 students, we anticipate this initiative will grow over time, introducing more youngsters to pickleball.

Life Membership

Rona and I are honoured to become Life Members of the Northern Beach Pickleball Club. I extend my thanks to Chris Taylor and his committee for this honour.

Committee

A special note of appreciation to Rose Clements, who has retired as Treasurer and committee member. We thank Rose for her invaluable contributions and warmly welcome Michael Simonsen as our new Treasurer and committee member, along with Ian Yeates as an additional committee member. List of Committee Members.

Grants and Infrastructure Upgrades

Our club is grateful for the ongoing support of the Northern Beaches Council. Recently, we secured a $12,000 grant to enhance our facilities, including the installation of six sandstone block seating stones behind each outdoor court and a connecting concrete pathway from the bridge to the courts.

Holiday Period Break

As we approach the Christmas period, we will be taking a short break. Keep an eye out for events posted over the holiday period. If an event isn’t showing on OpenSports, it is not on.

Round Robins

In the New Year we will be holding a series of Round Robin events to assist the Grading Committee in reviewing members’ grading.

As we wrap up a successful year, I want to express my gratitude to our Committee members, our venue hosts and to every member. Your enthusiasm and support are the driving forces behind our thriving pickleball community.

Wishing you all a joyous holiday season and looking forward to an even more exciting year ahead!

Feel free to contact me on 0408 888 695 if you have any issues you’d like to discuss.

John Fuller – ABPA President

Important Reminders

1. Be kind to newbies! Everyone was once a beginner in need of helpful advice and understanding from the more experienced players. Be willing to sometimes play with less-skilled players and please avoid criticism and negative non-verbal communications.
2. No OpenSports booking, NO PLAY! You must be booked in for a session, otherwise you will not be allowed to play …. no excuses whatsoever.
3. When passing the ball to someone, please don’t ever swat it across the ground. It’s bad manners! Pick it up and pass it in a controlled way to the server.
4. If you are unable to attend a session you are booked into, you must cancel your booking …. even if it is last-minute and you aren’t entitled to a refund.
5. Please make sure that you have uploaded a photo of yourself to your OpenSports profile so that the session hosts can recognise you.

Playing the Blame Game (a bit of fun)

Hutch has compiled a list of commonly used excuses for missing a shot. We add to this list whenever a new one comes to light during play. An interesting challenge for all of us would be to see if we can get through an entire session without making an excuse …. not easy! Check out our blog “Playing the Blame Game” to see what excuses we have on our list so far.

Social Day with the Woy Woy Club

We recently hosted a social day with 15 players from the Woy Woy Club joining us at our outdoor courts. The event, which included three hours of pickleball followed by lunch at Club Palm Beach, was a tremendous success. We are optimistic that this will become an annual tradition and we’re exploring similar events with other pickleball clubs, including our friends at NBPA.

A bit of History – Pickleball in NSW

On 22 November 2018, in Wahroonga, we celebrated the 1 Year Anniversary of pickleball in NSW. There were less than 50 players at the time. The Inaugural Australian Pickleball Championships were held in Marrickville in the same year with about 50 participants and this year they had 700 participants! Needless to say, the standard of play has improved somewhat since then. You may recognise a couple of our members in these photos.

Click here and here for more photos of the events.

Some lesser known pickleball terms

An Erne

This shot is a volley hit right at the net with a player positioned outside the court. An “Erne” shot is when a player steps outside the sideline and comes forward to be parallel with the kitchen but is, in fact, standing outside the kitchen on the other side of the sideline. The ball will be struck out of the air and very close to the net. It’s an advanced shot that requires precise timing and quick movement.

A Bert

This is an even more advanced shot. A Bert is the same shot as an Erne, but on your partner’s half of the pickleball court. In other words, it is an Erne, but jumping or running around the Kitchen on your partner’s side of the pickleball court (usually in front of your partner), rather than on your own side.

An ATP

A shot that travels outside (around) the net post usually landing in the opponent’s backcourt near the line. These shots are most often set up by a wide dink.

A Tweenie

A shot that is hit between the legs from behind.

A Nick … or an ATP-Tweenie?

Young Nick, whose go-to shot these days is a tweenie, has claimed to have recently executed an unbelievable around-the-post tweenie!

A Nasty Nelson (not particularly good sportsmanship)

A Nasty Nelson is a shot where the server serves the ball to intentionally hit the opposing player nearest to the pickleball net (in other words, the opposing player that is not receiving the serve). If the served pickleball strikes the opposing player before it bounces, then the receiving team commits a fault, and the serving team wins the point.

Still looking for a good paddle?

To get 10% off Six Zero paddles, go to the Six Zero website via this link OR email rona.richmond@gmail.com for the discount code to use at checkout.

If you would like to try one of our Six Zero demo paddles, please contact Rona. Email:rona.richmond@gmail.com.

Medical Emergencies

Just a reminder that you can become CPR friendly in minutes on Hutch’s website. Take a look at his free CPR micro trainings and choose a CPR refresher from 5 seconds up to 3 hours! We highly recommend the 45 minute webinar. It’s highly entertaining!

If you learn the simple skills to administer CPR until the emergency services arrive, you could save a life. 25,000 Australians die of a sudden cardiac arrest every year. Any attempt to resuscitate is better than no attempt and EVERY MINUTE COUNTS!

Go to our website for more detailed information: https://avalonbeachpickleball.org.au/medical-emergencies/, including the location of defibrillators in Avalon.