On Wednesday, May 23 we will be running a "Day of DUPR" where anyone attending an open-play session that day will get to hone their rating with additional scores. Each 2 hour session on the regular Player Lineup schedule will be hosted by a scorekeeper (probably me) and play will be structured into an organized round-robin format where partners and opponents are randomly selected. The scores of each game will be recorded in DUPR for you, so all you have to do is show up and play!

We will roll out some more details early next week, but for now you can register for any of the available sessions on Wednesday to participate! And a free DUPR account will be required to play that day.

We are back with another season of the Skills & Drills classes! These are one hour sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:15. In these classes the coach will choose a handful of skills to work on, provide instruction on those skills, and then drill, drill, drill! We get hundreds of ball touches in a session allowing you to hone in on parts of the game that only get periodic use in your recreational play.

If you have a Summit membership you can attend these classes as a part of your membership and if you are on a Base Membership you can register for $10 through the GMCF class reservation system. Non-Members can purchase a day pass + 1 class credit for $25 and that will get you a one-hour class, the ability to jump into a drop-in pickleball game and use of the rest of the facility including hot tub and pool!

Although the sessions are listed on Player Lineup, registration happens through the GMCF app, portal or at our front desk. Our class capacity is only 8 people so book ahead to guarantee your spot!

As pickleball starts to migrate indoors we want to point out the new Player Lineup schedule that has been established. It is not a radical departure from last year's schedule, but everyone should take it in and process. October is unique in that we have access to the courts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and then November through February we host Capital Soccer on those evenings so there is no pickleball. So make sure you look at both months.

There are a few things that are important to us:

1. If you have input, please speak up. And it is very helpful if it's not just "I can't play during the times you offer" but more like "a group of us would like to see a game at such and such time for a certain level of play." We have to manage our resources to work for groups of 4 or more players at a time so that we can be most effective in filling the courts. So if you have a solution that works for more than just you, I want to hear it!

2. Vote with your presence! If there is a game that is underattended and an adjacent game that is brimming with players, I take note and make adjustments on the fly. When these patterns repeat I will make those changes permanent. So if you see a time that you would like to be playing, do your best to fill it with your friends so it does not go away! And we don't have the luxury of keeping empty games on the schedule for very long so don't wait until January to show up for that game.

3. Please provide feedback to me directly. Player Lineup is not a great platform for extended conversations and it can clog people's inboxes, so a direct email or conversation with me is going to yield the best results. I try and visit the courts throughout the day for impromptu dialog, and my inbox (nick(miuku)gmcf(piste)life) is open 24/7!

In the end, I work for all of you, and my goal is busy courts and happy players. We have a large and growing community and (for now) only 4 courts to satisfy our needs. I enjoy working through these challenges and always appreciate constructive conversations about how we can make GMCF a better place to play our great sport!

Thanks,
Nick