Huntsville Pickleball Club Discussion Board

At a recent Pickleball Club Executive meeting, it was proposed that the club charge a $20 fee to people who want to attend our New Beginner training class. If a person who attends the class decides to join the club, then that $20 will go toward the membership fee for that person. If the person decides not to join the club, then the $20 will be added to the club treasury.

Although the vote was close, the proposal did not garner enough votes to be implemented. I personally voted NO on the proposal because I felt free training classes would encourage more people to get into pickleball and to join our club.

I was recently informed that only 7 of the 14 people who had signed up and confirmed they were available for the class showed up for the first night. This has me reconsidering my stance on this subject. All instructors at these classes are volunteers and it seems a shame that they were there to run the class but half of the participants did not bother to show up. Also, we had another 17 people who had signed up for classes and waiting for the next class. If we would have known ahead of time that 7 people were not going to show up, then 7 of those 17 could have been moved to the current class.

Possibly, if these people had to pay $20 for the class, either they would have attended the class or not signed up in the first place.

I encourage member comments on this subject.

Thanks,
Steve

Great idea. Should reduce the number of "no shows" and likewise discourage people who aren't serious about learning to play from signing up.

Have seen similar issue with the UAH/OLLI pickleball class. 15 people sign up and about 5 of them never show up (period). Always happens for every new class.

After some consideration, my vote is still NO on charging for training. I feel it's not right to place the burden on responsible people who want and need training because some other people are inconsiderate and irresponsible.

Because of recent events, the Executive Committee has reconsidered and has made a preliminary decision to charge for training. Pat DeSantis will provide the details when the decision and plan is finalized. Most likely the fee will be $10 instead of $20 as originally proposed.

The walk-in true beginners clinic at the Senior Center will still be free.

Not trying to cause issue, but why doesn't it work to just have people show up for clinics instead of a reservation? We did that for years--Do you have too many show up in one evening?