For those who read the posts on the WhatsApp hotline, today we tested a pilot of a new program I’m calling “Parity Pickleball”. You saw from the comments made by the participants, it was very successful! I have been working with the management of RCC to establish this new program. They have given me their full support to implement this new concept. See the attachment “Parity Pickleball Mission” for the details of the program. Although I’m saying it’s new, I’ve actually seen it in action at many locations. For us here in Lake City, it will require a little bit of a culture change. That may be the biggest challenge! To be honest, in some places, I’ve sometimes seen feelings get hurt. It’s rare but, I’m trying to design a process where that doesn’t happen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~Please stop here and read the mission before continuing~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click : Parity Pickleball Mission
Now that you know what Parity Pickleball is, today was just a pilot. I did target a certain audience for invitation. I missed a couple folks that I had intended. They came today and had a great time! I probably missed others. The target group was folks that regularly play on Tues/Thurs mornings and within that group, I selected players who I believe to be higher skilled relative to the normal mix in attendance those days. Obviously, this is a subjective call for the pilot. This is the part where feelings can get hurt but, please try not to let that happen. The spirit of Parity Pickleball is for every one of all skill levels to have more fun during open, recreational play. This process does work!! The feedback today confirms this.
For my Pilot, I would ask for the same target group demographic continue to be used. If you feel I missed you, let me know. Based on what we learned today, I can give you a feel for how you would enjoy it.
After a little more pilot results are confirmed, I would propose a number of supplemental ideas based on feedback. For example, we expand this to other times. This concept works at all levels but works best if the range of skill from relative low to high isn’t too huge. So perhaps Tues morning could be Parity PB that skews to the lower – mid range, Wed to the mid – higher range and Thurs all ranges combined to see how that works out. Everyone would have the same number of days to play as they do now but I betcha everyone will have more fun!
For Wednesdays, I intend to open it up to some very high skill level players that we have lost over the years. Hopefully repatriate some of them! So opening up Parity PB Tuesdays for low to mid skill is probably the best plan.