Member Newsletter - July 2025

Your Committee

Donna B, Mel C, Dennis C, Anne G, Kerri P, Leoni M, Andrea M, Jill S, Patrick T and Chucky W who has recently joined to fill a committee vacancy.  If you have anything that you would like the committee to consider, please speak with one of these members or you can email the Secretary - secretary@nshpc.org.au

Session Fees

Our club is in a very strong financial position so your committee has decided to further reduce playing fees for club members and those from other Tasmanian clubs.  From 1 August the Moonah Sports Centre day rate will reduce from $5.50 to $5, Glenorchy Primary School from $7.50 to $5, Moonah Sports Centre night rate from $7.50 to $6.  There will be no change to the playing fee at Cadbury.  Playing fees for non-members will be unchanged with the hope more people will join our club to gain the benefits of membership.

Cancellation Policy in OpenSports

Since the start of the OpenSports booking system any cancellations 24 hours before the start of the session booked would receive a full refund to their account which can be used for future bookings.  From 1 August, we will change the cancellation time to 12 hours to give players more time for those unexpected things that stop us playing.

Membership

We now have over 140 paid up members of our club.  The growth has been outstanding given that we had 51 members in June 2023.

Club shirts

These can be purchased from ID Clothing in Moonah

Member Survey

Thank you to the 31 people who completed the club survey. This represented close to 25% of our members. Your feedback has been invaluable in helping the committee make decisions that benefit all players. This is what we heard:

• There is a strong interest in coaching clinics 
• There is interest in social opportunities after games 
• There is interest in inter and intra club competitions 
• There is strong interest for additional social sessions - mornings and afternoons
• There is an appetite for some more competitive sessions
• Sessions are well coordinated 
• Equipment is well maintained
• Player safety is strongly promoted
• NSHPC is a friendly and inclusive place to play (we will work hard to get 100% agreement - sadly 6 people didn't agree)
• The NSHPC Committee is open and transparent in its operations (We aim to improve - 6 people didn't agree)

Suggestions for improvement, additional to those listed above, include the development of a strategic plan, annual reports made available to members, opportunities for practice drills and skill development other than coaching, sessions that don't include beginners, regular promotion of the "social" culture, opportunity for members to get competition experience outside of the Tas Championships and regular newsletters.

Session Coordinators

During the recent survey, a couple of members indicated an interest in filling in as session coordinators.  It would be really handy to have some more people take on this role so our regular coordinators can have a break and there is coverage during absences.  This will help to share the load.  We are intending to run a training session for potential coordinators.  If you are interested or would like more information, please approach one of your committee members or email secretary@nshpc.org.au

Christmas Function

Lunch-time Sunday 14 December at Riverfront Hotel, Berriedale – please save the date in your calendars.

Coaching Accreditation Course

Chucky W, Penny D and Robert B recently completed a Level 1 coaching course.  This means that these members can run training sessions for beginner and lower level intermediate players.  Chucky is already putting his qualification to work and will run some skills and drills sessions each fortnight on Friday evenings starting in early August and running through to the end of November.  Many thanks to Chucky for his positive initiative.

Playing Slots

Due to increased demand from members, we have added a couple of extra sessions - Tuesday AM (11.15am – 12.45pm) and Friday PM (4.15pm – 5.45pm).  This lifts our weekly playing slots to 155.  We continue to restrict the numbers of players from other clubs and non-members to ensure that our members have priority for slots.

Coaching Clinics

We engaged Don Ryan to conduct a number of coaching clinics in February and March.  Twenty two players participated and the feedback was very positive.  Don has volunteered to run some more sessions in early July and all 16 places have been taken.  Many thanks to Don for running these sessions and it should be noted that he is not charging the club for the July sessions.  Thanks Don.

Competitions

The NSHPC Winter League commenced on Wednesday 7 May and wrapped up on 3 July.  We will seek feedback from the players to inform us about how to run this event in future. 

The Australian Masters Cup run on the Eastern Shore has finished and there will be regional finals.

The Southern Tasmanian Pickleball Competition has started again.  There are two divisions with teams picked from the clubs in an effort to make the teams fair.  North v South coming up soon. 

Special thanks to Kerri P and Mel C for organising/coordinating competitions for our members.

Player Safety

New safety posters will be displayed at venues – we want to ensure that we keep players safe so that they can continue to participate and enjoy the game.  Please remember –

• to warm up and stretch before playing,
• check for hazards,
• don’t run backwards or onto another court (no ball is worth a fall), 
• if your ball goes on another court, call it and wait for it to be returned,
• don’t sit on the bottom step (Moonah), 
• don’t walk behind when a game is in play

Dennis Crispin

President