Janie Morris
LHCPBA President
WELCOME MEMBERS!
Greetings LHCPBA Members!
I am excited for the 2022-2023 season of Pickleball in Lake Havasu City and, on behalf of the full time local players, would like to welcome back our Snowbird players both new and existing members! The Our current Membership has 377 players so far in 2023, including over 110 new members. Here's some of the things the Lake Havasu City Pickleball Association has planned or completed so far this year.
1. Final Four Courts Construction
The biggest news of this year was that Mike Delaney provided $250K in funds to build the Final Four pickleball courts at Dick Samp Memorial Park completing the 16 court complex that started in 2017. After the final bids were received in June, we were told that the bids came in higher than expected requiring an additional $122K for the contractor that was selected. This could have ended the project but our amazing donor Mike agreed to pay the additional cost! We are eternally grateful for this amazing donation and the final four courts were complete and open on 2/21/23.
Although the courts themselves are constructed, the lighting for a set of four courts is not included in that cost so we have fund raising ongoing to secure the dollars needed to pay for lights on the Final Four courts. The sleeves will be installed during construction so we are ready to go with light installation once the funding is secured.
2. PickleFest Annual Tournament
Our biggest fund raising event each year is our annual tournament. This last tournament in March, PickleFest 2022, was our first sanctioned tournament and utilized all twelve courts. We had a great turnout and the most amazing volunteer team ever assembled! Now we look forward to PickleFest 2023 in late February (will be non-sanctioned) and include the final four courts for a total of sixteen courts.
3. DSP Courts Assignment by Skill Level Group
We conducted a five week “Trial Run”, with the City's approval, last February 2022 through the end of March, to organize recreational “open” play on the DSP courts by skill level groups. After making an adjustment in court allocations in week two, the “Trial Run” successfully met its goals and objectives.
We opened our final four courts on 2/21/23 and designated them at Challenge Courts for 3.5+ from sunrise to noon and then open 3.5+ drop-in play the remainder of the day. We are conducting a second trial run to experience how well this is working and will adjust as necessary based on feedback.
4. Custom Brick Fundraising
Custom brick sales began in March 2022 with all proceeds earmarked for lighting on four courts. Phase 1 of bricks sales completed on 9/20 and the first batch of bricks has been installed by the City in the area between the upper courts known as the “alley”. Phase 2 of the Brick Sales is currently underway and you can buy a custom brick on Signup Genius.
5. Association Member Only Activities
We are offering Association sponsored Member activities again this year such as weekly Round Robins by skill level, Champs of the Court play, Mini Singles play, intermediate/advanced intermediate clinics, etc To meet that goal, I am chartering a new committee called Organized Recreational Play to define, plan and organize recreational play events for members. I need some folks willing to volunteer to be on this very exciting committee including someone willing to be the Chair. If you are interested, please email me (Janie Morris) directly.
Feel free to contact me with any suggestions, concerns or observations that will help improve our mutual pickleball experience.
See you on the courts!
Janie Morris, President
LHCPBA
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