Thanks to a washing machine breakdown this afternoon I found myself sitting alone in Dolly's Wash House in Bellefonte. In my haste to get heavy wet clothes into a full wash cycle I forgot to grab a book to entertain me while I finished that unfortunate load. I didn't feel like scrolling through my phone so I sat back and started to think about topics for this week's Pickle Jar. One bullet point I decided to list was a plea to ground balls on the court when you finish play. More on that below. I had joked to a few about renewing an old job skill of frisking suspects. When that bubbled back up in the laundromat a series of threads or dominos took me back to 1979. It was either late January or early February and I was a trainee in the municipal police academy being held at the Pennsylvania State Police Academy in Hershey, PA. Our class was larger than usual so they had split us into two squads. Attending the academy were two female trainees. There was one in each squad. The day came for demonstration and practice in frisking subjects. The instructor picked a student and demonstrated the proper technique for doing a thorough search to find weapons or contraband that may be hidden on a perpetrator's body. Finally the instructor gave the order to pair up and practice what had been taught. It was amazing how quickly all my male classmates managed to pair up with each other. In less than a minute Donna and I stood about 20 feet apart. While a few low giggles carried through the air the instructor looked at Donna and I and told us to get over the wall and get started. I am proud to say that we handled like the mature young adults we were. FYI, in my 34.5 years on the job, I always had the luxury of working in an area where we had a number of female officers available to assist so I never had to grope a "stranger" and at least until I went through airport security at Shanghai in 2019 I had never had an unknown female grope me. My agent didn't go for any of that back of the hand stuff. Oh, the memories. OK, let's find our way out of that rabbit hole and blast off to the Pickleverse.

1. Pickleballs - When you finish a game and are rotating out, please leave any balls you have with the players waiting to play their second game or place in a safe, visible spot for players to access them for the next game. An example from today was that I set up two courts on the main gym and placed 3 balls on each court before play started. When I stopped over about an hour later to see if things were running smoothly, 6 balls shrunk to only 2 balls. So check your pockets and pouches when leaving a court.

2. Rotation - The weather has driven most players inside and Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays at The Centre have been busy with 20+ players usually each of those days. Most folks are squared away on the rotation practice but for any new players let me explain the typical rotation. At the beginning of a session and everyone is playing their first game, the norm is for the winning team to split and the losing team to rotate out if 2 or 3 players are waiting to play. If only person is on the side, then one player from the losing team should rotate out. After the opening round the deciding criteria for staying or going is how many consecutive games have you played. Usually after you play 2 consecutive games you should rotate out. If it somehow ends up that everyone has played 2 consecutive games then you go to the winners stay and spit. With 7 courts usually available at The Centre we have not had to flex to a 4 in 4 out rotation or the paddle board. Should the numbers get there I will post some guidelines then. The key is to try and make sure everyone gets the best chance to maximize their opportunity to play.

3. On The Sideline - one of the great things about the group at The Centre is the sense of community and that we enjoy each other's company. The hiccup with that, mostly in the second hour, is that sideline chit chats engage folks to the point they don't see that spaces on far courts have opened up. Please continue to enjoy engaging in social opportunities but stay mindful of activity on the courts and be ready to move on to replace players coming off or wave off that you are electing to sit this one out.

4. C3 Sports Tentative Holiday Schedule - Monday the 23rd: Open.  Tuesday the 24th and Wednesday the 25th: Closed.  Thursday the 26th and Friday the 27th:  December the 30th:  Open.  They should know by the next Pickle Jar if that is a set schedule so be sure to check back.

5. The Centre Tentative Holiday Schedule - Monday the 23rd: Open (normal sessions). Tuesday the 24th: Open for drop-in 0900 to 1100 hours and reserved courts from 1100 to 1300 hours. Wednesday the 25th: Closed.  Thursday the 26th and Friday the 27th: Drop-in from 1000 to 1200 hours and reserved courts from 1200 to 1400 hours. Monday the 30th, Tuesday the 31st, AND January 1st: drop-in 0900 to 1100 hours and reserved courts 1100 to 1300 hours (Just the 3 courts on the main gym side). Any changes or corrections will be posted in next Friday's Pickle Jar.

6. Weekends At The Centre - Over the Thanksgiving weekend The Centre honored a request to switch to a Sunday drop-in format instead of the reserved court system. They agreed. The management's intention was that it would be a one-off. The weekend courts are back on their reserved status. If you wish to play at The Centre on a weekend you need to reserve and pay ($40) for a court(s). If you want to reserve all 4 courts, that would be $160. How you split up the per player cost within your group is up to you. Remember also that payment is due at the time of making the reservation. Lastly, variations of the reservation/pricing format can only be changed by either Michael or Ray. The young men and ladies that work the desk do not have the authority to alter the session format.

7. Nights At The Centre - with the transition to the winter sports schedule, there are no evenings available for pickleball. There may be the occasional oddball night, the best thing to do is check with Michael or Ray.

8. Who Wants To Party - check below for a flyer about a group get-together on Thursday at Gigi's.

9. Selling Stuff - OK the attempt to use Facebook to advertise pickleball equipment for sale by community members did not work. I am still working on a better delivery method. For now though Janise is looking to sell a new pair of pickleball shoes, size 8.5. See the photo below. If you are interested contact Janise at thecrowsnest4@comcast.net

10. Approved Paddles - I was asked if the new Aero paddles were approved for tournament play.  I just double checked and all of the competition paddles are USAPA approved.

11. Tip Of The Week - If you get pushed back by an aggressive shot from an opponent, work your way back to the NVZ. Everyone is getting better and better at sending toe nibblers at your feet if you are playing too far off the NVZ line. Reclaim your turf!
    
    

Stay warm and I hope to see you on the courts soon. Below are the sign-up links for The Centre and C3 Sports.

C3 Sports:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0B4BA5AA28AB9-54037080-c3pickleball

The Centre:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0B4BA5AA28AB9-54037057-nvsc

Randy Hoffman

Holbrook PIckleball Ambassador

https://holbrookpickleball.com/

Discount Code = RANDYHOFFMAN20