Pickleball Magazine 8-1 | Page 69

published at the national and regional level , and we have five more articles in the pipeline .
Within our strategy we identified festivals , tournaments , leagues , and ranking systems as important for player development and sustaining player interest . In 2022 , PbE held 58 events and collaborated on another four . In comparison , we held 22 events and collaborated on three in 2021 . Consequently , our gross income line , which was £ 35k in 2021 , was forecasted to be over £ 100k for 2022 .
We have begun to provide our tournament results to DUPR and Pickleball Global and when we can automate it , we will also send our league results . This will address our identified strategy to provide player ranking .
We provided a summary of grassroots development at the meeting . The awareness-raising public relations activity creates inquiries to clubs who offer free taster sessions . Additionally , directors , county representatives and pickleball leaders set up taster sessions for tennis clubs and other venues . We discussed identifying a way to track taster sessions as a growth key indicator .
Similarly with schools , we respond to inquiries for taster sessions or PE teachers to be taught how to play so that they can introduce the game to children , but we don ’ t have a formal tracking process that covers the whole country .
Three initiatives that have helped fast-track growth have been the rollout of pickleball to David Lloyd Clubs , working with Leisure Centre groups , and rollout of pickleball to University of the Third Age ( U3A )
programs around the country . U3A is a nationwide network of learning groups aimed at encouraging older people to share their knowledge , skills , and interests in a friendly environment . Dave Pechey , our Cheshire County representative , wrote an article for the U3A magazine about the benefits of pickleball and the success of several groups around the country and offered to help other areas to set up . Since his article , nine groups have been formed . We have around 600 U3A PbE members . Also , to support grassroots , we have made donations of equipment in England and Uganda . We have also made charity donations to Ukraine and Boot Out Breast Cancer through fundraising efforts .
We identified some challenges and made recommendations to solve them . It ’ s difficult to delegate some activities because our systems don ’ t enable compartmentalization of data . We need to move to a CRM system to enable access of information while meeting GDPR , i . e ., role-based access . The scale of activity in terms of events means we can ’ t rely just on volunteer resources , so we identified two positions we want to hire . Additionally , our turnover and volume of invoices is such that financial reconciliation for year end is too time-intensive . We need to use a software accounting package to manage monthly income and expenditures .
Finally we acknowledged and thanked the army of volunteers making a difference in helping grow pickleball . We just presented the 2021 Volunteer of the Year award to Louise Stephens , and we will be opening nominations for 2022 Volunteer of the Year very soon .
At the end of the presentation , we had 30 + minutes of questions and discussions before our third AGM meeting was closed .
I share this information with the pickleball community in the hope that it will encourage other associations to share their player / membership / places-to-play information so that we can see how momentum is building around the globe . •
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2023 | MAGAZINE 67