October 2025 Habersham County Pickleball Club
- John Bigelow
- Nov 1
- 4 min read
New Board of Directors
Effective 1 November new HCPC Board members will assume their duties, and we gratefully thank those whose terms have expired for their time and dedication so the rest of us can play. Mike Bruce will remain and fill (cough!) P1's role as president. Current members John Bigelow, Amie Hebb and Rachel DeLise will continue to serve. In addition, new members; Brian Farrington, Cristin Wareham, Marva Griffith, Peggy Kuniansky and Alan Hoag, will join the Board.
Once again, our deepest thanks and appreciation to our departing members Peggy Fortson (P1 will remain as an advisor), Sara Shearouse, Paul Leet and Kimberly Perry. These are the folks who have been willing to put in time and effort to continue to build and grow our club membership and facilities. They have been responsible for negotiating with the Recreation Center, putting on events like Picklesham Palooza, MLP, PicklePals and drill groups. In the less glamorous and more tedious areas such as, banking, CD investment and administrative notes and filings they have taken on these tasks willingly and mostly cheerfully. Thank you all.
MOU Renewal
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is a Facilities and Services Agreement that outlines how the Habersham County Pickleball Club (HCPC) partners with Habersham County to manage and operate the Pickleball Program.
Originally approved in September 2023, the MOU was recently revised and reapproved at the October 20th Board of Commissioners meeting. This agreement defines the responsibilities and privileges of both the County and the Club to ensure the smooth and fair use of our pickleball facilities.
The MOU specifies the hours during which HCPC has management authority over both indoor and outdoor courts. During these times, the Club sets the guidelines for play — including “play-in” procedures such as paddle racks and winners stay/split formats.
Importantly, the MOU also allows the Club to exchange court reservation fees for a donation to a local charity or for facility improvements that benefit the community. For example, instead of paying a reservation fee for the MLP-H program, HCPC will donate all registration fees to the Habersham County Special Needs Basketball Program.
This arrangement reflects our ongoing commitment to “give back” to the County — a promise we made when we first advocated for dedicated pickleball courts. Whenever the Club reserves courts outside our regular posted hours (for MLP matches, tournaments, or teaching sessions, etc.), we ensure that, with the approval of the Habersham County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, a donation is made to a local charity or the Parks and Recreation Program in return.
RULES CLUES:
4.A.7. The Volley Serve. The volley serve is made by striking the ball without bouncing the ball off the playing surface and can be made with either a forehand or backhand motion. A proper volley serve includes the following elements:
4.A.7.a. The server’s arm must be moving in an upward arc at the time the ball is struck with the paddle.
4.A.7.b. The highest point of the paddle head must not be above the highest part of the wrist (where the wrist joint bends) when the paddle strikes the ball.
4.A.7.c. Contact with the ball must not be made above the waist.
4.A.8. The Drop Serve. The drop serve is made by striking the ball after it bounces on the playing surface and can be made with either a forehand or backhand motion. There is no restriction how many times the ball can bounce nor where the ball can bounce on the playing surface. A proper drop serve includes the following elements:
4.A.8.a. The server must release the ball from one hand only or drop it off the paddle face from any natural (un-aided) height.
4.A.8.b. When releasing the ball, the ball shall not be propelled in any direction or in any manner prior to striking the ball to make the serve.
4.A.8.c. The restrictions on the Volley Serve in Rule 4.A.7 do not apply to the drop serve.
4.A.9. Replay or Fault. In officiated matches, the referee may call for a replay if they are not certain that one or more of the requirements of the serve has been met. The replay must be called before the return of serve. The referee shall call a fault if they are certain that one or more of the requirements of the serve, other than Rule 4.A.6, has not been met. In non-officiated matches, if the receiver determines that manipulation of spin has been imparted prior to the serve, or the release of the ball is not visible, the receiver may call for a replay before the return of serve. In non-officiated matches, the receiver has no authority to call for replays or faults for service motion violations.
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HAB MLP
In case you missed it. We are in week 4 of this season played Sundays from 2:00- 5:00. Playoff will be November 16. Below is a listing of teams.
Premier Green: Lamar, Brandon, Kellie S., P1
Elite Green: Bobby D., Greg T., Whitney, Anny S.
Premier Blue: Mike, Ernie, Denyse B., Amie
Elite Blue: T.J., Austin, Kim, Tiffany
Premier Black: Travis, John B., Michelle, Kelly B
Elite Black: Larry, Alan, Barbara, Kristin
Premier Pink: Brian, Pickle Pete, Gwen, Elizabeth
Elite Pink: Bill, Greg E., Peggy A, Mary
Premier White: Paul, Graham, Denise S., Rena
Elite White: Ted, Larry, Celina, Cindy
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Bathroom Hours
The Rec Dept will soon be locking the bathroom adjacent to outdoor courts when they make their rounds at 8:30pm on weekdays and at 10:00pm on weekends. They will open daily at 7:00am.
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Holiday Luncheon
This year's Holiday Luncheon for all club members will be held at Rec Center on Wednesday December 10 at 12:00. Please bring a side dish, drinks, desert, etc. More details will follow with sign-up.
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HCPC Board
Our next Board meeting will be Wednesday, November 19 at 12:30 in the Large Meeting Room in the Aquatic Center. There is time on the agenda for your thoughts and suggestions. As always, we welcome you to join us.
And that will be enough of that.
John Bigelow
706-499-8588
