Doug has been hugely instrumental in helping his community in Lincoln, Nebraska get organized on PlayTime Scheduler. Just in this past year, over 700 new players registered, and participated in over 3,800 play sessions! We asked Doug a few questions about his experience.

How long have you been playing pickleball and where did you learn to play?

I retired in September of 2019. That same month, I met some pickleball folks doing a demonstration at a senior festival and talked with them but didn't try it. Then my son and his wife played in a YMCA rec tournament – neither had ever played before and in between games, I had a chance to try it out. A friend invited me to a church that had pickleball on 3 courts on Sunday afternoons and one of the guys there was a former PE teacher and took some of us to a court and got us started. By the end of the day, we were playing games and I was hooked.

When did you first join PlayTime Scheduler as a regional admin?

Our club, Pickleball Lincoln, was using PlayTime Scheduler for one indoor location.   Even though I didn't play at that location, I became aware of PTS and thought we could use it at our City Rec centers, so I started learning about PTS and contacted our City Rec Centers. They gave the go-ahead to post their pickleball schedules. I had handouts and spent time educating players at the City Rec centers on how to register and the value of PlayTime Scheduler. Very quickly, people adopted the system and practice of signing up so everyone would know who, when and where to play pickleball. I had several emails back and forth with staff at PTS to be sure I understood the program to use it effectively and I was so impressed that every email I sent resulted in a detailed reply with 24 hours. The support was amazing.

How would you describe your local pickleball community?

Pickleball Lincoln was started 5 years ago with 52 members.  We now have close to 1,100 members who have been very active in playing and raising funds to convert unused tennis courts into dual striped or dedicated pickleball courts. We work with the city parks and recreation department as well as local for-profit and non-profit organizations to offer and coordinate indoor and outdoor pickleball. A key aspect of our pickleball philosophy is Fun, Fitness and Friendship. One of our philosophies, borrowed from another organization, is our desire to create a unique pickleball experience where beginners and veterans are treated equally, sportsmanship is more important than wins or losses, friendships and camaraderie are treasured, and people are more important than points.
 

While we do offer competitive tournaments, it is the day-to-day recreational play that is most important to our members as they value the physical exercise as well as the social-emotional experience and relationships with other players. We are really proud of the positive culture found at our many pickleball locations.

What advice would you give to a new region considering setting up PlayTime Scheduler?

We have 3 active administrators who understand and manage PlayTime Scheduler in our community of 300,000. I think it best to have a small number of administrators who can communicate with each other and see to the scheduling and management of PTS. We have trained and authorized 14 individuals to post schedules for our city parks as well as all the indoor locations operated by various partners and organizations. This is perhaps a bit contrary to the philosophy of "anyone can post schedules" but it works in our community and avoids chaos in the system. There has to be good communication and it is important to have educational materials (handouts) for people to encourage them to sign up for scheduled play times.

Communication and cooperation among admins as well as individuals and organizations who post schedules is important. On January 1, 2021, we had 381 registered users of PTS and today, just one year later, we have 1,057 users. Players have really appreciated PTS and that's why our numbers have way more than doubled in a short time. We have also trained and added organizations (churches, YMCAs, and health clubs) to post schedules besides what our pickleball club manages and offers. PlayTime Scheduler has moved toward a "one stop shop" to find who, when and where to play pickleball. We use it for open or drop-in play, round robins, and also for beginner's lessons and skills and drills sessions. We also use it for private, invitation-only pickleball play.