Kathy's region of Frederick, Maryland caught our attention recently when we saw it had exploded to over 860 users in only 1.5 years! It turned out Kathy had a lot to do with that. We absolutely love her enthusiasm for pickleball as well as helping others discover the game and arrange play using PlayTime Scheduler. We asked Kathy a few questions about her experience:

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

I've been playing about 6 years now and fell in love with it while living in Connecticut. I learned the game from my brother in law, Brant, an early Ambassador of the game. I had coached volleyball for years and loved it, but to be able to be a competitor again for myself again, made me tap into my younger self! Then I moved to Frederick Maryland, saw the potential and the great people and decided this would be a new challenge. Becoming an Ambassador, PPR certified, and now working at Tuscarora Tennis Club is so incredibly rewarding and brings together the best parts of teaching, coaching, socializing and competitiveness.

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

It was about 2 years ago when my son Andrew visited from Virginia and I was discussing the vision of pickleball for Frederick. There was difficulty for people to get into groups, to know where to play etc. One time a group had just started playing when another group showed up and there wasn't enough space so they had to go find another court. PlayTime Scheduler avoids this kind of issue. My son told me it was all they used in his part of Virginia, then when traveling to Oregon, I discovered you had to use PlayTime to play. Then there was a friend in California who said their club used it. All avenues pointed to PlayTime Scheduler! As an Ambassador, it was an easy decision to bring it to Frederick.

How would you describe your local pickleball community?

Frederick, Maryland is a vibrant city outside of DC and everyone loves it. It has a small town feel, but a beautiful downtown, great restaurants, breweries, an active art community and incredible people. It's highly rated as one of the top desirable cities and the growth is impressive. As a new resident, the pickleball community was very welcoming, engaging, and had very connected groups. We moved here during COVID so that encouraged "pods" of players. Many of the groups have been friends for years and they organize and support each others' causes and fundraisers. People want to have fun, connect, get exercise. When we first introduced PlayTime Scheduler we had about 24 people signed up, 2 years later we have over 800. Amazing and so exciting!!!

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

It is an amazing tool and very easy to use. To be able to recognize pickleball locations, days, times, levels and who is coming is great for people locally and those traveling through your area. When first introducing it, there was some hesitancy because it was new and several groups liked using their text messages for communication. First I met with the other Ambassadors and other key people to describe the process and benefits.  Then:
 

1. Set up the account and gather all addresses, descriptions, and costs at the locations to post.
2. Order the cards provided by PlayTime Scheduler and give them to key people and everybody who plays.
3. For our City Department of Rec, one person taking charge of posting and making real-time changes was extremely helpful.
4. Post the link on Facebook and an explanation of how it works, with screenshots.
5. Always use explanations in the session notes about costs and other requirements, and set options such as minimum players needed. (Love that there are changes being made to make it even more user friendly!)