Annual Report

Annual Report from Rainer

We opened officially July 15, 2020 and now have been in operation six months. An amazing amount has happened at Pictona in that short time. We have nearly 600 members with about 140 of you coming to play each day. We have many visitors coming from around the state to play at Pictona. As a member of the Pictona Club, here is information that should be of interest you.

Financial

Our income comes from these sources:

            Membership Dues                 $192,500

            Donations/sponsorships      $116,000

            Kitchen sales                             $80,000

            Player shop                               $30,600

            Tournament                              $37,200

            Instruction                                   $7850

                        Total                                                   $464,150

Our cost of goods sold (Kitchen & player shop)        $86,600

Expenses

            Payroll                                    $217,400

            Office Supplies                          $27,250

            Maintenance                             $43,400

            Tournament                              $11,350

                        Total                                                   $299,400

Net income                                                                     $78,150

We doubled our projection of members. Thank you. And we have been fortunate to obtain several major sponsorships. Our tournament was quite profitable for us. The Kitchen underperformed significantly. Covid-19, personnel, and menu options appear to be the major factors reducing sales. More about the Kitchen below.

Employees

We employ 16 people, 5 full-time and 11 part-time.

            Judy Ginn, General Manager

            Sarah Lockett, Assistant Manager/Event Manager

            Josh Ricasolo, Kitchen Manager

            Rynn Goldstein, Senior Activity Center Manager

            Vanessa Martinez, Maintenance

They are assisted by

            Adria Kelley, Welcome Desk

            Al Heilman, Welcome Desk

            Keith Howell, Welcome Desk

            Richard Dunn, Maintenance

            Roger Wolford, Welcome Desk

            Sigrid Preissler, Welcome Desk

            Briana Stavoloa, Server

            Paige Clouse, Server

            Boez Link, Cook

New Board

We have a new Pictona Club Board who looks after your interests:

            Dan Boyle, President

            Andy Melville, Vice President

            Cris Higgins, Secretary

            Terri Jacobsen, Treasurer

            Mimi Cook, Past President

            Bonnie Melville, Membership Director

            Harold Wheeler, USA Pickleball Ambassador, ex officio member

            Julie Martens, ex officio member

            Rainer Martens, ex officio member

We owe a debt of gratitude to our past board: Mimi Cook, president, Connie Wilson, Communication Director, and Chuck Mecklem, treasurer. Our VP and secretary had resigned earlier in the year.

Volunteers

Much of what we do is made possible by you volunteering to help. We had 100+ members help with the Fall Vintage tournament. We have members teaching classes, helping with our youth program, making minor repairs, and serving as ambassadors. I’m unable to name everyone so I won’t name any of you. But please know your help is appreciated, keeping our operating costs lower and helping each other to enjoy Pictona. Thank you!

Instruction

At your request, we developed a series of courses for members and non-members. Here are some stats for you:

            PB101 – 50 classes with 450 students

            70 became members (15%)

            PB110 – 4 classes with 25 students

            PB201 – 13 classes with 87 students

            PB301 – 8 classes with 47 participants

We had one clinic (group instruction) conducted by Coach Mo, Richard Movsessian. We have an outstanding group of private instructors with whom you can schedule sessions.

Sylvia Whitehouse

David Heinze

Scott Siewert

Mike Pascale

Lu Kandt

We appointed Lu Kandt as our Instructional Program Director beginning January 1, 2021. Lu will coordinate our courses and clinics and serve as the liaison with the private instructors.

Education

Our ambition at Pictona is to be a leading educational center for the sport of pickleball. Besides the instructional courses described above, we have done and are doing the following educational activities.

• We offered referee training with a series of classes taught by Walt Hooker and Bill Cook. We will continue these in the near future.
• We have scheduled a series of classes on the Rule Changes for Sunday, January 24. Announcement about this coming soon.
• Mary Burns is leading our juniors initiative with the first session held January 16.
• First Steps: Lu Kandt and Mary Burns have developed a curriculum for teachers and instructors to use when introducing pickleball to 4^th to 8^th The manuscript is now being edited and prepared for production. It will be offered as a pdf ebook. Our intention is to conduct workshops in this area and perhaps around the state to teach teachers how to use First Steps.

Court Utilization

With the cooler weather players have shifted from courts 1-8 (under cover) to the 16 outdoor courts. There have been a few occasions when all the outdoor courts are in use, mainly on the weekends.

We continually monitor how our 24 courts are being used. At your request we reserved courts and times for novice play, intermediate play, and advanced play. We have designated certain courts for various skill levels. And we launched the ladder tournament. We’ll begin league play in February.

Tournaments

The Fall Vintage Tournament was a big success. We had 635 players and nearly 100 volunteers help conduct the event. We netted $32,000 which helps support your club.

Our next event is the Florida Cup to be held March 27^th, a one-day event for “team” pickleball. Teams of six players, gender-neutral, will comprise a team. Teams will play each other (3 matches) organized by 4 skill levels – 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, and 4.5. You’ll learn more about this event soon.

The Humana-Island Doctors Bainbridge Cup will be held here April 7-11, a 5-day international tournament. We expect 700-900 players. Pictona has a special arrangement whereby we get to advance register 100 players at a $10 discount from the $125 fee. This tournament is organized by skill and age so I encourage you to participate in this special opportunity. You’ll be playing at your level of pickleball.

We thought we would be hosting the Atlantic South Regional Tournament in October but after 7 months of extending a contract to the organizers they decided not to hold the tournament at Pictona. We have replaced that event with the 2^ndAnnual Fall Vintage Tournament which will be held on the same dates, October 21-24, 2021, a 4-day event.

Facility

We continue to make minor improvements to Pictona. The restrooms in Preservation Palace have been fully renovated thanks to Bill Cook. We will install new fans on those restroom walls.

We installed windscreens on the 8 covered courts to reduce the backlight problem when looking south. We battle those windscreens when it gets windy and have had trouble keeping the support wires connected but have now fixed those – again.

Bill also built a 4-foot wall along courts 1-2 to keep water from washing onto the courts. Thanks Bill.

New picnic tables in the Pavilion and by court 8. More squeegees for removing water on the court.

Kitchen

It’s a challenging service that we want to provide to our members and open to the public. We had our kitchen manager and his cooks inexplicitly walk out. We closed the Kitchen, hired a new Kitchen Manager – Josh Ricasolo – and new staff and reopened in late November. Based on your responses to a survey about the menu we made changes. Our topsellers are burgers, California chicken wrap, and chicken wings. We added more wraps, flatbreads, smoothies, and quiche. Just this week we have begun offering Pick 2 – your choice of a cup of soup, small salad, or half a sandwich for $7.

We’re working to improve the turnaround time from when you order to when the food is served. Our challenge is to not over-staff but to have enough help on hand when we get busy. We appreciate your understanding when we have an unexpected rush.

Please keep in mind that the Kitchen is a service for our members, for you. When the Kitchen is profitable it helps support Pictona. When it is not we have to look at raising membership dues. I’m happy to report that sales have been increasing the last two weeks. If you haven’t visited us lately, stop in for some delicious food, a smoothie, or nice cold beer.

We welcome your continued feedback about the Kitchen menu and service. Insert your comments in the suggestion box located on the counter or access the Suggestion box on our website.  

Player Shop

Julie Martens has overseen the development of the Player Shop. Paddles and balls are our best sellers, with paddles from seven different manufacturers available for you to demo before purchasing. We have lots of different shirts available with our Pictona logo and we carry a full line of Pickleball Bella skirts and tops for the ladies. If you are looking for a pickleball gift for someone special, check out our thermal cups (perfect for evening happy hour!), towels, and hats. And in the near future Pictona gift cards will be available to use in the Player Shop and the Kitchen.

Table Tennis

We don’t know what happened to our table tennis club. We surmise that they found it difficult to play with masks on which we required. So the tables are there as well as a table tennis ball machine to practice hitting. Give the game a try when its cool outside.

Recreation Games

Have you tried your hand at shuffleboard, croquet, bocce ball, or horseshoes? They are all there waiting for you, and now you can put your skill in these sports to a test in the world-renowned Martens Cup. Play begins in February. Register at the Welcome Desk.

Harold Wheeler chairs a croquet club that plays every Wednesday morning at 9:30 am. You are invited to join in. You’ll have an opportunity to dethrone the current champion – that’s me.

Senior Activity Center

Directed by Rynn Goldstein and through the generous support of Florida Health Care Plans, we offer the recreational games to the community at no charge, and we host a series of fitness and wellness classes. Check with the Welcome Desk, ask Rynn, or go to https://pictona.org/senior-activity-center/ to learn more.

Community Gardens

We have an outstanding Garden Club who oversees our children and adult gardens as well as our hydroponic garden. Yes, we are growing lettuce in the hydroponic towers to be served in our Kitchen. When have you last had fresh cut lettuce in your salad?

Website

We’ve put a lot of effort into providing you with an informative Pictona website. Check it out every day for updates.

More News

Whoaa! There is more to tell you about our Membership Committee’s activities, Sarah’s event planning, Rynn’s work with community agencies, but this update is getting too long. I’ll share more with you in the February update.

When you get a chance thank our staff for their work to provide you with not only outstanding facilities but great programs and services.

Rainer Martens