Serving pickleball enthusiasts in the Chippewa Valley area of Wisconsin, Chippewa Valley Pickleball Club (CVPB), intends to promote the game of pickleball throughout their community by providing an inclusive environment for players of all ages and skill levels to come together and play. CVPB holds club activities at six outdoor court locations and four indoor court locations in various areas throughout the Chippewa Valley to accommodate their over 500 members. “What started with a handful of people interested in growing pickleball in the Chippewa Valley has grown into a club… [that will have use of] 47 outdoor courts by the summer of 2024 as other municipalities in the Chippewa Valley have embraced pickleball and added courts,” says Karen McDermott, a CVPB Board Member and Membership Coordinator. Part of their rapid growth since the club’s inception in 2015 is due to their emphasis on communication with members throughout the club. Their primary vehicle for this communication is their members-only newsletters.
In 2020, the club’s leadership decided it was time to provide regular, formalized communications to their members to keep them apprised of the club’s programming, administrative updates, changes to court availability and more. McDermott highlights that their newsletters “give [them] a way to keep members informed of events and happenings…[and] recognize players who medal in tournaments around the state and country.” Within these newsletters, CVPB provides various pickleball resources and media sources that may be of interest to their members. Further, it gives them an opportunity to notify members of upcoming events they can be on the lookout for and provide specific links for event registration. Throughout the newsletter, members can find a variety of tips and tricks for the sport as well as “memes for a good laugh.” One of the more humorous sections of their newsletter features funny quotes heard around the courts from players during pickleball games.
On the administrative side of things, CVPB utilizes the newsletter to relay USPA rule changes so their members are always aware of new rules. Moreover, their newsletters offer reminders for membership renewal and give more information on how members can renew their membership.
While each edition of the newsletter may contain significantly different information based on relevancy, CVPB’s president, Greg Helgeson, enjoys having a “short article for each letter” called ‘The President’s PickleCorner,’ which is a personalized letter to members. Further, members can expect that each newsletter will have a ‘tip of the month’ and feature a different pickleball drill for members to try next time they are on the courts.
In addition to being informative and helpful to members, CVPB’s goal with their newsletters is “for people to enjoy and look forward to the newsletter.” One way they seek to do this is by keeping it short and sweet so members know they will not have to filter through extraneous information within the newsletter to find the information they are interested in. While they will run longer articles on occasion, they have found their members tend to prefer the shorter reads. They “want [members] to be able to quickly get through the letter and simply enjoy it.”
To best serve their members, CVPB has chosen to post their newsletters in a members-only section of their website, allowing members to be the first to hear about club updates and news. They hope “the newsletter [is] part of the reason people join the club” and have had a generally positive response from members regarding their newsletters. Since they began publishing the newsletters, CVPB has specifically improved on visuals within the newsletters as well seeking to enhance the content.
Until the fall of 2023, CVPB’s newsletter publisher was a different Board Member and USPA Ambassador. This Board Member originally got the newsletter off the ground and continues to support its publication as McDermott has taken over responsibility for the newsletter. They have found Pages to be an adequate program to compile and publish the newsletters.
Having a variety of benefits for both members and the club, CVPB’s newsletters allow the club to provide members with regular communication in an exciting way that keeps them coming back for each edition. McDermott notes that the newsletters are “totally focused on [their] club and its members,” making it a fun and personalized way to engage with their members.
