Effective Ideas for Ambassadors

1. Identify locations where PB is played within your area & advise name of facility, address, hours of play, private or public, contact person with phone # and email address to the Director so information can be published on usapa.org. You must also maintain/update this information.
2. Identify possible future locations where PB could be played, such as county/city/private gyms, senior centers & schools. Locations where badminton (indoor) or tennis (mostly outdoor) is played, are prime possibilities. Links to badminton places to play.
3. Identify individuals or groups of persons, such as youth/family/seniors who are potential players, and try to organize regular play for that group.
4. For upcoming Clinics, tournaments & other events, identify and contact local media, and let them know about our great game of PB. Give them a human interest story about your players. Encourage the members of the media to come out & see what is happening, and how much fun we have. PB is a newer game with an unusual name, making for good readership. Refer them to usapa.org for our history and to view our promotional DVD. It makes it easy for them to write their story about this new game with the funny name.
5. Utilize the USAPA Promotion DVD to demonstrate our game to possible players & officials. The DVD is also on the Home Page of usapa.org.
6. Compile a computer data base of players for communication purposes.
7. Advertise/organize a training clinic for new players. Have handouts describing playing tips, equipment sources and PB websites. Publicize such a coming event in the local media. Arrangements for regular subsequent play for interested players is a must.
8. Organize training clinics periodically for beginning and/or intermediate players who wish to improve their games. Arrange for a top player in your area, who is a good instructor, to conduct the clinic.
9. Organize groups of players into clubs when it might be advantageous for such a structure. This may be necessary for recognition purposes ie in a senior community when other sport groups have clubs. An added advantage is that continued leadership is assured and the unit becomes stronger as players will have a common focus. Click here for Sample Club Bylaws (doc file).
10. When there are more than a couple of clubs in an area, organize a Council of Clubs where leaders can get together periodically to share ideas, common concerns, dates for tournaments etc.
11. Conduct periodic training for referees, especially before tournaments.
12. Promote the use of the Training Room on the website, to help players improve their games.
13. Organize in-house tournaments and help facilitate interclub tournaments with other clubs in the area.
14. Promote that area tournaments be Sanctioned by USAPA. The information & application for this process is in the Tournament section of the website.
15. Encourage Tournament Directors in your area to utilize the Tournament Software function, also in the Tournament section of the website.
16. Be alert for reports that new sporting facilities are being considered for your area, either government or private, both indoor and outdoor. Getting in at the planning stage can get needed courts. Court dimensions and area needed is shown on the website under Pickleballzone/Diagrams.
17. If these facilities are primarily for family/youth, offer to teach pickleball to these groups! Get other players in the area to help.
18. Have USAPA Membership Applications in your gym bag, and at every opportunity, mention the goals of the USAPA organization and ask people to join.
19. Start a Pickleball website, a great communication tool, and a way to publicize local happenings.
20. If you are a "snowbird", or regularly do not spend the majority of your time in your designated area, we suggest you recruit an 'assistant' who would be available most of the time. Use this person to assist you in any way you can. Ask for their opinions & ideas too.
21. For additional ideas, read this article about "Starting Pickleball in a Community. "
22. Always strive to gain new USAPA members. Carry applications in your gym bag. Access the Member List to determine who are already members in your Local Area & get them to assist with recruiting. You can accomplish this by clicking 'Show All' then sorting by city/state or province. If you do not know the User Name/PW, contact the Director or your Regional Ambassador.  In this manner you can determine who are not members & whom you want to target for membership.

Earl Hill email
Director