Message from the Chair (10-28-25)

Dear PCVG Volunteers and Participants,

I decided to undertake this leadership role with the PCVG because I have great respect and gratitude for all of the volunteers past and present who have devoted significant time and effort to enhance our pickleball experience in the Villages. I have benefited from those efforts since I moved to the Villages in 2017.  I hope that my experience as a corporate attorney and pickleball lover will enable me to make a meaningful contribution to the Board and the organization.

Being new to the Board, I have conducted my own extensive investigation into all of the circumstances that led to the recent controversy and leadership changes.  I have used what I learned to develop a set of recommended changes to strengthen the Bylaws and procedures and to prevent future conflict that could damage the organization.  I will update you as those changes are made.

I want to assure you that the activities being provided by our volunteers have not skipped a beat and have not been affected by the controversy and leadership changes.  Our volunteers are currently serving over 1117 Villagers who are participating in PCVG sponsored activities, and that number continues to grow. The Board is working hard to support our volunteers and to make positive changes.

I also have a responsibility to address certain questions and concerns that have been raised as we move forward.  Some of you have requested increased transparency relating to the management and financials of the organization, and that is a top priority for me. In my investigation, I found that the Board has always made a genuine effort to be fully transparent; but the players didn’t always know where to find the information they wanted.  In order to close that gap, I will be providing updates and disclosures by sending out regular Messages from the Chair to make sure you are all fully informed and up to date.

The Board also just made the decision to establish a dedicated PCVG Facebook page.  The PCVG lost control over the Villages Pickleball Community page, so we had no choice but to develop our own site.  The new Facebook site will be “PCVG in the Villages,” and it will be devoted primarily to PCVG activities and announcements. It will also include posts by other organizations and individuals sponsoring non-PCVG pickleball activities of interest to all of us. That page will help keep you informed and up to date. I will be announcing the launch of our new Facebook page soon and providing you with a link that you can use to join. We hope that you will sign up right away and become an active user.

Another important issue that I began to address at the last Board meeting is the issue of membership. As you know, the previous Board adopted a $20 annual fee to be paid by any player who participates in one or more PCVG activities that are managed by the MyPBGames software program.

That program has been used for a number of years by The Villages Competitive Pickleball Club (TVCPC) led by Bob Hanna, and Bob tells me it has been well worth the expense they have incurred.  Historically, TVCPC has charged $6 per participant for each activity managed by MyPBGames. The PCVG Board decided that it would be more efficient to implement a single annual fee of $20, regardless of how many PCVG activities a player chooses to participate in.  The $20 fee will also cover all of the other operating expenses of the PCVG which, for all of the previous years, has been paid by our founder Steve Richter and our volunteers.

The previous Board decided to label the fee a “membership fee,” which actually referred to membership in MyPBGames. Additional wording changes were adopted on the PCVG website and in communication materials that have been interpreted to mean that anyone who paid the $20 fee had become a member of the PCVG. The fact is, however, that the PCVG was never intended to be a membership organization and has never had members. Its stated purpose, as set forth in the Bylaws, is to be a purely volunteer organization providing organized activities supporting pickleball to any pickleball player in the Villages who wishes to participate. The Board never took formal action to convert the organization to a membership organization.

The Board is now in the process of updating all of the terminology on the website and other communications to convert the concept of membership to participation.  The fee will be referred to as a service fee that will be paid by all participants who will become “members” of MYPBGames.

I have also received some questions about the voting process and voting rights, and I want to briefly explain those.  The organization is managed by a group of volunteers who fall into one of three titled positions: 1. Officers of the Board (4), 2. Activity Directors (8), and 3. Activity Leaders (46).   Officers are elected to two-year staggered terms, and Activity Directors are up for election every year.  All Officers, Activity Directors, and Activity Leaders have a vote for Officer elections.  Only Activity Leaders vote for the Activity Director who will represent them for their activity.  The Officers and Activity Directors have voting rights with respect to all matters that come before the Board. 

Another outstanding issue is the claim that the file of email addresses for all of the players who have registered their email address with the PCVG was compromised and transferred to someone outside the organization.  We are conducting a complete investigation of that claim, and I can tell you that so far, we have not found any credible evidence that supports that claim.  We have determined that a number of players with emails in that database did not receive any communication in connection with the petition that was emailed to thousands of players.  I will be announcing the final results of that investigation as soon as it is completed.

In the next update, I also will be announcing the re-start of the 4.5 rating clinic, a revised complaint process, and the results of the elections for the Activity Director positions among other things.  

Thank you for supporting the PCVG by participating in our activities.  I look forward to seeing you out on the courts.

Doug McClintock

PCVG Chairman