MEMORANDUM

From: PAQ Committee
To: Queensland Pickleball Clubs
Re: Membership and Affiliation

Dear Pickleball friends

Firstly, thank you for all your efforts to date with the development of sport in your region. We realize that there has been a lack of information coming through from the state and national level and would like to thank you for your patience while the board of Pickleball Australia worked to establish a functioning structure.

Pickleball Association of Queensland Inc. (PAQ) has now been formally recognized by the Office of Fair Trading and we are able to function under the new constitution so we can now start establishing processes and procedures to support the growth and development of pickleball in Queensland.

There will be a National newsletter sent out to the general pickleball community in the coming week. However, Pickleball Australia felt it was important to pre-empt this with an email to established clubs. 

The following information has been provided by Pickleball Australia to PAQ for distribution regarding fees and affiliation of clubs. 

1. PAQ is presently affiliated with Pickleball Australia under the old association name of PAA Inc. We are presently negotiating the affiliation agreement moving forward and it is expected this will happen in the coming weeks.

2. PAQ is finalizing an affiliation agreement for clubs and individual members.

3. The National levy is $30 and State levy $10 per person. This levy will be reviewed annually.

4. Clubs and States can add to this levy for their annual fee. PAQ is not adding to the State levy for 2020. Establishment of a national membership portal will allow for central collection and distribution of these fees; which will support Registers of Members and finance reporting.

5. We realize that a number of clubs are presently mid-membership year and will be concerned about the expense of $40/ member.

6. Pickleball Australia has proposed that for 2020, each club can negotiate an appropriate fee/ member to be paid based on (i) the fee that was collected by the club for 2020 and (ii) the remaining period left in the membership year for financial members.

7. For ongoing membership from the point of affiliation, as stated, a membership management software will be utilized to centralize membership fee collection. This provides an automatic collection of data for your club to update and maintain its Register of Members, with no ongoing need for you to pass on information to State and National levels. Each club will have access to their Register in the membership database. Support will also be provided for membership administrators by Revolutionise – the company that has been engaged.

8. Pickleball Australia and PAQ will have access to their respective membership data as required legally by their governing bodies at the state and national levels.

9. For club members to access the portal, to join a club or renew membership, it is necessary for you to let PAQ know what your club levy will be so this can be added to your club membership cost. i.e. $30+$10 + club levy.

10. When a member accesses the portal, they are able to indicate via drop-down menus the club (and therefore State) they wish to join which will automatically apply their membership fee. 11. You will really enjoy the ease of membership tracking, of communicating, and renewals as well, with this Nation-wide service for all Clubs and members 12. Other benefits you will receive as members of your State and Pickleball Australia include: 

➢ national strategic planning platform and support for development at state and regional level,
➢ supporting the actions needed for recognition of Pickleball as a sport
➢ development of programs for schools, and expansion of player numbers
➢ registered accreditation programs for coaches and referees,
➢ resources for clubs, coaches, and referees,
➢ promotion and support of all pickleball events hosted by Members,
➢ National calendar of sanctioned tournaments,
➢ member rates for involvement in national, state, regional and local tournaments,
➢ membership management tool (including access to club specific data) with discounted rates for development of club and state portals if requested,
➢ a national insurance program – public liability, professional indemnity and management liability (as identified).
➢ hosted platform for website development.
➢ the opportunity to be involved with the development of this sport

Alternatively, if states and clubs choose not to affiliate, they do not have access to the services provided nationally. Individual players who are not members with an affiliated state or club will not receive the same access to tournaments and courses recognized by Pickleball Australia and its affiliates. 

We realize this is a great deal of information and will take some thought to absorb. Don’t hesitate to send through any questions to secretary@queenslandpickleball.org. The executive of PAQ are also keen to have a ZOOM meeting with Presidents, or their representatives of all clubs in Queensland, a date will be forthcoming and of course open for negotiation.

We look forward to working with you all

Regards

Jen Ramamurthy
PAQ President on behalf of PAQ Committee