Reciprocal Play

See Reciprocal Pickleball Play to signup for this years events.

Reciprocal play allows Members of SCW Charter Clubs, with like interests, to form teams, leagues, groups, etc. and compete and/or socialize with other club members of like interests, from other age restricted communities. SCW has Rules, Regulations and Procedures (RRP’s) that state the rules that need to be followed and forms that need to be filled out. Each Charter Club that would like to participate may also have their own guidelines or rules for Club Member participation. SCW requires each Charter Club to approve the use of reciprocal play for their own club on an annual basis during a scheduled membership meeting.

See SCW Charter Club Rules, Regulations and Procedures for more information.

Key summarized points include:
It is the Association’s policy that only members of the Association (Owner Members, Associate Members and persons with Tenant Activity Cards) may be members of Chartered Clubs and, therefore, members of Chartered Club teams.

Both sport and non-sport Chartered Clubs may wish to reciprocate with established clubs in other age restricted communities for the purpose of competing or sharing social and common interests.

Age restricted community clubs/teams shall not be allowed to compete/meet with a SCW Chartered club/team using Association facilities unless the following conditions are met:

1. Advanced approval shall be required from the SCW Recreation Activities Manager who shall assist the club/team in developing a CR-14a.
   Note – The SCW Pickleball Club will have a form for each group to use when forming. The Club Board will be responsible for completing the necessary CR-14a required by the SCW Recreation Activities Manager. Details of this Club process and the Club form is attached.
2. The CR-14a establishes the parameters wherein SCW and the participating age restricted communities will make every reasonable effort to schedule play or visits, with a comparable number of times on similar facilities without being required to pay any fee,
3. The Chartered Club’s membership MUST annually approve at a regularly scheduled meeting of the members and their president or designated representative submit a CR-14a that specifies club/team reciprocal events including:
   • Projected activities
   • Participant qualifications (if applicable)
   • Proposed event schedule
   • Attach the schedule
4. In summary, reciprocal play is the sharing of community space/resources between eligible communities, eligible teams and eligible participants. Reciprocal play in SCW is offered to Charter Clubs as long as they follow the rules set forth by each of the different communities involved and the respective clubs involved. It may involve sporting clubs like softball, tennis, pickleball, etc. but it could also involve social clubs like dance, bridge, quilting, etc. Common interest teams or groups may form for competitive play or social interests or a combination of both.
5. Please remember that all Club members have the equal opportunity to form a like interest group, but it also takes another like interest team or group from other communities in order for reciprocal play to work. We have listed a few examples of possible pickleball teams or groups that could be formed .Please keep in mind that the list of possible teams could include a wide variety of people and interests.
   • Skill based teams for competition – examples: menʼs 3.0, ladies 5.0, beginners, mixed, etc.
   • Age based teams for competition or social interests – examples: men 70 and older, women 55 – 60, couples age ?, etc.
   • Social interests teams or groups – examples: 1 hour play & out to dinner group, no score just exercise group, recreational only group, etc.

IMPORTANT: Reciprocal Play is not one couple from SCW getting together with one couple from Sun City to play Pickleball to avoid paying guest fees!

Please note: the intention of the above procedures is to keep reciprocal play  fair, open to all
interested and all groups operating under the same guidelines.

How Reciprocal Play Will Work for the SCW Pickleball Club

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

• Even though many different potential groups could form it may not be practical for that particular group to use reciprocal play successfully, since it also requires a similar interest group from other eligible communities and the coordination of activities between communities.
• Reciprocal play will never interfere with any SCW Pickleball Club Scheduled Activity. This is because Reciprocal Play is controlled and managed by the Club and may only use court space and court time that is approved & allocated for their use. Allocated court space and court time will only be provided if the Club does not have a need for it. And if the Club does have a future need, reciprocal play will have to change, be cancelled or modified to fit the needs of the Club.
• Fair use of resources between communities needs to exist. Example: Assuming a team or group from each of four communities, wants to play once a week, this means that each community involved will travel to the host community for that play session. Each community involved needs to allocate their fair share of court space and time to do their part during the weekly rotation of play. In this example SCW Pickleball would allocate court space and time to host the four communities involved, once every four weeks.
• Each reciprocal play team or group will have to have coordinators to organize the play when they are the host community and insure all is ready for team play. The SCW coordinator(s) will also have to report to the SCW PB Club Board / Liaison and SCW Rec Management keeping track of information required of all who participate.
• How you can participate in reciprocal play? There are two ways:
  • 1st – if a team or group is already formed and you fit the criteria or like interest of the group, you are eligible to sign up for participation.
  • 2nd – if you do not fit the criteria or like interest of a team or group that is currently formed, you are welcome to form a new group that fits your criteria or like interest, and seek out other eligible communities to form the same.
    Example: you are a 65-year-old male and want to play with other 65 and older players: If a Menʼs 65 and older group is already formed and playing, you would be eligible to enroll and participate. However, if a group like this is not formed, you would be welcome to form a new group.
  • Note: Common sense needs to apply. If a social group is formed with the primary criteria as “getting some light exercise and enjoyment for beginners” a person seeking competitive play with higher skills would not fit into this group and does not belong, nor should be allowed to participate.
• If I am eligible and signed up for a reciprocal play team, how do I know when I get to play?
  • Once a team is formed and has been approved to start each involved community will allocate time and court space, based upon what is available, for the team to play.
  • Since times may be different from community to community, it will be important for a calendar with play times to be communicated to all participants. This is the job of the coordinators. Since our lives are busy we may not be able to make each play date or time. It will be important to have a fair access, sign up system to notify all eligible participants and to have subs and waiting lists established to fill empty slots as needed. If a person has to go on the waiting list, because court allocation is full, there needs to be a way to allow a rotation in for future play to the wait-listed person(s).
• Who will make sure that favoritism does not take place and the system is fair.
  • Reciprocal play is based upon the fair sharing of resources and must provide for fair access and play. If something would occur that does not promote fairness the SCW Rec Administration and/or the SCW Pickleball Club Board will step in to correct this.Note: In the following section, the SCW Pickleball Board has set forth specific procedures and reports that each Reciprocal Play Coordinator must complete and maintain. These procedures and reports are in place to support the objective of fairness of resources, access and play.

As reciprocal play hopefully grows for the members of the SCW Pickleball Club, the above informational areas may be amended and added to.