We, the undersigned, all active pickleball player-members of RSFTC, all who reside within the RSF covenant, hereby request the RSF Association to immediately authorize TEN sponsored pickleball memberships, to be filled by select and qualified former RSF covenant residents.
We are confident this action will strengthen our club's culture, activities and financial strength, as well as conform with current membership rules for tennis and golf.
Historically, the RSF Association consistently allowed club families to retain their memberships if their covenant residency was greater than 5 years. This policy applied to all three membership types: golf, tennis and social.
When the Association approved a new category of pickleball membership in August 2019, it allowed prior covenant residents to join if they were either current golf or social members. In addition, it delayed authorizing ten "sponsored" pickleball memberships for a period of six months in order to evaluate the program's growth.
Seven non-covenant social or golf members were accepted into pickleball membership. Over the next 8 months our club added 16 more pickleball memberships.
Suddenly, 6 months later in March of 2020 an single Association board member improperly and unilaterally reversed those authorizations and expelled those 7 pickleball members.... due to their residing outside the covenant. Shockingly, the action allowed the comparable non-covenant golf and tennis members to retain their memberships.
This reversal and singling out of those 7 families was altogether unfair, inconsistent and without merit. It harmed our program for sure.... by expelling 7 high quality members and influencing other members to play elsewhere. (Of note, there is no shortage of pickleball courts in our local area. Within a ten-mile radius to the Club, we have an abundance of both public and private courts with fees.... (continued)
ranging from $0 to $20 per person, with RSFTC fees higher than them all.)
Since that inappropriate reversal, the Association Board has been unwilling to consider our request to reverse the action. Nor has it addressed the need to authorize the TEN sponsored memberships.
Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in America with a 650 percent increase in numbers over the last six years, according to the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA).
Allowing non-covenant persons to join will increase revenues and bring a robust group of high-quality individuals and families – young and old – to our club.
We are keenly aware of the need to maintain our club's unique culture of exclusivity, privacy and privilege, and wish to point out that potential candidates can be carefully screened and hand-picked to ensure they will only enhance our club's culture and activities. Many of these candidates already support our club in numerous ways – socially in the dining room, in the gift shops and the bar. In addition, their memberships can certainly be made provisional and revocable.
In summary, we the undersigned hereby request that the RSF Association immediately authorize and make available TEN sponsored pickleball memberships, to be filled by select and qualified former RSF covenant residents.
