First of all, if you aren’t already on PlaytimeScheduler.com then you might be missing out on some fun playing opportunities around town. As the weather gets nicer, there will be more and more spontaneous play times cropping up at the public parks. Because of their spontaneous nature, these play times are not on our regular open play calendar. The key to learning about and joining these events is to be registered on Playtime Scheduler. However, simply being registered may not be enough as these events (specially the ones at Chicken N Pickle) often fill up quickly. You’ll want to make sure that your notifications are enabled and your account is up to date, among other things. Here are some tips to help you make the most of Playtime Scheduler:
- Log in to PlaytimeScheduler.com and click on the My Account button.
- In the My Profile tab, check that the email address is for an email account that sends you immediate notifications or one that you check on a regular basis.
- Make sure that your Skill Level is up to date. You can use your current UTPR or, if you do not currently have an official rating, USA Pickleball has a useful skill rating guide that you can use for reference. Pickleball Master Course also has a rating quiz that will help you determine your skill level simply by answering a series of yes or no questions.
- Remember to specify your gender. There are times when people are trying to arrange men’s doubles or women’s doubles matches only or an equal mix of both. Playtime Scheduler won’t have an accurate count if your gender is misrepresented.
- Unless you are hiding from people, the “Allow others to search for me when creating invite-only sessions” should always be checked. This allows others to find you. If not checked then people won’t know you are on the site and you might not get added to private sessions.
- Make sure that your city/region is set to Wichita or, if you are traveling, set it to the appropriate area. Otherwise you won’t see the correct information.
- Click on the Emails tab and check that the “Email me when someone invites me to an invite-only session” option is checked. If this is not checked, and there are several others invited to the same session, the session might get full before you even see it.
- Check the rest of the settings in this tab and confirm that it is as how you would like to be notified. You can set it up so that you are notified of all public sessions, only certain ones, or none at all.
- You can even specify the minimum skill level for the notification so, if you are a higher-level player, you can make it so that PTS does not send you a session notification unless the session meets or exceeds a specific skill level.
- If you work during the day like me, you can set it up so you are not notified of sessions unless they are in the evening/after work or only on certain days of the week at certain times.
- Customize your notifications so you are not inundated with unnecessary notifications and only receive the notices that are meaningful to you.
- Lastly, since this is a website and not app, you can either add it to your favorites (bookmark it) or you can add it to your home screen. I opted to add the site to my phone’s home screen so that it is easily accessible and I can use it much like I use the other applications in my phone.
I hope you find that these tips help you make the most of the Playtime Scheduler site. If you have an questions, do not hesitate to post them in the comments or reach out via email. See you on the pickleball court.
One thought on “How to Get the Most Out of Playtime Scheduler”