An E-Newsletter for Canadian Pickleball Players

Special Canada Day Edition

July, 2009                                                                                        Volume 1       Number 2               

Table of Contents:

              .Special Canada Day Edition

              .Kelowna 4th Annual Open Round Robin Tournament

              .Pickleball Debuts at Unionville Festival

              . Pickleball Under the Dome in Collingwood

              .York Region Senior Tournament Winners

              . Pickleball Comes to Calgary

              . The Ontario Tennis Association says …

              . Pickleball Terms

              . Pickleball Canada’s Membership Campaign Gains Momentum

              . Editor’s Comments

Special Canada Day Edition

Although the plans were to have this newsletter published quarterly, I felt it would be great to celebrate Canada Day with a special edition of the E-Pickleball Canada Newsletter.  A new organization and a new way to celebrate the birth date of our great country.

Many events have happened in the past month or so and I want Pickleball players to be aware of all of them, so this was another reason to produce this newsletter at this time.

Happy Canada Day and enjoy reading about the great game of Pickleball in our great country.

Kelowna 4th Annual Open Round Robin Tournament

On April 25, 2009, the Kelowna 4th Annual Open Round Robin Tournament was held at the Kelowna Gospel Fellowship Church.  This was an historic event for Canadian Pickleball because it was the launch of Pickleball Canada.  It was also an event to honour Bill Franzman as the tournament chair and the man with the vision of Pickleball Canada.

Women’s Division Draw 1

Gold  - Inge Schols, Silver - Deborah Mitchell and Bronze -  Jeni Lewandowski

Women’s Division Draw 2

Gold – Colleen Powell, Silver – Dawna den Otter and Bronze – Anne Gilbert

Men’s Division Draw 1

Gold – Ed Burke, Silver – Dave Weins, and Bronze – Bill Adamson.

Men’s Division Draw 2

Gold – Doug Power, Silver – John Kusch, and Bronze – Doug Ross.

Pickleball Debuts at Unionville Festival

Pickleball is very new to the city of Markham.  The Parks and Recreation Department has one centre offering Pickleball.  To promote all recreational activities provided by the Parks and Recreation, participants in the various activities were asked to join staff in the Unionville Festival parade.  Nancy Netland invited Tony Sequeira and me to represent Pickleball for the first time.

Tony solicited players from the Armadale Recreation Centre in Markham and the Milliken Centre in Scarborough.  I asked Nancy if we could set up a demo and she thought it was a great idea.  I thought having Pickleball in a Festival was appropriate.  It was very appropriate since this was the 40th anniversary of the Unionville Festival and Pickleball has been around over forty years.

Several players joined us to march in the parade and afterwards they demonstrated the game of Pickleball in the parking lot of the Curling Club.  Who says you cannot play Pickleball in the street.  The court was set up using a badminton net from CTC, some

PCV piping, a bag of cement, flower pots, and painters’ tape.  The court cost less than $25 and a little time.

Although we had to compete with PlayStation, the Toronto Maple Leaf Caravan, and the Wilson Basketball Demo, we had a steady stream of participants, especially younger adults.  They were excited to learn about this new game with the funny name. 

I played with a young lady who, after finishing a game said,”where can I find out more about this game?  Where can I get the equipment?  This would be great for my phys ed class and I could set it up in the parking lot because we have limited gym time.”  As I handed her my business card I thought to myself, “This is all worthwhile!”

I have created a link to the article I posted on Pickleball Ontario.  You can see more pictures and I have listed the items I used to create the portable court.  Pickleball Debuts at 40th Unionville Festival.

If you have a similar event coming up in your area, try something similar.  You can write articles, show pictures or videos, but demonstrating the game is the best way to promote it.

Pickleball Under the Dome in Collingwood, Ontario

Pickleball arrives in Collingwood, Ontario.  Collingwood is famous for its summer and winter leisure activities.  This resort town now has a new sport to talk about, Pickleball.  Bill Furse, local resident and committee member of Pickleball Canada, held a Pickleball open house at the Monterra Tennis Dome, The Villages at Blue Mountain, on Wednesday, June 10. 

This clinic was attended by over 60 participants from Collingwood and surrounding areas.  This was one of the largest demonstrations to be held in Ontario.  Donna and Morgan Robbins drove down from the Tobemory area to participate and another Pickleball Canada committee member, Beverley Butt, from Regina Saskatchewan was on hand to assist players.  Another Pickleball Canada committee member, Wayne Roswell, offered his assistance in teaching new players.

Experienced players demonstrated the game for new comers, and new players were introduced to the game in beginner clinics.  Since many of the participants are tennis players and members of the Monterra Tennis Club, they were able to make quick adjustments to the two bounce rule and were enjoying the game in short order.  There was that tendency to serve and rush the net, however.

The staff at Monterra observed the interest and the level of participation and were immediately interested in doing more.  Debbie, a staff member commented, “we are going to hold the first all Ontario Pickleball tournament right here at Blue Mountain, we can do it!”  They have the experience with tennis and all the facilities to make it happen. 

York Region Senior Tournament Winners

York Region is one of the first regions in Ontario to Include Pickleball in their Senior Games.  This is the second year for the event.  It was held at the beautiful Magna Centre in Newmarket.

Congratulations to the winners.

Mixed Doubles 55+

1st – Elaine Tsoi and Benjamin Lee

2nd – David Rouleay and Cynthia Wheeler

3rd – Manual Batalla and Beatice Ego

Mixed Doubles 65+

1st – James Alberga and Jeanette McGuire

2nd – John Seaman and Evelyn Foster

3rd- Rudy Niessink and Aghdas Akhavan

Men’s Doubles Open

1st James Alberga and Benjamin Lee

2nd John Layton and Terry Paul

Ladies Open

1st – Elaine Tsoi and Jeanette McGuire

2nd – Evelyn Foster and Cynthia Wheeler

Thanks to David Sheridan, Seniors Programmer Community Services, Town of Newmarket and the organizers for the results and having the vision of Including Pickleball as part of the York Senior Games. 

Pickleball has become one of the premier events in Florida Senior Games in almost all counties throughout the state.  It culminates with the Florida State Senior Games in December.  It is an excellent way of promoting this excellent sport.  Hopefully more regions in Ontario will include Pickleball in their senior games.

Pickleball Comes to Calgary

Written by Brent Johner, May 22, 2009

“It is the overnight sensation that was 44 years in the making. Undoubtedly the

fastest growing racquet sport in North America, pickleball is now firmly rooted in Canada………….

“Alberta’s first Pickleball Club was created this week in Calgary by the Oakridge Community Association with the assistance of Racquet Network.  The new club will play its first games this summer on the outdoor courts adjacent to the Oakridge Community Centre.  If enough Calgary pickleballers can be found to support a thriving club, indoor facilities will be sought to allow continuous play throughout the year.”

Read Brent’s full article on Racquet Network.com.

Pickleball Canada would like to thank Brent for his efforts in starting Pickleball in Calgary.  Brent has found some interest among tennis players that would like to try Pickleball.  If you are not familiar with Racquet Network.com, it is a website that helps players of all racquet sports get in touch with each other and find out information on aspects of their game, standings, coaching and most important, meeting others with similar interests.

Support Brent and check out his website at http://blog.racquetnetwork.com 

The Ontario Tennis Association says …………

The following was taken from the Ontario Tennis Association’s magazine, Tennis Ontario, spring 2009.

“Winters can be frustrating for the tennis player who is down-on-their-luck. The winter clubs are expensive, but there are alternatives. You can play badminton at community clubs for a small fee or experiment with the new game from the States, called Pickleball. It is a smaller version of tennis played with a paddle and a plastic ball. Again it is expanding into the Toronto area community centres and can be found at Pickleball.com. These are variations of tennis which can provide a great workout and an interesting change of pace.”

Pickleball Terms

Here are a few terms for your Canadian Pickleball vocabulary. 

Those of us that play pickleball in Florida or Arizona often call the NV-Zone the kitchen, a shuffleboard term.  Let’s change that to No Volley in the Non-Volley, eh.

Pickleitis – another term for the painful symptom of Pickleball Withdrawal.  From all the e-mails I get from snow birds wanting to know where they can play Pickleball near them in Canada, I am sure we need to form the Pickleitis Society of Canada.  This will be a hotline where players can contact each other to talk about their symptoms and share methods that help relieve the pain.

Spectatoritis – the ability of spectators to call the ball in or out from their seat on the sidelines.  They are also able to combine this with the ability to tell you what you should have done on that last rally.

Lazeritis or Visionitis – the ability of an opponent wearing tri-focals to call the ball clearly IN at your baseline from his vantage point behind his.  Lazer vision from 44 plus feet away.  The stare that comes after you make the out call, might be referred to as Stareitis.

Pickleball Canada’s Membership Campaign Gains Momentum

Memberships in Pickleball Canada are continuing to roll in.  The cucumber is filling up and on target to reach 1000.

On June 18, Chuck Lefaive mailed out a membership package to125 members including a welcome letter, member name tags, and a free DVD. 

We hope more of you will get on the cucumber vine and help the cucumber grow.  Get an application today at Pickleball Canada and send it in. 

For $10, you get a year’s membership, a personalized name tag and a DVD on Pickleball to share with family and friends.  This newsletter is going to all Pickleball Canada members.

Your membership dollars are funding our great website and will provide your founding committee with funds to offer many more programs particularly for youth in the near future

Editors Comments

I wish to thanks those of you that were kind enough to e-mail me with comments on my first E-newsletter.  Canadians are so polite to each other.  But thank you, we all need an ego boost once in a while. Here are a few samples of the comments I received.

Great job on the Pickleball newsletter!  Keep up the good work.

Bill,  AZ

Congratulations Wayne.  You deserve it!  Now enjoy it!

Bev

Thanks Wayne. I will take this information and review it with my staff.

Rebecca, Recreation Director, Toronto, ON

Thanks so much for sending this information and the newsletter.  We will be discussing the implementing of Pickleball in our facilities for the fall and the training of our staff.  I will update you once we have all met.  Martha, Recreation Director, Markham, ON

Thanks for the Info. I'll probably be joining Pickleball Canada eventually.

Jack, Kitchener, ON

I would like to wish a speedy recovery to Marcel Lemieux, one of our founding committee members of Pickleball Canada.  Marcel in true dedication to the game of Pickleball, asked for a voluntary day pass from hospital, so he could be involved in the editing of the video on Pickleball shown on “Salut Bonjour” while awaiting major heart surgery.  Marcel’s wife, Louise, is also recovering from surgery.  As Marcel says, “we always do things together.”  I am not sure this is something they planned to do together.  I wish a speedy recovery to both of you and hope you are back playing Pickleball together soon.

If you would like to share your comments or send me articles about your club, I will get them in the next edition.  I want to share articles about all sides of Pickleball from the competitive to the hilarious.  Send me your articles in an e-mail or a word processing document and attach a separate file with a couple of digital photos to rwroswell@gmail.com .