President’s Kitchen Sink Newsletter Report May 2025 Edition
Left: Picture courtesy of USAPA, Center: courtesy of Stems, and Right: Happy Victoria Day courtesy of Vector Images.
#PickleballBC #MothersDay #USAPA #VictoriaDay
The Kitchen Sink May Edition, Pickleball BC (“PBC”) President’s Introduction
Welcome to the May edition of our Kitchen Sink Newsletter.
Whether you spent Mother’s Day last Sunday, or are planning a day (or more) this coming weekend on or off the court, enjoy and be safe while having fun-eyewear protection is no good in your bag!
The first-ever Mother’s Day is traced back to May 10, 1908, when Philadelphia activist Anna Jarvis set out to honour her late mother, Anne, who had died three years earlier at the age of 72. Jarvis sent 500 carnations and a telegram to her family’s West Virginia Church in her hometown. The Winnipeg Telegram (Go Jets Go – and Leafs/Oilers!!) described the significance of this day. “For Jarvis, the white carnation was an important way to commemorate the celebration of mothers. Not only because it was her mother’s favourite flower but also because of what it symbolized.” Read more here.
We trust that last Sunday many mothers received carnations or other flowers, cards and well-wishes from family and friends, and several Moms as we witnessed at our clubs, playing pickleball outdoors (it was sunny where we were) with their families!
Also coming up this long weekend, Victoria Day is celebrated every year on the last Monday before May 25, this year being Monday May 19. Victoria Day is a Canadian public holiday in honour of Queen Victoria’s birthday. For many, the date also informally marks the beginning of the Summer Season and outdoor pickleball!
For your reading enjoyment this coming long weekend, in this May 2025 issue we wanted to highlight: update regarding the status of our formation of our BC Provincial Team which as we discussed in our last Kitchen Corners issue, which will compete against other Provinces’ teams at the Nationals; reminder of the Pickleball Canada (“PCO”) AGM June 26th 4pm PDT; our new PBC YouTube channel and first uploads; a new IPOP pickleball facility opening in Burnaby, born out of a Safeway store; a “From Our Clubs” report [about the PADS event at Hollyburn County Club; and, other updates regarding News, Policy reports and our new PBC 2025 initiatives in our Director’s Kitchen Corners section here.
Enjoy all the new news and updates in our May Kitchen Sink Newsletter and see you on the courts – with your eyewear protection!
David Snell
President Pickleball BC
President@PickleballBC.ca
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News From Our Clubs
PADDLES FOR PADS Second Annual Pacific Assistance Dog Society (“PADS”) and Hollyburn Country Club (“HCC”) Partner For A Great Cause
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<Click link to read more.>
• Board Meeting April 15, 2025
• Board Meeting March 11, 2025
• AGM Minutes February 18, 2025
• Board Meeting February 11 and 25, 2025
• Board Meeting January 14, 2025
• Board Meeting December 11, 2024
• More Board information including Youth Programs, Committees, Policies, Strategic Plans, President’s Reports and more on PBC website.
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President’s Report
In this Kitchen Sink Edition we wanted to first of all remind everyone of some of the major tournaments coming this Summer, such as the Provincials in Vernon and the Nationals in Winnipeg, along with the 50+ 2025 tournaments our clubs are hosting and have asked us to post on our PBC website Tournament page here. Many Sanctioned Tournaments again this year showing the quality of these BC tournaments and the experience of many of our Tournament Directors!
BC Provincial Team Competition at Nationals
Our PBC request for expressions of interest to our BC 4.0+ CPTR players for 16 spots and 4-8 alternates on our new BC Provincial Team was closed April 30th. We have 47 applicants for the 2 Divisions and 8 event teams and we are very impressed with the level of experience of all of them. An email will be sent soon asking for an updated commitment to play Thursday, August 21st (all day during Nationals with no other events), some further questions and our criteria for selection of the final BC Team. Results at the BC Provincial Championships will be part of the criteria so if you have not registered and have applied to be on the Team, there are still spots available as indicated below.
Pickleball Depot BC Provincial Championships
Registration is still open and we already have 537 players as of today! Still space available so register soon to confirm your spot here.
PCO Annual General Meeting June 26th 4pm PDT
To attend and be eligible to vote at the AGM, Pickleball Canada members must register in advance. A formal registration link and additional details will be provided in the final notice of the AGM, to follow soon. Closer to the meeting date, all registered members will receive further details, including the Zoom meeting link, attendance and voting instructions, rules of procedure, and Director nominee information. Translation services will be provided in English and French.
The following documents will be made available before the meeting:
- 2025 Annual General Meeting Agenda
- 2025 Special General Meeting Minutes
- 2024 Annual General Meeting Minutes
- 2024 Audited Financial Statements
PBC YouTube Channel
We are pleased to announce our new YouTube channel dedicated to Pickleball BC and its stakeholders including but not limited to our PBC Members, Affiliate and Associated Clubs, BC pickleball associations, community centers and private clubs, and our sponsors. Brand new so not much there at this point, but looking forward to providing more content soon. All potential contributions are welcome at Marcom@PickleballBC.ca.
Grand Opening at the new IPOP Facility in Burnaby BC
New BC Facility Opening – IPOP (Inclusive Place of Pickleball) Burnaby
With today’s sport of pickleball continuing to grow at double digit percentage rates and demand for needed facilities continues to grow, the Inclusive Place of Pickleball’s (“IPOP”) grand opening and later the VIP reception was attended by municipal dignitaries, executives, staff, media and community picklers.
According to IPOP’s news release: “The Inclusive Place of Pickleball (IPOP) is a proudly Canadian company focused on building inclusive, community-centered pickleball facilities across Canada. Designed for all skill levels—from newcomers to seasoned players—IPOP offers dedicated indoor courts, structured programming, and a welcoming environment that emphasizes health, fun, and connection. IPOP is actively expanding across Canada and into international regions.”
See full story here on our PBC website News page here.
VIP Reception attendees including Dave Snell President PBC top left, Jim Burke PBC Board Secretary lower center, Mel Buenaventura PBC Marcom top right and Chris White CEO and Founder IPOP lower left.
PBC’s Dave Snell (top) and Jim Burke (below) with their game faces playing a strategic, NVZ soft game.
Privately owned (including back yard courts using neighbour-funded rentals) facilities will be more common as our sport continues its growth and we will see more of these for-profit facilities opening such as the Victoria Pickleball Centre, Pacific Pickleball in Metro Vancouver, and the Belvedere Club in Richmond BC to name a few. This will be the subject of an upcoming PBC story so stay tuned.
PBC Associate Club Hollyburn Country Club West Vancouver 2nd Annual PADDLES FOR PADS Event
Last year PBC clubs hosted a province-wide PADDLES FOR PADS charity event that raised in the area of $65,000 for this worthwhile cause. This year, we decided to let our clubs decide when and if they wanted to have a similar event in 2025.
On Saturday, April 26, 2025, Hollyburn Country Club (a Pickleball BC Associated Club), was one of the first BC clubs to host their 2nd Annual PADDLES FOR PADS Pacific Assistance Dog Society (“PADS”) Pickleball event to benefit a wonderful charity that supports people with disabilities and community care providers by partnering them with certified assistance dogs.
See the full story in our From Our Clubs section here and tell us about your event so we can publish more of these pickleball “give-back” event success stories in BC.
Kitchen Corners Reports.
Updates on Memberships, Refereeing and more.
Finally, please send your Club stories and photos for consideration in our monthly “From our Clubs” segment, or if you can share some of your Club event pics for possible inclusion on our PBC website, YouTube channel or Instagram, we would really appreciate it—for consideration please send them to Marcom@PickleballBC.ca.
This Newsletter contains plenty of new news that I hope you can enjoy along with time with family and friends on this Easter weekend. All comments and contributions are very welcome!
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David Snell, President
PICKLEBALL BC ASSOCIATION
President@PickleballBC.ca
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News From Our Clubs:
PADDLES FOR PADS Second Annual Pacific Assistance Dog Society (“PADS”) and Hollyburn Country Club (“HCC”) Partner For A Great Cause
PADS Companion-in-training left and David Snell Chair Hollyburn Pickleball Committee and President Pickleball BC at the 2025 event check in desk right photo.
On Saturday, April 26, 2025, Hollyburn Country Club (a Pickleball BC [“PBC”] Associated Club), hosted their 2nd Annual PADDLES FOR PADS Pacific Assistance Dog Society (“PADS”) Pickleball event to benefit a wonderful charity that supports people with disabilities and community care providers by partnering them with certified assistance dogs.
Meredith right with her companion and left, HCC Volunteers.
About PADS
PADS dogs are raised and trained on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the Skwxw.7mesh (Squamish), Səlílwəta (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. Meredith Areskoug attended the HCC event with several companions and says: “We breed, raise and train fully certified assistance dogs. Our service (mobility & PTSD) and hearing dogs provide life-changing independence to those with disabilities. Our accredited facility dogs work with community professionals, such as teachers, RCMP and psychologists to help support healthy communities.” PADS is a fully accredited member of Assistance Dogs International.
The PADDLES FOR PADS pickleball event day included a Pro Demo with Canadian National Senior Pro Singles Champion Davi Singh from Whistler; US Nationals Silver Medalist Jeffery Ho; Canadian National Champion and PBC Director and BC Head Coach Robin D’Abreo; and PPA Masters player and MLP head coach Steve Deakin. Watch the YouTube video here for just a taste of the high-level play.
Above, PADS Companion Dogs were present at the event.
Teams of 8 players were arranged of equal skill level in a Scramble Format, where they played doubles with everyone on the team for the “highest points” honour and a free drink. Also each team had its own dog name:
- The Dinkin Skittles—The Winning Team!
- Bernese Bashers
- Dash Hounds
- Golden Retrievers
- Pickle Poodles
- Rescue Dogs (Spares)
You get the idea—just fun and dedicated play time!
PBC President David Snell states: “In absence of our province-wide PBC 2024 PADDLES FOR PADS initiative, such as HCC in 2025, I encourage other PBC provincial clubs to have a similar event this year. The PADS cause is a worthwhile one which embodies many of our PBC and Affiliated and Associated club 2025 missions and objectives: in line with our provincial focus and mandates, PADS supports people with disabilities and community care providers which they partner with by providing them with certified assistance dogs. Similarly to our pickleball community, PADS is also inclusive and is committed to equality across race, gender, age, religion, identity, ability and experience.
To summarize, the tournament was well attended and a success for both PADS and HCC generating a 2025 donation of $2,000 to this worthwhile cause bringing our HCC Pickleball Committee pickleball ‘Giveback Event’ charity donations total over the last 2 years to $24,000.”
For more information, contact:
David Snell
President, Pickleball BC
President@PickleballBC.ca
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Kitchen Corners: By The Numbers
May 2025 Membership Report
As of May 11, 2025, there are 17,749 active members in BC, steadily growing towards our December 2024 peak of approximately 21,000. There were 1,560 memberships processed in April 2025. This is up by 219 from last month. And 847 renewals processed and 713 new memberships. A steady growth at a similar rate in the last two months.
Last month we dropped a club, while this month, we added a club. Welcome Hekate’s Retreat Pickleball Club, located at Haida Gwaii. This brings our total number of clubs to 101.
See you on the courts.
Blair Morton
PBC Registrar
Registrar@PickleballBC.ca
Thinking of joining—follow the link!
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Kitchen Corners: Head Referee Corners
Calling The Score and Foot Faults
It does not matter if we are playing indoor or outdoor pickleball, there are a couple of things that happen on the courts that have really got my attention … and not in a good way! If a referee is officiating the match, these instances are taken care of. But, as most pickleball matches are played without a referee, I would like to bring these to your attention; so that we can make our ‘casual’ or ‘non-officiated’ games much more enjoyable, and avoid conflict and game interruptions.
The first one is Calling the Score. When you are calling the score, call it loud enough for all players on your court to hear. Too often, the server says the score so quietly that his/her partner can barely hear it, let alone their opponents. Call it loudly, and call it correctly! In ‘side-out’ play, say all 3 numbers, like 5-4-1. Not “5” nor “5-4”. If your opponent does not call the score correctly, or you cannot hear it, you can stop play before the return of serve, and ask for the correct score to be called … no penalty. If a player says they cannot say the score loud enough, it is within the rules that their partner may call the score for him/her … just let your opposition know what is happening and why.
The second one is Foot Faults in the non-volley zone (kitchen). You should call yourself for a foot fault if you notice you touched the kitchen line during your volley. With this year’s rule change, you can also call your partner if you notice the fault. It is all part of the “sportsmanship” aspect of pickleball that makes our game so great.
Many players do not realize that you may also call your opposition on a foot fault … either in the non-volley zone, or on the service line while serving the ball. If your opposition agrees with your call, it is a fault on their team. If they do not agree with your call, a replay will occur. If you call your opposition on one of these two scenarios, call it immediately, as soon as the alleged fault occurs. Do not wait until the end of the rally.
Enjoy Pickleball!
Rick Folk
Head Referee
HeadReferee@PickleballBC.ca
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Sponsorships
We urge you to support and thank all our sponsors at every opportunity—they are listed throughout our website and in this newsletter. Sponsorships can help to defray the cost of hosting our website, sending this newsletter and also of supporting the running and promoting of tournaments and clinics.
Opportunities exist for businesses and individuals, starting at $25.00 to sponsor and support pickleball in British Columbia—details on our Sponsor Program page or contact Marcom@PickleballBC.ca.
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Website or Newsletter
As always we are delighted to receive suggestions and/or contributions of content for the website and future newsletters. Send to Marcom@PickleballBC.ca.
David Snell
President, Pickleball BC (Association)
President@PickleballBC.ca
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