From left to Right: What To Do With Broken Pickleballs; and, PBC Associated Club “Bash N’Dasher” Holiday Charity Event Featuring Steve Deakin and Others in Pro Demo
The Kitchen Sink Newsletter, December Edition
Pickleball BC (“PBC”) President’s Introduction
Welcome to the December edition of our Kitchen Sink Newsletter. On behalf of the PBC Board, we wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. Time to take stock and count all the “roses” in our lives, and cherish our families both in and out of pickleball. Maybe even take a break from your daily routines, “Eat, Dink and Be Merry” and have a “Volley, Jolly Christmas”!
In this December issue we wanted to highlight: Presidents Report with our lead story about the Holiday Season and some of what is happening at our 100+ Clubs across BC (send pics and stories to Marcom@PickleballBC.ca); announcement of a new appointment to our Board of Directors and reminder that with retirements, we are looking for potential 2025 PBC Board Members; a “From Our Clubs” Victoria, Vancouver and Vernon update on our Activating Youth Pickleball in BC (“AYPBC”) project; reminder that our dues are going up from $5/year to $7.50/yr on January 1st 2025, so renew your membership or join our 20,000 members now; and, other 2024 and 2025 tournaments, News, Policy reports and our focus in our Director’s Kitchen Corners section, see stories below.
Enjoy all the new news and updates in our December Kitchen Sink Newsletter – your eyewear protection is no good in your bag!
David Snell
President Pickleball BC
President@PickleballBC.ca |
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News From Our Clubs
PICKLEBALL BC ASSN. ACTIVATING YOUTH PICKLEBALL IN BC (“AYPBC”) PROJECT
Why pickleball in schools?
Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in North America and now globally.
What once was well known typically to seniors or the 55+ snowbird crowd, the sport of pickleball has now caught the interest of all ages.
<Click link to read more.>
• AYPBC PROJECT
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President’s Report
As outlined above, in this holiday season Kitchen Sink Edition we wanted to highlight:
BC Club Holiday Happenings. Many of our Clubs and organizations are hosting holiday pickleball events and we would like to hear about them for publication in our various communications and social media. One example is pictured in our banner above – Hollyburn Country Club (“HCC”) hosted a Charity “Bash n’ Dasher” event last Saturday to the benefit of the North Shore Family Services (“NSFS”) Christmas Bureau led by Amy Lynn Taylor pictured above (3rd right). Proceeds go to NSFS supporting those in need on the Vancouver North Shore during the holiday season, which can be a particularly difficult time for some.
Over 70 players attended with a Pro Demo prior to open play, including our very own Steve Deakin who recently won two first place Gold medals in the PPA Men’s and Mixed Senior Pro event in the World Championships in Dallas (right below), Robin D’Abreo a PBC Board member and a Silver medalist in the 5.0+ event at our 2024 Western Regionals (left), Tim MacVinnie Canada’s #1 Senior player (right of yours truly), and Richard Lee the HCC Pickleball Professional. What a match to behold and a lesson on how this game is really supposed to be played for those of us who play recreationally!
We encourage you to send us your Holiday event pics for publication on our various communications including our January 2025 Kitchen Sink Newsletter and social media. Please submit to Marcom@PickleballBC.ca for consideration.
2024 Board and Nomination Announcement, and 2025 Board Nominations Committee. Firstly, I would like to thank all those volunteers who have worked tirelessly on our 2024 Board of Directors and our Committees. Their dedication to the advancement of pickleball in BC and in Canada is second to none and we have had many accomplishments this year that testify to this dedication!
Secondly, I am pleased to welcome back to our Board Jim Burke, who was nominated for the rest of the 2024 term and will stand for 2025 election at our AGM in February 2025. Jim helped us with the ViaSport AYPBC application (grant awarded for $30,0000 in September 2024) and will continue in his past remit focusing on Government Relations.
Also to repeat, given end-of-term PBC Board member retirements, we have opportunities for volunteers to apply to serve on our Board of Directors either in specific remits, or to help out given we now have over 100 Affiliated and associated Clubs, and 20,000 PBC members. We have many new initiatives to be undertaken following our recent Board 2025 – 2027 Strategic Planning Session (Plan to be published January 2025) so we are looking forward to your help either on the Board or serving on our Committees – see our current initiatives here.
If you just want to “give back” to our community or have experience with Board volunteer work in sports, Committee work or other related volunteer endeavors, you may want to seriously consider joining us. Please send your expressions of interest outlining your relevant background and any specific areas of interest that you may have to BoardNominations@PickleballBC.ca and our Committee will be in touch.
Activating Youth Pickleball in BC (“AYPBC”) Project Update and PBC Youth and Community Grant Programs. We have posted two stories about our newly formed AYPBC Youth K-7 project – one in this Newsletter and another on our “News” page on the PBC website here.
First of all, please see our summary history and update on this project in our “From Our Clubs” section below. Starting with the involvement of Vancouver Pickleball Association with their very successful EVES youth program starting several years ago, to today where we have received a $30,000 AYPBC grant from ViaSport BC, further investments by PBC and our 3 Regions, and we have all our 3 BC Regions of Vancouver Island, Thompson Okanagan and Vancouver for Phase 1 operational and ready to go. Phase 1 goal is to introduce youth K-7 in 18 schools in BC including 500 kids by the middle of next year and provide a curriculum and tool set for all BC Clubs to use in their respective areas of influence.
Also please see our PBC Youth and Community Grant Programs opportunities here (which we have increased funding for 2025 given their popularity) and a recent success story of how these Youth grants have benefited one of our Clubs in Sharon Macdonald’s Kitchen Corners section below.
Kitchen Corners Reports. Updates on Memberships, Refereeing and Grants as noted above.
Finally, please send your Club stories and pics 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 or Instagram, we would really appreciate it – for consideration please send them to Marcom@PickleballBC.ca.
This Newsletter contains plenty of new news which I hope you can enjoy over the Holidays along with time with family and friends. 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: AYPBC Project
PBCA Activating Youth Pickleball In BC Project
Vancouver Pickleball Association’s EVES’ (East Vancouver Elementary Schools) Slamboree, where 86 students from eight schools participated in a friendly celebration of pickleball, June 2024.
PICKLEBALL BC ASSOCIATION ACTIVATING YOUTH PICKLEBALL IN BC (“AYPBC”) PROJECT
History and Introduction
Why pickleball in schools?
Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in North America and now globally.
What once was well known typically to seniors or the 55+ snowbird crowd, the sport of pickleball has now caught the interest of all ages.
BC is on the move of activating its Elementary Schools youth, Kindergarten to Grade 7’s (K-7) in the sport of Pickleball.
How did Pickleball Schools get started? The East Vancouver Elementary Schools (“EVES”) Project – Pickleball Schools Approach
Pickleball kids in pickleball schools!
EVES was initiated in the summer of 2022. The East Vancouver Elementary Schools project has been all about embedding the remarkable sport of pickleball within the fabric of a school; planting and nurturing pickleball in school settings is the goal.
This youth program was a collaboration of the Vancouver Pickleball Association, Vancouver School Board teachers and school communities. The EVES project showed that children and youth of all abilities are more likely to be inspired to play pickleball if their school encouraged, embraced and celebrated pickleball. Positive and supportive school environments showed young people experiencing the joy of pickleball.
A Pickleball School in action sees pickleball in the physical education curriculum, intramurals, noontime and after-school casual play, inter-school competition, and family pickleball activities with siblings, parents and grandparents.
What are the key Highlights
Pickleball arrived in Vancouver schools through the dedicated and enthusiastic leadership of school teachers and administrators, community pickleball coaches and volunteers from the Vancouver Pickleball Association.
Through mid-May 2024, twenty-three (23) Vancouver schools, 103 teachers and 1558 students participated in EVES activities.
The teachers engaged in professional development sessions and introduced their students to that special game with the interesting name! This included school-wide programs in some schools–with students and their teachers from kindergarten through grade seven participating.
Moving forward with AYPBC in 2024/2025
AYPBC Backgrounder
- In June 2024 viaSport BC announced a grant proposal of up to $30,000 per BC Provincial Sport Organization under a BC Sport Participation Program called the “Provincial Sport Development Fund”. The BCSPP supports programs that attract children, youth, Indigenous and marginalized populations to lead active and healthy lifestyles through involvement in sport, while also helping to support communities delivering physical activity programming throughout the province.
- Successful PBCA bid received a viaSport British Columbia $30,000 grant, September 2024.
- PBCA selected three provincial Regions as above with its respective PBCA Club delegates: Victoria, Vancouver, and Vernon.
- Goal is to have a youth programs K – 7 resource package, including a curriculum and tool set, for all BC clubs to utilize that will posted on our PBCA website by mid 2025.
- To meet the objectives of viaSport British Columbia:
- To provide children with an active and healthy lifestyle through sport participation.
- To help support communities delivering those sport-related activity programming.
In September 2024, Pickleball BC won an Award of Excellence from the Pickleball Federation of the Americas. Building on the success of EVES and other youth pickleball initiatives, PBCA is committed to playing a key role in helping to create more opportunities for young British Columbians to play our marvelous sport. Tony Casey Director Global Pickleball Association and a member of Vancouver Pickleball Association says “Further, the model is gaining interest from South America and Africa. Let’s see how far we can go!”
Recent Project Updates From The Three AYPBC BC Regions
1. Vancouver Island Region, Victoria: Connie McCann, President, Victoria Regional Pickleball Association (“VRPA”) said “I would like to say we moved faster than a prairie fire with a tailwind; but, in fact, connecting to the elementary schools was the biggest hurdle. Thanks to our very own retired teacher and founding VRPA member, Heather Hood and wonderful member Barb McLeod—they reached out to their contacts and found six Elementary Schools. All of the schools are excited, and one of them has already received a staff introductory pickleball lesson during a school ProD day. If hooting and hollering are a sign of success, then we were successful.”
Some of their schools, from a total of six, include:
- Ecole Quadra School, which is a vibrant and diverse community of K to Grade 5.
- Strawberry Vale Elementary School, located in a semi-rural area in the District of Saanich, their school leader contact is Audra, a pickleball player herself, where their outdoor pickleball courts is right next to the school.
- McKenzie Elementary, who wish to build a foundation of knowledge, skills and attitudes in their students; and their staff have already been instructed on how to play.
Further, Connie adds: “We know that the future of pickleball is in the hands of our youth, and for the most part, the youth do not yet have pickleball paddles in their hands. VRPA is honoured to be part of this fine project to do just that.”
2. Thompson Okanagan Region, Vernon: For Rick Klein, Chair Player Development Committee/Vernon Pickleball Association (“VPA”), and his team, when they were first approached about the AYPBC initiative June 2024 by David Snell, President Pickleball BC —they enthusiastically said “yes” to being involved. To date, they have been working diligently towards the roll out of the program in their school districts.
According to Rick: “We identified our leadership team in July with Patricia Andrews, a retired elementary school PE teacher, who is also a member of our VPA, and Derri-Ann Cooper, who is an active teacher in our school district #22 and also a member of our VPA. Both ladies bring a great amount of experience to the program and we are lucky to have them involved. Other key team members include Barb & Byrne Hallonquist, Glenn Jesperson, and Pat Cooper.
To date we have approached three local under resourced schools in our district: Harwood, Alexis Park, and Mission Hill Elementary Schools plus asked if they wanted to participate. They were very excited to be involved, and we have been working with them through the last couple of months to bring them up to speed. Our VPA coaches held a teacher training session in November for 5 teachers from the three schools, which went very well, we have another session set up for December 10.”
Vernon’s other initiatives include:
- To urgently acquire equipment and begin the three schools’ program roll out by the beginning of January 2025.
- To expand the program scope and bring more schools on-board.
- The VPA, along with the schools, have organized and booked a program-ending Slamboree that will be held at the VPA facilities on February 19 & 20, 2025 for about 170 6th and 7th graders.
3. Vancouver Tony Casey, Director, Global Pickleball Federation & Sharon Hoy, AYPBC Project Coordinator, including other delegates, were instrumental with their Vancouver Pickleball Association’s EVES (East Vancouver Elementary Schools) project introducing pickleball to Vancouver Eastside schools during Summer 2022—which was the inspiration for the AYPBC project.
Other highlights include:
- Introduction to the “pickleball experience” sessions for school leaders and students in over two dozen schools over the past 24 months.
- School-wide pickleball classes for kindergarten through grade seven classes in three schools;
- “Learn to Play” sessions for 29 teachers from 16 schools.
- Slamboree: 86 students from eight schools participated in a friendly celebration of pickleball.
- Thirty schools acquiring balls and paddles; many of them sharing the equipment with other schools in their areas.
- Since inception, the program has included over 1,550 students, 100 teachers and 30 schools. To date, over 25% of Vancouver elementary schools have experienced pickleball.
Conclusions
David Snell, President Pickleball BC says “now that the AYPC project is well underway there are major goals that we have set for ourselves as follows: PBCA wants to help support the project in each of the 3 Regions, supported by PBCA, the EVES experts and our Regional Affiliated Clubs mentioned above; in order to ‘Activate Youth Pickleball in BC’ (pickleball for schools, in schools, by schools) we will provide equipment, coaches, curriculum for youth pickleball programming K-7, and pickleball club support in our Phase 1 three Regions; ensure pickleball thrives in BC and is sustainable – embedded within schools’ curriculum, woven into the fabric of a school-as-a-community, powered by schools with community sport support; provide a cornerstone for advancing pickleball and creating opportunities for the greatest number of children and young people; and, continue the support of a sport that is wonderfully and incomparably… fun!”
In summary, the experiences from the planning and implementation of this model will be captured and documented during our AYPBC project duration. The objective is to have a planning guide and other resource materials produced, posted on the PBCA website and available to other PBCA Clubs in BC to implement in their areas. By mid 2025, this collection of learnings, tips and techniques will be promoted to all BC pickleball clubs for use with their local schools. The AYPBC leaders’ planning framework and unit plan/curriculum will be integral components.
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Kitchen Corners: Grants
PBCA Grants Program
Princeton Pickleball Association members with the paddles purchased with grant funds.
Pickleball BC grant program is open to all PBCA members. You can apply for a $500 Community or Youth grant. Take a moment to visit our website information and read below how one of our grants was utilized by our happy recipients pictured above.
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Re: Grant #157 Performance Report From Liz Simpson
It has been two months since Princeton Pickleball Association (“PPA”) has provided our PPA members with the opportunity to use quality, intermediate paddles thanks to the $500 matching grant #157 from Pickleball BC.
Since providing the paddles, the responses from our membership have been filled with gratitude! From several members relying on the use of a good paddle when they come to play (due to their limited finances), to others trying an upgraded paddle before investing in one themselves.
As I shared in our application, many people in Princeton struggle financially. Our club has always had donated used paddles for those learning the game, but as our players’ skills advance, they quickly out grow these worn paddles. Now it is wonderful to be able to offer intermediate quality paddles for all!
I’d like to share some testimonials from our members:
“I could never afford a paddle like this! Thank you PPA for purchasing these for our club.” (Playing 3 years.)
“I notice immediately the difference from the new paddle provided tonight and the paddle I bought from Winners. It’s so wonderful that these are available for us. Thank you.” (Playing 3 years.)
“I’m a student right now. With my university costs I can’t afford a paddle like this. Thank you for having these here”. (Playing 2 years.)
“I wasn’t going to stay to play, I forgot my paddle. Wow! It is so awesome to have a great club paddle to use and not the old worn ones. Thank you!”. (Playing 4 years.)
“I love having new, high quality paddles to offer players to use. The appreciation and response from members when I share the value of the paddle is always ‘Wow!’ For folks with low or single incomes it is a pleasure to offer a paddle to use that they tell me they could never afford. I’m proud that PPA is respectful and has the quality paddles available to everyone and that we can offer the best to our membership. These paddles level the game for everyone!”. (PPA Director)
With our sincere thanks,
Liz Simpson
Vice President, Princeton Pickleball Association
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For any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
With that being said—I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2025. Here’s to another year of promoting our beloved sport.
Sharon MacDonald
Grant Administrator
Grants@PickleballBC.ca
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Kitchen Corners: By The Numbers
December Membership Report
As of the end of November 2024, there are 20,699 active members in Pickleball BC. This number is 3,613 more than the same time last year and continues to grow steadily. This includes 405 new registrations in November. This is your monthly reminder that as of September 1, every membership application automatically receives Pickleball Canada and PBC membership until the end of 2025. This has likely led to the 973 membership renewals in November, which has outpaced new registrations. If you join your club and PCO/PBC prior to January 1, 2025 you will save some money on your registration as PBC dues go up in Januaryfrom $5/year this year, to $7.50 per year.
Many clubs have again attained record numbers of membership applications this year. However with that said, there are several clubs that have had to introduce caps and waiting lists (which continue to grow). These clubs would readily accept additional people if they could provide adequate court space and time for them to play. It’s time to let your municipalities know that pickleball needs access to more courts. Pickleball continues to grow with more and more people of all ages enjoying the sport we love to play.
On December 1, Pickleball Canada emailed you a renewal link for 2025 membership. Your Club may not be ready for registration at this time, and in some cases may have already opened up 2025 registration. Keep an eye out for information from your Club regarding their registration dates. If you did receive the PCO email please keep it handy and renew with your Club directly from the invite as it contains a direct link to your own recorded personal registration information. If that does not work for you, log in and renew from your profile in PCO here.
If you are having difficulties registering or finding correct information regarding your personal profile, Pickleball Canada has created a Knowledge Base that you can access here, where you can research the tasks and processes involved in managing your profile with PCO.
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
Line Calling
I realize that I have touched on the line calling responsibilities of pickleball players previously, but after witnessing numerous situations over the past year, I feel it is time to refresh the subject again.
The definition of a line call in the rulebook is “A loud word(s) spoken by a player that a live ball has not landed in the required court space. The preferred word to indicate a line call is ‘out’. Distinctive hand signals can be used in conjunction with a line call. Words such as ‘wide’, ‘long’, ‘no’, and ‘deep’ are also acceptable”. I have witnessed occasions where the calling player did not say anything verbal, but rather used a hand signal. Guess what… the other players are watching the ball land, not the person’s hand! Be sure to verbalize your call. The other confusing scenario is if a player says ‘out’ while the ball is in the air and before it lands. This is not an out call as the ball has not landed and it is still in play. The ‘out’ call in this case is player communication, which just fine, not a line call. The player should call ‘out’ again when the ball actually lands (if the ball actually is out.)… otherwise play the ball if it is not out.
“Players call all lines on their end of the court.” Please notice that this does not say that players can call the lines on the opposition side of the court. They can only do so if asked by their opposition (after the ball is ‘dead’). I have seen instances where players have called the ball ‘in’ on the opposition side’s court. This is not communication, as some players have mistakenly explained. Rather it can be considered a ‘distraction’ to the opposition, as they are ones to immediately play the ball if it is ‘in’, or call it ‘out’.
Rule 6.C.6 says “Players shall not call a ball ‘out’ unless they can clearly see a space between the line and the ball as it hits the ground.” If you or your partner cannot call the ball ‘out’, then it should be considered ‘in’. The opponent gets the benefit of the doubt on line calls made. A player cannot claim a replay because the ball was not seen or there is uncertainty. A player must strive for accuracy and operate under the principle that all questionable calls must be resolved in favour of the opposition.
Line calling is a very important part of the game of pickleball. Yes, players can make mistakes, but we must believe that they are doing their best to make the calls correctly. We should all be calling the ball ‘out’ if we can clearly see a space between the ball and the line, and if some doubt persists, the benefit of the call goes to the opposition. This is the code of ethics for line calling responsibilities when performed by the players.
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
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