From left to Right: Inside courts in the Vernon Complex; Vernon Pickleball Club Logo; and, Complex exterior
The Kitchen Sink Newsletter, November Edition
Pickleball BC (“PBC”) President’s Introduction
Welcome to the November edition of our Kitchen Sink Newsletter with some very “welcome” news in our lead off – Pickleball BC (“PBC”) and Vernon Pickleball Association (VPA) are pleased to announce that VPA will be hosting the 2025 Pickleball BC Provincial Championships July 24th to 27th 2025 in Vernon and Coldstream. We wanted to update everyone on this news as soon as both Board of Directors approved the 2025 Provincial plans! More on the details of this tournament in our Kitchen Corners “Tournaments” section below, and coming soon on our PBC 2025 Tournaments website page and Instagram.
In this November issue we also wanted to highlight: my Presidents Report with our lead story about the Provincials and our 2025 Board Nominations Committee search; we wanted to focus on examples of PBC Affiliated Clubs who worked with their Municipality to solve what has become one of our major issues in BC in our “From Our Clubs” section about new pickleball courts in Nanaimo, Penticton and Ambleside Park in West Vancouver; in our Kitchen Corners section articles from our Directors including but not limited to a “Safety in Pickleball” overview, and other updates on 2024 and 2025 tournaments, our Virtual Trophy Wall (recent tournament wins for BC players), News, Policy reports and our focus on our Committee work described here.
Enjoy all the new news and updates in our November Kitchen Sink Newsletter!
David Snell
President Pickleball BC
President@PickleballBC.ca |
|
|
News From Our Clubs
Pickleball, as everyone knows, is a rapidly growing sport. As our sport continues in popularity and growth more pressure is being put on facilities to accommodate the demand. Happily, a number of clubs, in concert with municipal partners in some cases, are adding more courts to our overall inventory in BC.
<Click link to read more.>
• New Courts In Nanaimo, West Vancouver, and Penticton
|
|
|
|
President’s Report
In this Kitchen Sink Edition we wanted to highlight:
PBC’s 2025 Provincials Tournament Announcement.
As discussed above and in our Kitchen Corners Tournament section, we are pleased to announce that the Vernon Pickleball Association (“VPA”) will be hosting the 2025 Pickleball BC Championships July 24th to 27th 2025 in Vernon and Coldstream. We are expecting 600+ of the best in BC players, 40 officials, 150 volunteers and hundreds of spectators. Stand by for information updates!
2025 Board Nominations Committee.
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 approaching 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.
Kitchen Corners Reports.
Not only do we have more details about our 2025 Provincials in our Board reports, but we also have membership and refereeing updates and a special report on Safety in Pickleball – all safety polices are important , but I wanted to particularly highlight our strong recommendation for the adoption of player protective eyewear policies which many of our clubs have mandated in various forms.
New nomenclature – Pickleball BC Association (“PBCA”) doing business as Pickleball BC (“PBC”).
Reminder that the Board of Directors has decided to simplify references to our full legal name (first above) vs the abbreviated name (second above) we have been using on all our communications in the past. So from now on (with updates on past references modified as necessary), we will be adopting the former nomenclature including “Association” only for legal documents, and the later above in all our general communications.
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 that I hope you will enjoy. All comments and contributions are very welcome!
|
|
David Snell, President
PICKLEBALL BC ASSOCIATION
President@PickleballBC.ca
|
|
News From Our Clubs:
Pickleball, as everyone knows, is a rapidly growing sport. As our sport continues in popularity and growth more pressure is being put on facilities to accommodate the demand. Happily, a number of clubs, in concert with municipal partners in some cases, are adding more courts to our overall inventory in BC.
Recently we have seen new courts added in Nanaimo, Penticton and in the Ambleside Park, West Vancouver area by the West Vancouver Council sponsored by the North Shore Pickleball Club.
While the sport is happy to see these new facilities there continues to be more and more demand. Certainly, the clubs and politicians behind the new facilities are commended on jobs well done.
New Courts in Nanaimo
Although the weather objected to the ceremony, the new Beban Park Pickleball Courts were officially opened on Halloween Day, on Thursday. On hand to conduct the Ceremony were Richard Harding, the General Manager Community Services & Deputy CAO of the City of Nanaimo (pictured below and dressed appropriately for Halloween) and Mayor Krog, along with two city Councilors who cut the ribbon to open the new courts for play. On hand and representing Pickleball BC were board members, Dave Eaton and John Davis. Full story here. Also other news of importance is that Nanaimo has been awarded the 2025 55+ BC Games – see the News story here.
New Courts at Ambleside Park
In 2021 West Vancouver earned the title of ‘B.C.’s Most Active Community’. The West Vancouver Council, Parks Staff and local players including the North Shore Pickleball Club are to be congratulated on the opening of the first four purpose-built, regulation-sized pickleball courts with separating fences on the North Shore and possibly north of the Frazer!
West Vancouver led the North Shore in dedicated, permanent outdoor courts when three were opened on the 29th of October 2018 thanks to the long-time advocacy of Ed and Lilly Orlovsky. After years of active use, much was learned about the impact of the pickleball courts on neighbourhoods, and in 2021 the difficult decision was made to close the courts. Subsequently, four excellent courts were created at Normanby Park, a remote park not accessible to anyone who doesn’t have a car or has personal mobility issues. West Vancouver Mayor Mark Sager below at the official Ribbon Cutting. Full story here.
New courts at Penticton
The Penticton Pickleball Club (PPC), a non-profit organization, announced the addition of two new pickleball courts at Robinson Park, scheduled for completion in the spring of 2025. This expansion, pictured below as a work in progress, will enhance recreational opportunities in the community and accommodate the growing interest in pickleball.
The new courts at Robinson Park were partially funded by PPC and reflect its commitment to serving 465 members while increasing access for the public. The club’s leadership, including Past President Dave Burgoyne, Treasurer Don Milne, and President Ronna Pearson, worked closely with the City of Penticton to make this project a reality. Full story here.
|
|
Kitchen Corners: 2025 Provincial Tournament
2025 Provincial Tournament Announcement
PBC and Vernon Pickleball Association (VPA) are pleased to announce that VPA will be hosting the 2025 Pickleball BC Championships – July 24 through 27, 2025 and obviously in Vernon.
Tournament Chair Richard Chambers said, “The Vernon Pickleball Association is excited to host the 2025 B.C. Pickleball Championships next July. Co-Tournament Director, Julie Varrie, has her experienced team in place and they and our volunteer cadre look forward to welcoming back players from around B.C. We appreciate the confidence that Pickleball BC has in awarding the championship to the VPA. We will strive to provide a quality, well run tournament.”
This announcement is a preliminary hold the date, find your partner notice. More details will obviously be made public as they become finalized but a couple salient items:
- Competitions will be held over 4 days (same as 2023)
- A third venue will added for mixed doubles day in Coldstream, about 10 km away
- U19 Singles events (both male and female), open, no level breakdowns are planned
- Protective eyewear will be mandatory for all players on court activity
We are expecting 600+ of the best in BC players, 40 officials, 150 volunteers and hundreds of spectators. See you there and stand by for information updates!
Walter Knecht
Director and Chair PBC Tournament Committee
Tournaments@PickleballBC.ca
|
|
Kitchen Corners: By The Numbers
November Membership Report
As of the end of October there are 20,082 active Pickleball BC members. This represents 93 new members since the September report. Pickleball continues to grow steadily, even after the active summer season has been completed. Four new clubs have come on board since October 2023 and we now have 101 clubs in BC.
Many clubs have again attained record numbers of membership applications this year. However, with that 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.
Just a reminder that as of last September 1, every membership application automatically receives Pickleball Canada and PBC membership until the end of 2025. 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 January from $5.00 to $7.50 per year.
On December 1 Pickleball Canada will be emailing you a renewal link for 2025 membership to Pickleball Canada and Pickleball BC. Your Club may choose to join this email for their own registration. Some Clubs open registration prior to December 1. Most Clubs have a separate registration date, so keep an eye out for information from your Club regarding their registration dates. If you do 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 or failing that, 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!
|
|
Kitchen Corners: PBC Facilities
Safety in Pickelball
Pickleball BC (“PBC”) as the BC Provincial governing body for pickleball and as an advocate of safety, injury prevention and common-sense approaches to help keep our members safe on the courts, would like to summarize our policies with respect to Safety in Pickleball in BC.
PBC is committed to creating a culture and environments that are safe, respectful and inclusive for all BC pickleball activities. This means that we strive to make all environments used for pickleball physically safe, accessible, psychologically and culturally safe, and inclusive.
Medical First Aid
Our recently updated Medical First Aid and Reporting Policy outlines how to report injuries including dealing with possible insurance claims. These steps are important once an injury occurs, but more importantly, we want to encourage the PREVENTION OF INJURIES, as described in our Pickleball Safety and Play Etiquette guidelines, also on our website. To recap, that document includes:
- Wear proper court shoes
- Do NOT back up on the court, turn and move sideways
- Do NOT run onto other active courts when playing your ball
- Do NOT chase your ball through other active courts – wait for others to return your ball to you
- When retrieving a loose ball, look for players waving at you, when possible, return the ball behind courts
- STOP play immediately if a loose ball comes on your court or behind it – shout BALL ON. Then replay your rally
- When going to and from a court be aware and stay clear of other active players and courts
- Keep yourself well hydrated
Court Sense
Other factors that can reduce the likelihood of injuries include:
- Court design, such as padding on walls, proximity of courts to each other, toppers on chain link fencing that is lower than 6’ high, etc.
- Protective eyewear – our goal is to have all players wearing protective eyewear on the court at all times. As this direction is gaining momentum, we strongly recommend that players wear sport-certified eye protection. Some clubs have already mandated or successfully phased in the use of protective eyewear and all events sponsored by PBC will require protective eyewear to be worn—contact us for more information or to tell us about your Club’s success stories in mandating eyewear
Youth Safety
Maltreatment occurs when someone purposely does or says something that hurts another person, intentionally or unintentionally as outlined on our website here. It may also occur when someone does not so something on purpose when they are supposed to do it. If you have witnessed or have been directly affected by maltreatment at a Pickleball BC event or activity, please use the link here to report the incident. A Pickleball BC representative will be in contact. Please note that if the incident occurred during a local club event or activity you should be working with your local club representative before contacting Pickleball BC.
Pickleball BC Safety in Pickleball Supporting Policies
The following Pickleball BC Policies (posted here) are:
- Abuse Prevention Policy
- Code of Conduct and Ethics Policy
- Complaint Recognition and Resolution Policies
- Safety and Etiquette Policy
- Child Sexual Abuse and Inappropriate Conduct With Youth documents posted on the Pickleball BC website Polices and Plans page (under “Resources”)
We recognize that there are other safety tips that aren’t mentioned here; If you have suggestions or success stories on this topic, please forward them to us at: secretary@pickleballbc.ca or facilities@pickleballbc.ca We will continue to publish information that can help us all achieve our goal of Safety in Pickleball.
Dave Eaton
PBC Secretary and BC Facilities
Secretary@PickleballBC.ca
Facilities@PickleballBC.ca
|
|
Kitchen Corners: Head Referee Corners
The Serve
There are many aspects that go into a pickleball serve, whether in an officiated or non-officiated match. At first thought, it might only seem that the ball has to land in the proper part of the opposition’s court… but there is a whole lot more factors that come into play.
1. When a fault has occurred in the previous rally, the ball is considered “dead”. When the server, or referee, starts to call the score for the ensuing rally, the ball becomes “live”. When the ball is struck by the server, the ball is considered “in play”.
2. The server, or referee, must call the correct score. In doubles play, the score consists of three numbers called out audibly for all four players to hear. “Four, two”, or “three’s” is not a correct score being called! It should be 4-2-2, or 3-3-1, whatever the complete score is, with the serving team’s score being the first number, the receiving team’s score being the second, and the third number is the first or second server. If the score is called incorrectly, the receiver can stop play before the return of serve and ask for the correct score to be called.
3. The players for both teams must be in their correct positions, according to their team’s score. In officiated play, it is up to the referee to make sure all players are in the correct position. In non-officiated play, it is the players’ responsibility.
4. When the server strikes the serve at least one foot must be on the playing surface behind the baseline, neither of the server’s feet may touch the court on or inside the baseline, and neither of the player’s feet may touch the playing surface outside the imaginary extension of the sideline or centerline.
5. The server shall not impart manipulation or spin on the ball prior to the serve being struck.
6. The release of the ball by the server must be visible to the referee and receiver.
7. The volley serve (striking the serve before the ball bounces) must be struck with the server’s arm moving in an upward motion, the highest point of the paddle head must not be above the highest part of the wrist, and contact with the ball must not be made above the waist.
8. The drop serve (striking the serve after the ball bounces on the playing surface) must occur with the server releasing the ball with one hand from any unaided height, and the ball shall not be propelled in any direction or in any manner prior to striking the ball.
Whether you are playing in an officiated match, or a non-officiated match, it is important for all players to be aware of the correct serve requirements, as this awareness will result in a more fair and enjoyable playing experience.
Rick Folk
Head Referee
HeadReferee@PickleballBC.ca
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
Leave A Comment