104
|
COMMUNITY
|
FUN AND GAMES
The BlueMountains Pickleball Club - Front row L-R: Paul Brittain (Instructor from Collingwood), Bill Furse (Instructor from Collingwood),
Harry Stevens, Bill Boadway, Peter Singleton (Instuctor from London)
ThegameofPickleball
is the fastest growing racquet sport inNorthAmerica! It ishowever,a largelyun-
knownandperhapsmisunderstood sport. Essentially, Pickleball combineselementsofbadminton, tennisand table tennis.
Thegame started in the summerof1965onBainbridge Island,Washington,at thehomeof thenStateRepresentative Joel
PritchardwhenheandBill Bell andBarneyMcCallum, returned fromgolfand found their familiesboredoneSaturdayaf-
ternoon. Theyattempted to set upbadminton, but noonecould find the shuttlecock so they improvisedwithaWiffleball,
lowered thebadmintonnet,and fabricatedpaddlesofplywood fromanearbyshed.Pickleball is fairlysimpleand requires
that twoor fourplayershitaperforatedpolymerball, (which issimilar toawiffleball,but slightlysmaller),overanet,using
solidpaddlesmadeof woodor compositematerials. The sport shares features of other racquet sports, thedimensions
and layout of aBadmintoncourt, andanet and rules similar to tennis,witha fewmodifications.Usinga lower net and
lightweight ball allows thegame tobeaccessible topeopleof all agesandabilities.
Local Pickleball enthusiasts Bill BoadwayandHarryStevenswanted toget thegame established in this region
and theyapproached theTownof theBlueMountains last February,petitioning for the town toestablishaPick-
leball facility. To their surprise the townwaseager tohelp, offering theuseof theBeaverValleyCommunity
Hall and it wasn’t longbefore recruitment posterswere hung in grocery stores, coffee shops andat the
public library.Organizershadhoped to roundupat least10players tocover thehall rental, however just
fiveweeks later theyhadover100players, a staggeringnumber, considering theminimal rental timeal-
lotted. Thankfully, the townextendedplaytime to5hoursperdaybutorganizerswerestillburdenedwith
anexcessofplayersandwait timesweregetting lengthy.Nooneseemed tomind though—ithadbecome
anenjoyable social outingasmuchasagame.
Bill andHarryheadedback to the Town toplead for the installationof twooutdoor courts andwere
again surprisedby the positive response they received. The townwaswell aware of the Pickleball
Club’s success and suggested they budget instead for threeoutdoor courts tobebuilt by next
summer.With this support, the Pickleball Clubexpects theirmembership to soonapproach
200peopleonce the installationof theOutdoorCourts iscompleted.HarryandBill along
with theirwives RoseMarieandSuehavebeen thedriving force in introducing thegame
to thecommunity,and theparticipantsarehaving loadsof fun.Whoknows, could theBlue
MountainsbehostingThePickleballWorldChampionships someday?
|E|
For more information about Pickleball, visit
there’s a new
GAME
in town!
For information about the local club please contact: Bill Boadway -
or Harry Stevens
