The presenting team of Helena Bowen, Sue McKinnon, Fred Heckert, Larry Reid and Alex Gendron carried out an introductory session of Pickleball in the Mt Prevost School Gym.  It was a wonderful day begining about 8:30 and running through 12:00 pm.  The 19 participants displayed their willingness to learn the game and caught on very quickly.  It was not long until they captured the basics of rules, play and game ediquete , which progressed to game play.  It is very gratifying to see how quickly they progressed.   Helena Bowen was the event organizer, partnered with her associate at Mt Prevost School.  I give them a big  Shout Out!
What a great job!!  I look forward to seeing the extension of this presentation out on the courts in Duncan and surrounding areas.

‘Team Nanaimo’ arrived back from the Peachland Tournament with some great souvenirs – Trudy came first in the ladies singles, Dee was the only one to have an ‘obvious’ injury (note the word ‘obvious’ as I know there were plenty
‘hidden’ ones)! as she brought back a pretty colourful sprained ankle, Ronnie and Alex had one of the most interesting, competitive mens doubles, and generally ‘Team Nanaimo’ had such a fun time.  The weather was wonderful but it was a pity that we couldn’t really appreciate it as we were indoors most of the time.   The Community Centre was a tad hot so on Saturday afternoon we went out for some good Okanagan fresh air and Ronnie felt forced to go for a swim.  He certainly felt very revived after that!!
Once again, we realised that one of the biggest benefits from participating in a tournament is not the winning – it is not even the competing, but for us it is the comraderie and the getting-to-know your pickleball friends
off the courts that is so great!

Author Dee Pitcher


 

I really enjoyed my trip to Pearkes to play pickleball. Certainly, you and the guys from up island really helped with the competitive nature of the play. It's nice to play some different players. For you guys to take the time to drive to Victoria really says a lot about how much you enjoy the game. I promised you some pictures that I took. They are attached. 
 First picture - from left - Jim Boris, Larry Evans, Lloyd Munro
and Carla Munro.
Second Picture - I don't know the players but getting the
smash in the picture was cool.
3rd, 4th and 5th Pictures - These players you
will recognise as you were in this game. Ken Thompson and yourself were playing
Jim Boris and Frank Ernst (Victoria). 
submitted by Larry Evans

Pickleball Canada Ambassador
 

by Dee Pitcher

11 of us have just returned from the tournament in Surrey and a good time was had by all.  One of the highlights of
something like this is the comraderie that grows more and more with pickleball players - particularly when we manage to go away together.   We all have great 'pickleball' friends but if truth beknown, all we know about them is how they play pickleball!  When we go away together for an event like this we really get to know each other and
develop more of a great friendship. The atmosphere was set with a good meal at Nandos restaurant on Friday evening which was followed by good play and comraderie on Saturday.  Karen won the 50/50 prize (amount not to be disclosed!) and Tom won a door prize of all sorts of 'goodies'.
That aside, the tournament in Surrey was great - well organised and smoothly run.   The tournament was 'compass'
style (which was new, interesting and appealing to us) and 'round robin'.  During the lunch break they presented each participant with a memorable coffee mug which was a great idea.  All winners will be posted on a plaque on their 'Winners Board'.

Winners.  (Only the Mixed Division played the 'compass' style - ladies and mens played 'Round Robin') 
- John and Nancy won the 'A' compass,
-Garth & Dee won the 'B' compass 
-Pat & Peter(S) won the 'C' compass.

Mexican Madness has made it's mark and now we can get back to normal pickleball!!  From all accounts it proved to be a real fun event and for those who didn't manage to play in it, you missed out on a great day!
We had:
26 players from NANAIMO
7 players from PARKSVILLE
7 players from LADYSMITH
17 players from COMOX
2 from CAMPBELL RIVER
2 from VICTORIA

Congratulations ! to our top man - Jim (Boris) - and top lady - Caprice.

Thank you again to all the Nanaimo/Parksville/Ladysmith players who contributed to the superb lunch.
You put on a great spread and compliments were coming from everywhere!

The local Pickleball players who represented zone 2 had a very successful tournament in the Will Krause Fieldhouse venue in Trail, British Columbia this past August 18th and 19th.  The participants played off with zone representatives from all areas in British Columbia for their chance at the divisional medals. 

Our results:
Ronnie Pitcher - Silver/Mens Singles competative
Dee Pitcher & Debby Morgan- Gold/Ladies Doubles 55-59 recreational
Dee Pitcher  & Alex Gendron- Silver/Mixed Doubles 55-59 recreational
Alex Gendron & Len Taal (from Victoria) - Silver/Mens Doubles 55-59 recreational
Theresa Orcutt & Colin Caldwell (from Surrey) - Gold/Mixed Doubles 55-59 competative
 

For those of you who didn't manage to make the pickleball play at Courtenay today, you missed a real good fun day.  They have a wonderful outdoor facility with 4 courts, and potential for 2 more.  The grounds are lovely with good spectator vantage points.Their hospitality, barbeque and atmosphere was great -good time had by all. Big thanks to all the Comox people for organising this day.

Nanaimo's Annual Pickleball tournament is now a recognised B.C. Tournament  by Dee Pitcher
When Ronnie and I came from South Africa to live in Nanaimo 2 years ago, we discovered this wonderful game of pickleball.  At that time it was very new to Nanaimo and Oliver Woods Recreation Centre, where on average there were 7 or 8 people playing.  We loved the sport immediatly and decided we had to do something to encourage it's
growth. So we started talking about it to everyone and advertising it wherever we could.  Slowly the sport became
more known and popular and very soon we had a long e-mail list of regular players. To encourage and promote pickleball we decided to introduce a tournament on the 24th July 2010. We had an A and a B section to encourage as many people as possible to enter.  The tournament was such a success that we decided to make it an annual event. Last year we had 50 teams - this year we had 71 teams -and there was no necessity for 2 sections as the standard of pickleball by all players has improved dramatically. Competitors paid an entry fee which included a lunch.
We are always so grateful to the sponsors of prizes on which we rely heavily.  We thank again the sponsors from this year's tournament:

Canada Pickleball
High Strung Rackets
Deep Cove Kayak– Vancouver
O’s Designs
Maejic Designs
Warren Edgeler (Gabriola Island)
Artisan’s Studio
June Peter
Lorne Strumecki

Hope to see you all back next year  - and some new entrants as well!