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Oct.
5/11 - Rochester NY Tournament Results
Dave & Helen Hall
from the Manitoulin Pickleball Club and Bill & Linda Furse from
the Collingwood Club joined forces and spent a great four days at the
U.S. National Senior Games in Rochester NY Sept. 29-Oct. 2/11. There
were well over 100 players in attendance from as far away as Florida
and Houston.
Overall
the group were very happy with their showing as there were some very
good players at the tournament. The facility was first class and we
are hoping to see more Ontario players there next year as it was a
good way to test your game, meet a lot of new people and have a good
time.
Results:
Helen and Linda won a bronze medal in women's doubles 55-59,
Bill and Linda won a bronze in mixed doubles 65-69, Dave and Helen
finished 4th in mixed doubles 55-59, Bill and Dave were 2-2 in men's
doubles 65-69.
Aug. 28/11 - Manitoulin
Club Members Serve at Provincial and National Level
The Pickleball Association of Ontario (PAO) was formed in Mar. 2011
and currently has a six member executive. Jim Van Camp, Dave and Helen
Hall are actively involved as part of this executive. In this capacity
Dave & Helen will be working as officials at the OSGA Southwestern
Regional Games pickleball tournament in Chatham, ON on Sept. 1/11. Go
to: pickleballassociationofontario.org
for more information on the PAO.
As mentioned in a previous news item, Dave and Helen also serve as
Area Ambassadors for Pickleball Canada with responsibility for the
region between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury. Dave has recently
accepted the position of Assistant Provincial Ambassador (Ontario) for
PC.
June
5/11 - Pickleball Promoted At Manitoulin Trade Fair
Little
Current, ON - A
Pickleball display was included in Rick Gaude's business booth at the
11th Manitoulin Trade Fair June 3, 4 &5. The goal was to
recruit new players and there was lots of interest shown with the
display. Pictured below are Dave Hall and Rick Glaude who manned the
booth on June 4. Thanks go to Rick for supplying the display space.
Apr.
22/11- Summer Season Starting & Other Updates
Rec Director Greg Wright says
that the curling rink will be ready for our use very shortly. First,
we have to get enough players back from the southern climes to
generate some competition. I will let you know our opening
date ASAP and unless the majority of our players want to change the
times we will be going with Mon., Wed. and Fri. again from 10-12.
Some of you on our mailing list are
still at the beginner stage of learning to play. In order to meet
your needs we would like to schedule some separate playing time for
beginners so that they can get the experience they need and eventually
feel comfortable when playing with club members who have a
couple of years of experience under their belt. Let us know if you
would be interested in doing this as we would need at least four
players for each beginner session in order to make this work.
Once again this year we would very
much like to expand our membership so if you know anyone who might
be interested or have any ideas on how to attract new players please
let us know.
The Espanola Community
Centre has asked us to repeat the demo we did last year and we
agreed to do that but asked that it be advertised to the entire
community rather than just seniors. We will need some help
with this. Dates and details to follow. We have also been contacted
by someone from Noelville who is interested in introducing
pickleball to their community.
Helen and I have volunteered to
be local ambassadors for Pickleball Canada. We will be
promoting the sport in the region from the Sault to
Sudbury including Manitoulin. We know we can count on
some of our club members to assist with our efforts from time to
time. We purchased a portable net in Florida which will be very
useful for doing demos and it will also give us an extra net to use
in the curling rink if needed.
We are hoping to start a summer
program in for kids in Little Current through the rec dept. and Greg
was very supportive of this initiative even offering to provide
some funding to get it started. We have some ideas on how to
proceed but we are open to your suggestions and will likely need the
assistance of several players to make this work.
As most of you know the Pickleball Association of Ontario came into
existence in March. Legal incorporation was finalized early in March
and an interim executive was set up on Mar. 9. Since then more than
300 people have joined the PAO. Thank you to those club
members who signed up. Anyone who has not signed up can do so at www.pickleballassociationofontario.org
. At this site you can see what the PAO is all about and
there is a page where you can join electronically. Charter
memberships are only $2 for the first year.
At the request of OSGA District 3 Co-Ordinator
Doreen Watt we have scheduled the District 3 (Sudbury/Manitoulin)
Senior Summer Games Pickleball Tournament for our courts on May 28.
See the news item below for details.
Please join us on that day for a fun
time. We have a ready supply of registration forms.
Apr.
19/11 - District 3 Summer Games Pickleball Tournament
The Sudbury/Manitoulin District 3 Summer
Games Pickleball Tournament will be held in Little Current, Manitoulin
Is. on May 28/11. Location is the Little Current Community Complex
Curling Rink. Start time is 10:00. This tournament is for players
55 and over with the emphasis on participation. This is NOT a
qualifying tournament for the Ontario Pickleball Open but it will
serve as a warm-up for any players who wish to play at the Open.
Registration forms are available from Dave Hall (705-368-2803) in
Little Current or Doreen Watt (705-673-6227) in Sudbury. There is no
cost to participate other than a small fee for joining the Ontario
Senior Games Association.
Feb.
26/11 - News Items
If you are interested in what is
happening with Pickleball Canada you can find a link to the minutes
of the Annual General Meeting on the Ontario site at: https://sites.google.com/site/pickleballontarioorg/ .
This AGM was held last week in Arizona since several directors are
wintering there. Others participated via Skype on the internet. Also
found on the Ontario site are Wayne Roswell's comments on a
controversial decision that was made at this meeting regarding the
use of certain paddles.
Please note that the Ontario
website name has been changed to the Pickleball Association of
Ontario. Thanks to the efforts of Jim Van Camp and Wayne
Roswell this new association should soon be a registered legal
entity. This will be a big step forward for pickleball in our
province. Once a legal entity has been established it will
make it possible to access funding from government and other
sources. This umbrella body will also be able to organize
tournaments, set standards for players to follow and generally
assist in the growth of the sport. Watch for more details on this
once the registration process is completed.
Helen and I have agreed to take on
the job of Area Ambassadors for Pickleball Canada. As ambassadors
our job is to promote the sport in our area.....on
Manitoulin and in communities along the north shore from Sault Ste.
Marie to Sudbury. We were already doing some of this last year in an
unofficial capacity. You can read more about the ambassadorship
program on the Ontario Pickleball website and the Pickleball Canada
website.
Finally, don't forget the tournament
in Oshawa this summer (Aug. 13-14). Complete details can be found
at: https://sites.google.com/site/ontariopickleballtournament/.
We are planning to send at least as many players as we did last year
to Actifest. There is no limit on the number of teams we can enter
in this tournament so put those dates on your calendar if you are
interested. You will have lots of time to get your game together
before August. However, if you think it's only about competition
just ask last year's participants about the good time they had at
Actifest.
Jan.
9/11 - Manitoulin Players Make the News in The Villages, FLA
Check out the photo
and news item from Jan. 1/11.
Click Here
Oct.
4/10 - The
Scoop from Rochester
Four of our players attended the U.S. National Senior Games Pickleball
Tournament held in Rochester, NY Sept. 29-Oct. 2, 2010. The food, the
company and the tournament were all great.
However, neither of our two mixed
doubles teams won a medal in their age group. There were 10 teams in
the 55-59 age group and two of the teams had superior players.
One team had two 4.5 players and the other had a 4.5 and a 4.0. A
5.0 is the highest rating you can get. We were very happy with the
number of games we got to play and there was time to play some
unscheduled games just for fun. We played on Thursday, had Fri. off
and the finals were on Sat. We would have preferred a two day
format but that was the only way they could fit all the matches in
since they allowed players to enter more than one category.
Thursday was "social"
play but the score was kept and that determined seedings for the
finals on Sat. All teams made the Sat. play and it was double
elimination. We won two and lost two. Our other team was in
the 60-64 age group and they won a game due to player injury and
then dropped their next two games.
The tournament was well-organized but
we would not go back if they use the same facility. The Main Street
Armoury is huge. They had 10 courts set up and used new USAPA
portable nets. I don't know what they cost but they were excellent
nets/stands, etc. However the biggest problems were the floor and
the lighting. The hardwood floor was over 100 years old and had a
combination of loose hardwood, small pieces of wood missing and
rather large cracks. I lost a number of points because the ball
simply would not bounce correctly as it hit one of these
imperfections. I guess they must have driven tanks and towed
artillery guns across it during both world wars! At one point
I was sitting on the sidelines and looked across the width of the
court. There was a slight wave in the floor which you didn't see
unless you got down low and looked across it. I also heard that the
night before the tourney they were down in the basement placing some
jacks under the floor to straighten it out or provide extra support.
The lighting was very old and very
high up. A couple of rows were not operating and on one side of the
courts it was often very difficult to pick up the ball. To offset
this teams were told to switch sides half way through each game.
Between the floor and the lighting it was far from ideal playing
conditions.
Overall the caliber of play was
considerably higher than at the Ontario Senior Summer Games.
The four of us were the only Canadians entered as far as
I know. Altogether there may have been 120 players. Of the two
superior teams in our division one lived in The Villages full time and
played every day. The other team was made up of a guy from North
Carolina and a gal from Houston who had never met before this
tourney. They were both top notch tennis/squash/racquetball players
before taking up pball. He finished second in pball singles at the
U.S. Nationals last year.
We met some really nice people including some
from The Villages, FLA so we hope to hook up with them when we go
back there this winter.
Sept.
20/10:
Last
Friday we completed a two day trial of the rally point system. Most
players seemed to like it better than the old system of scoring. For
the results of our player survey please click here.
Sept.
15/10:
Ball Comparison -
several ball types are sanctioned by the USAPA. For a list of balls
and a comparison of characteristics check our Pickleball Links page.
Our club has used the Dura ball and the Jugs ball.
Sept.
13/10:
From Sept. 13
to Sept. 17/10 our club will be using the rally point system of
scoring. The main difference with this system is that a point is
awarded to the winner of each rally even if they are not serving.
Table tennis, tennis and volleyball all use a version of this system.
When this trial is completed we will post player evaluations of this
scoring system here on our website.
An opinion article and an explanation of the rally points system can
be found here.
Aug.
20/10:
Thank you to Rick
& Paulette Glaude for hosting a pickleball party at their place
yesterday afternoon and evening. This was Rick's way of saying thank
you to the club for providing him with the opportunity to play this
great game. Everyone enjoyed the scavenger hunt, the tour of their
beautiful timberframe home, the food and especially the fried dill
pickles that Rick cooked up in his deep fryer. The gag
"medal" presentation to Jim and Marcel who just missed a
bronze medal at the Ontario Senior Games was the highlight of the
afternoon. Photos are posted in our Photo Gallery. Thanks again Rick!
Aug.
15/10:
The eight players who went to the
Ontario Senior Games in Oshawa on Aug. 10 had a fantastic time.
We played our matches Aug. 11-12 with the finals being held on the
12th. There were a total of 68 players divided between the
55-65 age group and the 65+ age group. We were extremely
pleased with the results as we brought home 3 medals as follows:
Bob Simpson and Anke Groenevelt won bronze in mixed doubles over 65.
Carol Majerus and Marg Van Camp won bronze in ladies doubles 55-65.
Dave and Helen Hall won gold in mixed doubles 55-65.
Honourable mention goes to Marcel Majerus
and Jim Van Camp who played a very close match to narrowly miss a
bronze in men's doubles 55-65. Photos are posted in the Photo
Gallery and a YouTube clip featuring some of our players can be seen at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kt8dzoz2bk
We didn't know what to expect when we
committed to this tournament but it was a lot of fun. The
accommodation, food and camaradarie were great. We enjoyed playing,
watching other players compete and meeting new people.
We highly recommend this experience
to all our players. There will not be another Senior games until
2012 but a plan has been put in motion to have an Ontario open
pickleball tournament next summer....probably back in Oshawa. If you
want to have some fun and an adrenaline rush at the same time then
think about joining us for the next tournament. Details will
be supplied as they become available.
July
26/10:
Actifest 2010
(Ontario Senior Games) is coming up fast. Eight of our players will be
competing in Oshawa on Aug. 11-12. For all the latest information on
tournament format, scheduling, rules, etc. click
here to go to the Ontario Pickleball
blog.
July
10/10:
Kori Rowe, the radio announcer from
the Moose FM 94.1 travelled to Little Current with three friends from
Elliott Lake on this date. After some initial instruction, Helen and I
played pickleball with them for two hours. This was followed by lunch
at the Anchor Inn in Little Current. A good time was had by all and we
are hoping to see pickleball introduced in Elliott Lake. Photos are
posted in our Photo Gallery.
June
28/10:
On June 22/10 Dave
was interviewed by the Moose FM 94.1 radio station. The interview
dealt with different aspects of pickleball since it is a new sport in
northern Ontario. Listen to the entire interview by clicking here.
May
30/10:
The Sudbury District 3
Senior Games Pickleball Tournament was held on Sat. May 29/10 at the curling
rink badminton courts in Little Current, Ontario. Eight players
qualified for and will attend Actifest 2010 in Oshawa Aug.
10-12.
Actifest qualifiers Included:
55+
Women's Doubles - Marg Van Camp
& Carol Majerus
Men's Doubles - Jim Van Camp
& Marcel Majerus
Mixed Doubles - Dave &
Helen Hall
65+
Mixed Doubles - Anke Groenevelt
& Bob Simpson
Later on the same day a
fun tournament was held for all club members. A round robin
format was used with games timed to 10 minutes and players playing
with a different partner for each game. This proved to be a very
popular format with everyone having a great time. The day ended with
a barbecue social and prize presentations to the
winners.
Congratulations to all our
winners and good luck to our Actifest participants.
On Thursday, June 3 from 1-3 pm.
some of our club members will be demonstrating the sport of
pickleball at the Espanola Community Centre Open House. The general
public is invited to attend and see the game in action, talk to our
players and hit some balls to get a feel for the game.
May
21/10:
Sat. May 29 is a
big day for our club! The Sudbury and area District 3
Senior Games Pickleball tournament is scheduled for our courts
starting at 10:00 am. This is a qualifying tournament for anyone in
District 3 who wants to participate in the Ontario Senior Games being
played in Oshawa Aug. 10-12.
Also,
our club will be holding a "fun" tournament for all members
on the same day starting at 1:00 in the afternoon. This is not a
competitive event so the format is designed to let each player play
with a variety of partners. This event will be followed by a
barbeque/social at the Simpson residence on Whites Point. All
players from this year and last year plus their spouses are invited to
play and to attend the social. Thanks go to Bob Simpson for
hosting the post-tournament social. See you on the 29th.
May
12/10:
1. Tune in this Fri. to CBC Radio Sudbury between 4 & 6 pm as
Dave is going to be interviewed live over the phone on the Point's
North radio show. CBC contacted us this week after they learned
that pickleball had been added to the list of events for the
Sudbury Senior Games. I guess they had never heard of the
game (surprise) and were curious to learn more. I
will attempt to enlighten them and hope I don't stick my foot too
far down my throat. If they give me a more specific time I will let
everyone know.
2. The Espanola Community Centre is holding an Open House for
seniors on Thurs. June 3 from 1-3 pm. They have invited our
club to attend and put on a display of the game. They are
going to set up a temporary court in the arena which is next to
the community centre. Anyone who wants to go with Helen
and I and play some pball that afternoon is more than
welcome.
3. Beginner lessons start this week for some of the new
players we signed up at the show a couple of weeks ago. Once
they have a lesson under their belt the plan is to
schedule separate playing times for the beginners until they are
able to play the game. After that we will invite them to play on
our regular playing times. There are also some "not
retired yet" players and we hope to set up playing time for
them in the evening or on weekends.
May
3/10:
Wow! Thanks
go to our players who worked the booth at the Sportsman & Leisure
Show in Little Current this past weekend. As a result of your efforts
35 new "potential" players signed up at the show! We will be
offering beginner lessons to all these newcomers and this will be a
significant expansion for our membership. Lessons start in a couple of
weeks....see you on the courts.
April
27/10:
See you this
weekend (Apr. 30-May 2) at our booth in the Little Current Sportsman
& Leisure Show. Talk to some of our players, check out our
equipment display, get a pickleball information sheet and watch
some video clips of the game on our laptop. Beginners can sign up for
free lessons (equipment supplied). Show times are Fri. Apr. 30 4-9;
Sat. May 1 10-7; Sun. May 2 10-4. See you there.
April
17/10:
Important
News Please Read Carefully
Pickleball
has been added to the list of events for the District 3 (Sudbury)
Summer Senior Games. The district consists of the area from
the turnoff to Elliot Lake in the west, including
Manitoulin
Island,
through to Hagar and St Charles in the east, south to the French
River and north to Gogama.
Any resident 55
years of age or older can participate. There are two age brackets
in the pickleball competition and three sub-categories for each
bracket. They are: 55+ men's doubles, women's doubles,
mixed doubles; 65+ men's doubles, women's doubles, mixed doubles.
If
enough players register, Helen and I have volunteered to have
the tournament here in Little Current because we have
the facility and we have players. It is going to be advertised in
Sudbury but to our knowledge there aren't any other centres in
District 3 where pickleball is being played by people over 55. We
will be surprised if any or very many players register from outside
our own club. Therefore we need all our players to participate
in order to proceed. The
tournament is scheduled for Sat. May 29 starting at 10:00
am.
Winners
in this tournament can advance to play in the provincial summer
games being held in Oshawa Aug. 10-12. However, we are under
no obligation to go to Oshawa and that decision would have to be
made by the winners themselves.
This
could be an annual event. In order to get it started we would like
to propose that all our players participate in the tournament with a
view to having a fun day...win or lose. The format will be decided
later but we are thinking matches will be best two out of three.
Afterwards we can have a social with drinks, a potluck or just have
burgers and hotdogs with everybody chipping in to cover costs, etc.
There
is a contact person in Sudbury listed below and she is sending
us some registration forms so we can do the registration at this end
and forward the forms to her. If you have any questions you can
contact Doreen or talk to Helen or I. We are hoping everyone
will sign up for what should be a fun day…..all for now….Dave
& Helen
Contact:
Doreen Watt
978 Meadowside Ave. Sudbury ON P3A 4J5
Tel: 705.673.6227
705.566.2270
district3@ontarioseniorgames.ca
April
9/10:
Our pickleball
season commences on Monday, April 12/10. Playing times remain the same
as last year with the schedule set for Mon., Wed. and Fri. mornings
from 10 to 12. See you on the courts this coming Monday.
We
are planning to repaint the lines on the five courts in the curling
rink. The rec dept. is supplying the materials and we will
supply the labour. Let us know when you can spare some time to help
out.
April
8/10:
Helen and I are
back from Florida. A lot of pickleball was played in The Villages over
the last three months & we enjoyed every minute of it. We
have a couple of new tricks to pass on to any interested club members.
The ice is out of the curling rink in town and the floor has been
cleaned. We are ready to begin the 2010 season and hope to get started
next week. An e-mail will be sent to all club members once we know our
exact starting date. Also, stayed tuned for more info relating to our
participation in the Sportsman & Leisure Show coming to Little
Current at the end of April.
Dec.
7/09:
Dave had a meeting
with Ray Boyer, the organizer of Manitoulin's 1st Annual Sportsman
& Leisure Show to be held Apr. 30-May 2, 2010 at the arena. Ray
offered our club a booth at no charge. After discussing this with a
majority of our members it was decided that we will participate in the
event. This will give us an opportunity to promote our sport and
solicit new members. A schedule will be drawn up for those who have
volunteered to work in the booth. We plan to have an equipment
display, a laptop showing pickleball video clips, a handout for the
public and a signup sheet for beginning players. If you have any other
ideas please let us know.
Dec.
6/09:
Our pickleball house party was held last
night at Anke's. This was a great social with 12 people
attending. We missed those of you who had other committments or had
already headed south for the winter. The food, talk and ambience
(created by Anke) were wonderful. For their efforts in getting
the club started, Dave and Helen were presented with pickleball
t-shirts and a gift certificate for dinner at the Anchor Inn. Thanks a
bunch for that guys!
Nov.
29/09:
Pickleball Party! To celebrate our first year of pickleballing there
will be a party at Anke's place on Dec. 5/09. The format is pot luck,
BYOB and it starts at 5 pm. Anyone who played this summer can attend.
Nov.
16/09:
Played outside again today. Check the new photos added to the
Photo Gallery.
Nov.
14/09:
Wow! Played pickleball today on the two
OUTDOOR courts at the rec centre in Little Current. Who would have
believed that we would be playing outside in shorts and sweating at
this late date in the year. There was a breeze that made some shots
rather interesting but it was a great feeling to be playing outside
again. However, we are not cancelling our plans to stay in The
Villages FLA (pickleball mecca of North America) for three months this
winter!
Nov.
2/09:
Helen and I were in Oakville for a couple of days last week and
managed to play pickleball at the Mississauga Senior's Centre last
Friday afternoon (Oct. 30). There were 3 courts and 16 players. We met
some great people and had a fun time. However, we had to make some
adjustments to our game. First, the back line on each court was quite
close to the wall so they had painted a special service line on the
court which was about 2 feet inside the back line. Any serves that
went over this line were out....so we had to shorten up our
serves...tough to do for Helen and I. Also, they used a ball
with more holes in it and the holes were smaller. This seemed to
affect the flight, spin & bounce of the ball. All their players
used wooden bats and their game relied on direction, placement,
finesse & drop shots (dinking) just over the net. We had to adjust
to all of this. Once we made the adjustment we were able to compete
and did quite well. They were a little surprised at our
"power" game and the noise coming off the bat. It was a
great experience and we learned a thing or two. Thanks go to Ron &
Allan for giving us the chance to play.
Oct.
24/09:
1. 2009 was the first
year for pickleball on Manitoulin Island. A total of 18 residents
played this summer and another 20 summer guests played while
visiting friends or relatives.
2.
Thanks go to the town Recreation Director, Greg Wright, and his
staff. Without the sponsorship and assistance of the NEMI
recreation department we would not have been able to get the sport
started in Little Current.
3.
Thanks also to the Little Current Lion's Club who made a generous
donation of $500 to our club. Four guest paddles, new balls and three
new nets have been purchased with this money.
4.
Pickleball has been added to the Ontario Senior Games next summer in
Oshawa as a demonstration sport. The dates are Aug. 10-12 and our club
plans on sending some players/volunteers. Check out the Senior Games
website at: www.actifest2010.com/index.html.
Stayed tuned for more details.
5.
The first annual Little Current Sportsman Show is in the works for May
1 weekend 2010. We plan to provide attendees with information and a
demo of the sport. Stay tuned for more details.
