Pickleball Canada President Karen Rust said pickleball is becoming a sport for all ages, with the fastest growing sector the 18-to-35 age range. But Victoria still lags smaller communities such as Kelowna, Kamloops and Vernon, which each have at least 10 dedicated public pickleball courts, private pickleball clubs and public tennis courts that can accommodate pickleball. The city is also planning six more pickleball courts next year close to existing sports fields. Recently, Victoria council approved plans for two and possibly three new pickleball courts in a former parking area in the city’s Beacon Hill Park. It combines elements of tennis, table tennis and badminton and is played over a tennis net with what look like oversized Ping-Pong paddles and a hollow plastic ball. Pickleball dates back to the mid-1960s when several vacationing families in Washington state were looking to play new games on an outdoor badminton court. “It left over 100 players with nowhere to go in their neighbourhood.” “It was definitely an abrupt change for pickleball players, and because there is such a great demand for courts, the closure of two courts was a significant blow,” she said. “A pickle-brawl,” said McCann, 70, laughing as she stood courtside while other players warmed up for a doubles match.
It was a response that highlighted the city’s slow and inadequate accommodation of the sport’s growing popularity, McCann said.
The James Bay pickleballers were instead told they could play on courts in Central Park, in Victoria’s downtown core.
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