'We're super excited': Pickleball provincial tournament in full swing in Saskatoon

SASKATOON -

The Saskatoon Kinsmen/Henk Ruys Soccer Centre traded in its pitch for pickleball enthusiasts over the weekend.

It welcoming over 160 athletes for the Saskatchewan Pickleball Provincials.The tournament was previously canceled in 2019 due to the pandemic.

“It’s always fun, a lot of people you know. Lots from Regina, then all the Saskatoon people, it’s a fairly close-knit community,” said tournament participant Ron Balezantis.

Players range from 12 to 77 with the majority of particpants in the 40 to 60-year-old range. In total, 17 different events are happening over the weekend which feature men’s, women’s, and mixed events.

Marilyn Barrington, president of Saskatoon Pickleball Incorporated, says they’re excited as they’ve been planning the event for a year and a half.

Ellen Manson drove in to participate from Hitchcock Bay to compete in the event. She’s competing with her husband in the mixed event and with another friend in doubles.

“We’re really looking forward to playing in the tournament this weekend because we’re getting to meet a lot of people that we haven’t seen since COVID and it’s been something that we’ve working towards. We’ve been doing lots of practicing,”Manson said.

According to Barrington, the sport is growing in popularity. She says 14 new clubs have been added in the province over the last year alone, helping it grow from four.

“The sport has just grown phenomenally over the last 10 years,” said Barrington. “In Canada, we got almost 24,000 registered players.”

Barrington herself only picked up the sport a few years ago.

“The big attraction is definitely that is a social sport, you meet so many new people in the sport while you’re playing, you get super fit and it’s something you can learn super quickly. It’s affordable,” said Barrington.

In Saskatoon alone well over 1,000 participants are playing at various outdoor and indoor courts.

“It’s addicting, it’s a lot of fun, any age can play. It’s easy to pick up anyone can play it and the nice thing is you can have different generations playing against each other,” said Balezantis.

The tournament is taking place on Saturday and Sunday with medals being handed out to the winners.

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