OUR ORGANIZATION

Saskatoon Pickleball Incorporated (SPI) was registered as a not-for-profit organization in 2017.  We have an elected Board of Directors who, along with our membership works to build partnerships with organizations at all levels to support the recognition and expansion of pickleball as an organized sport in the City of Saskatoon and surrounding area.  The primary goal of Saskatoon Pickleball Inc. is to provide access and information to support participation in pickleball, as we promote the sport of pickleball to persons of all ages and abilities. We work to secure indoor and outdoor pickleball facility options in the City of Saskatoon and area. We aim to facilitate the growth of pickleball by organizing and communicating information regarding recreational and competitive play venues and schedules, recreational tournaments, competitive tournaments, referee clinics, coaching clinics, and player skill development clinics.

Saskatoon Pickleball Inc. has been very active since we incorporated. We provided input to the City of Saskatoon’s concept plan for the Father Basil Markle Park retro-fit. We collaborated with the City of Saskatoon to increase winter pickleball play times at their City Leisure facilities. In addition, as a result of our planning efforts, volunteer involvement and co-hosting of the 2018 Saskatchewan Provincial Open Pickleball Tournament, we gained national recognition from Pickleball Canada for sanctioned National Tournaments.  More recently, we have partnered with Saskatoon Soccer Centre Inc. to resurface a soccer pitch at the Saskatoon Kinsmen/Henk Ruys Soccer Centre and install eight indoor courts.

2020
YEAR IN REVIEW 

While the events of 2020 changed many aspects of our daily lives, and continue to do so, Saskatoon Pickleball Inc., alongside the City of Saskatoon made the required adjustments within the Saskatchewan Public Health Order restrictions, and we forged ahead to serve players to the best of our ability.  Nothing pleased us more than seeing your happy faces and hearing the sounds of laughter, cheers, and ball pops at the new Father Basil Markle Pickleball Park. 

Despite the pandemic, 2020 saw great growth in interest in the sport of pickleball in Saskatoon in terms of total player numbers, venues, play options and volunteers. Here are some of the highlights of 2020: 

• SPI hosted a remarkably successful Open House on January 19 with over 130 participants, great media coverage, and a follow-up Open House to serve an additional group of interested players! 
• The Pickleball Saskatchewan Provincials 2020 Tournament was on the books with numerous planning details well on the way. With all tournaments cancelled in the spring and summer of 2020, SPI remains in good shape to host the PSP in June, 2021. We hope this event will be a go! 
• SPI collaborated with the Saskatoon Field House to expand greater access to weekday court times, to increase reserve-a-court hours including weekends and evenings, and to schedule SPI drop-in play which offered beginner lessons on-site and levelled play. 
• The long-awaited opening of 9 new dedicated Pickleball courts at Father Basil Markle Park, ahead of the June 30 schedule was the greatest facility news for summer players! The courts were jam-packed in every time slot throughout most days of the summer and fall! We introduced free lessons for beginners and intermediates, practice with the SPI ball machine, rating clinics and we facilitated high school pickleball lessons. SPI and Pickleball Canada assisted the City of Saskatoon with Covid-19 protocols and we ended the season by advocating to the City for extended fall play at FBM into October! 
• And finally, SPI’s greatest achievement of 2020 (and ongoing into 2021) was our successful Jack Adilman Grant (JAG) application and the subsequent ongoing focussed and detailed project planning with our newest partner, Saskatoon Soccer Centre Inc.! SPI is very proud to bring 8 new indoor year-round courts to Saskatoon for our members’ enjoyment! (Please see the JAG report in this newsletter for more details.) 

As Acting President, I would personally like to thank the Saskatoon Pickleball Inc. Board of Directors, and every other SPI volunteer who spent countless hours on both the frontlines (preparing courts for play, posting signage, registering players, organizing play, providing lessons, etc.) and those working behind the scenes to ensure coordination of all SPI operations. 

2021 will be a better year for pickleball players in Saskatoon, with perhaps even more projects in the works, and Saskatoon Pickleball Inc. encourages everyone to stay motivated (maybe even catch a little of the upcoming APP Tour!) and to stay connected. We hope everyone remains healthy and safe, and we look forward to re-convening play at the pickleball courts soon! 

Cheers to the New Year! It’s going to be a better one! 

Marilyn Barrington,
Acting President, Saskatoon Pickleball Inc.

FUTURE
​PLANS

Future Saskatoon Pickleball Inc. initiatives include efforts to secure more indoor and outdoor pickleball facilities for all of our citizenship.  Saskatoon Pickleball Inc. will continue our partnership with the City of Saskatoon, and through fundraising activities, we will contribute financially to outdoor court enhancements. Other future initiatives include collaborating with Pickleball Canada and Pickleball Saskatchewan on a new coaching certification program, a national player database, a high performance athlete program and para-pickleball program development. Saskatoon Pickleball Inc. looks forward to exciting times ahead for pickleball as a rapidly growing, accessible, organized sport for all, in the City of Saskatoon and surrounding communities.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The last SPI AGM was held on April 16, 2019.  An AGM was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The elected Executive consists of four directors and eleven Directors at Large (below).  We would like to thank  the following people who have served two-year terms on the Board:  Bob Godwin, Joanne Cliff, Ron Balezantis, Dex Wyse, Barbe Walters, Dave MacLean and Blaire Saunders.  Our Board as of December, 2020 consists of:

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS
Marilyn Barrington (Acting President)
​Kent Archer (President)
Doug Kramble (Secretary)
Ray Basler (Treasurer)
 
DIRECTORS AT LARGE  
Tim Archer, Betty Beaton, Dennis Boyle, Doug Brown, Nina Henry, and Glenn Stumborg.

OUR PARTNERS

The City of Saskatoon, Department of Recreation and Community Development, promotes community-based sport, culture and recreation programs.  It supports SPI with access to outdoor and indoor pickleball facilities and with the promotion and expansion of the sport of pickleball. 

 In 2020 SPI developed a partnership with the Saskatoon Soccer Centre Inc. (SSCI) to resurface the Uptown Orthodontics  soccer pitch at the Saskatoon Kinsmen/Henk Ruys facility.  Lines for eight pickleball courts will be on that pitch along with markings for soccer, volleyball and ball hockey.

Pickleball Saskatchewan was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2013.  Its mission is "to promote the growth of pickleball as a game for all ages in Saskatchewan."  The website has a lot of provincial information including updates and photos of Community Clinics held throughout Saskatchewan.

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In 2009 a group of players created what is now known as the Pickleball Canada Organization.  The mission of PCO is "assist and promote the growth of Pickleball as a game for all ages and to establish rules, policies and standards for the good governance of the game in Canada.”