As the saying goes, if you’re going to dream, dream big.
And, according to Robyn Percival with the recently formed Peterborough Pickleball Association (PPA), the organization has big aspirations.
Among those big dreams is building a large-scale, 16- to 20-court facility on city-owned land at the Peterborough Naval Association site, said Percival, who’s an instructor and a special advisor to the PPA.
“At the very most, (the association) is hoping to secure a spot at the Naval Association that has a horseshoe club that the city now owns and we’re hoping to put in 16 to 20 courts if we’re able to secure that, to host tournaments and bring revenue to the city,” said Percival, who presented on behalf of the PPA at a virtual meeting with members of Peterborough’s Arenas, Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee on Tuesday night.
Percival admits, however, the naval association site might be a ‘long shot’ for the upstart PPA as other Peterborough sporting groups are also looking at the site for potential expansion of facilities.
“The comments that we were receiving were ‘How and where can we do this?’ It wasn’t a no, so that’s pretty positive. We just need to keep inquiring and keep asking the right people to make this happen, and then as an association we will keep growing the membership and fundraise,” said Percival.
At a minimum, the PPA is asking the city for more dedicated pickleball courts with at least eight recommended, said Percival. The current state of the pickleball courts in the city is poor, she said, with ones at the Knights of Columbus Park and other temporary courts at Bonnerworth Park in need of asphalt repairs.
“We need dedicated courts to continue growing,” said Percival, adding that the new PPA already has about 400 members.
But, with pickleball already a fast-growing sport across Ontario, the Naval Association site — which has washroom and parking infrastructure in place — could be a boon to the sport in the Peterborough, allowing it to host large-scale tournaments up to and including being a national championship site.
She points to the last nationals in Red Deer, Alberta that drew more than 800 participants. She also said plans for next year’s nationals in Kingston next June are expected to draw around 1,000 participants.
“We would prefer a space where we could have 16 courts…That would be the kind of dream vision for Peterborough to work towards,” said Percival of hosting large tournaments and possibly a national championship. “Peterborough is kind of in the middle with Ottawa and Toronto and Markham and even down to London…we do tend to travel throughout Ontario for these tournaments.”
Bruce Bozec, president of the PPA, said the sport is ’growing like crazy’ and 26 other Ontario centres smaller than Peterborough have more dedicated courts, which doesn’t bode well for capturing the expected growth of the sport in the city.
“They’re ahead of us and we’re lagging behind, so we’re pushing for more dedicated courts,” he said.
Bozec mentioned the strong participation levels at the Peterborough Pickleball tournament organized by True North Sports in September. The event drew more than 250 participants — many from such out-of-town locales as Quebec, Toronto and the U.S. — to Bonnerwood Park.
“If we had a better facility and more courts we could have easily put on a tournament for 300 or more,” said Bozec.
Percival in her short three-and-a-half year association with pickleball has won provincial titles and has played at the national level. She notes the racquet sport, which combines elements of tennis, table tennis and badminton, is one that all ages can play and one you can become good at it in a relatively short time.
“I come from a tennis background. I was poached from tennis. As soon as I started to play (pickleball) I didn’t pick up a tennis racquet for three years. I had tennis elbow and shoulder issues, but I don’t have that with pickleball. It’s just not for the older community any more — it is for all ages,” she said.
