Kingsville pickleball club plays on new courts of their own

Pickleball has nothing to do with pickles. The game is part badminton, ping-pong and tennis. It is played in an area about a quarter the size of a tennis court, with a paddle and a plastic ball. It is also a fast-growing sport. 

It is certainly growing in Kingsville. Last week, the Kingsville Arena opened eight new outdoor pickleball courts.

“Pickleball creates a community and that’s what we’re all about,” said Helen Dean, 56, a former elementary school principal in the town and club president of Kingsville Pickleball Inc. “I’m not retired, I just play pickleball full-time.” 

Kingsville Pickleball Inc. has more than a hundred members and is looking to attract more “pickleballers,”  both young and old. Anyone who has played a racquet sport can easily pick up this fun and inexpensive game. That is what club founders Wayne Halpert and his wife Jude, along with Jules Kay and his wife Mary did. 

They became hooked on pickleball in 2013 while vacationing in Florida. When the Halperts and Kays came home to Kingsville, they made makeshift pickleball courts by putting tape on their driveways. 

In the same year, Dean says she retired and started playing pickleball. Due to there being no pickleball courts to play on, they played on existing tennis courts, Dean and the board of directors of KPI went to the town of Kingsville and requested dedicated pickleball courts. The town agreed to have courts put in, but only if the club could produce a quarter of the funds.  

They were able to make this happen within a few months thanks to generous donations from friends, relatives, businesses, and community donors. Many of the club members can be seen playing in the morning, until early afternoon outside at the Kingsville Arena courts reserved for both recreational and competitive players. 

“I’m competitive only if I play against other competitive players,” said Lloyd Dean, the husband of Helen, who is also a part-time judge for the Province of Ontario. “GAME ON.” The competition can be very intense, especially in Florida where pickleball is highly competitive. 

Casey Homick, 68, is a KPI club member who started playing pickleball 10 years ago, and even injured his quadricep in one of the many tournaments there. He used to play hockey and baseball when he was a young man. 

“When you get to a certain age, this is it,” said Homick, 68, who was a former high school principal in Brampton, Ont., and now lives in Kingsville. “Pickleball and golf, that’s what you do in retirement.” 

Pickleball can also be recreational with courts available for the starters. More experienced players are often giving advice to newcomers of the game, while practicing volleying the plastic ball with a paddle back and forth over the net. A woman just learning the game commented that the hardest thing in pickleball ball is hitting the ball and keeping it inside the court.  

“The second hardest thing other than to score is to pick up the ball from the ground,” added Colin Michael, 59, the club’s secretary and a former senior marine inspector who moved to Kingsville from Ottawa. “Some days it’s just ow-ow-ow, – It’s true, I don’t care how old you are.” 

Mr. Michael who was instructing a couple of women on the other side of the net, is thinking about going south to attend a pickleball camp. In this camp, they teach you drills and skills such as the proper positioning to avoid injuries. This camp takes place during the Florida winter where pickleball can be played outdoors.

 The next goal for the club is to get a pavilion-like shelter installed over the courts, so pickleballers can be protected from the intensity of the sun. But the dedicated pickleballers will also bundle-up and play during the winter months if it is safe to do so. “Some say dedicated and some say crazy,” said Mrs. Dean. “It’s just that much fun.