Lethbridge Pickleball Club exploring avenues to grow the game

The Lethbridge Pickleball Club has been in existence for six years and continue to grow the game through different opportunities in the area.

LPC president Klaus Witzke wanted to emphasize that the game is not just for seniors and that the game has become more of a family sport.

“I’m getting calls all the time from like physical education teachers or whatever to introduce them to the game,” said Witzke.

“I know that my daughter also plays and she teaches pickleball ,and they had a bunch of physical education teachers here last week at the college and that was one of the sports that all the physical education teachers were just (excited) about. There was 40 physical education teachers that wanted to learn how to play pickleball. So it’s awesome.”

Witzke said the sport is really growing exponentially.

“There are a whole bunch of qualified teachers,” said Witzke.

“And Ilysa Wong, who’s on our board ,(and) who’s at the U of L (University of Lethbridge) … and she’s also the provincial coach for Alberta Pickleball. So there’s lots of teachers that are certified — people that have their it’s called NCCP (National Coaching Certification Program). So now pickleball is recognized, and through Tennis Canada actually, as a sport through NCCP and people are registered through NCCP as coaches. There’s probably a dozen or more right now that are NCCP qualified coaches here in Lethbridge.”

LPC has enrolled well over 200 people into club ratings, which is a new venture this year.

“So that they can play in divisions that they are successful with,” said Witzke.

“So in Pickleball, what happens is that you’re rated anywhere from when you’re first starting you’re probably a two — you know, like a beginner would be a two— and a pro or someone that would be very, very good would be a five.”

Once the six new recently approved pickleball courts are built, LPC would like to run some junior programs for players that are under 18 and also placing a focus on seniors in 2023.

“We will be able to accommodate a lot more people and a lot more programs,” he said.

“And that’s what we’re hoping, to not only introduce the sport to people, but then develop probably competitive leagues.”

LPC and Coaldale clubs have 200 members each and the Lethbridge Seniors Centre has 180 members.