Cobourg to host 2020 provincial pickleball championship
New sport is growing in popularity in Ontario
COBOURG — The 2020 Pickleball Ontario Provincial Championships are coming to town.
From May 8 to 10, more than 250 participants will be hosted at the Cobourg Community Centre for the championship awarded by the Pickleball Association of Ontario.
“We are thrilled to welcome so many participants from across Ontario who will be competing in the 2020 Pickleball Ontario Provincial Championship,” said Mayor John Henderson. “Our community centre remains an excellent asset for provincial events and in turn, an excellent asset for tourism as we bring people in from across the province.” Pickleball is played in pairs on a badminton court, and has been described as a mix of tennis and ping-pong.
The lightweight paddles look like ping-pong paddles, but are larger.
There are rules, such as having to stay out of the kitchen (the area around the net defined by white lines) and regulations around scoring (a game is 11 points but, to win, one side must be at least two points ahead — when teams are well matched, Homer said, a game can go on for some time).
Competitors will be divided into men’s singles and doubles, women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles.
The bowl arena will be transformed to create six pickleball courts in addition to the six located in the gym.
Pickleball is growing in popularity, particularly among seniors who enjoy the easygoing, low-impact sport.
The game is said to have been invented when a bored family lost their last badminton shuttlecock, so they lowered the net and started volleying a wiffle ball with quickly built plywood paddles.
The story goes that the family dog, Pickles, would chase the ball — thus the name of the new sport.
NOTE: The website for the championships is at ccc.cobourg.ca.