Pickleball
Canada
The latest news, tournaments
and upcoming clinics
Reflections
from the 2018
Margaritaville USA
Pickleball National
Championships in
Indian Wells, CA
Raymond Greenwood,
Gold Winner 3.5/50+
I started playing pickleball a year and a half ago. My brother,
Phil, who’d been playing at Kona for several years, had never
played in a tournament but the Saskatchewan Provincial
Tournament was coming up and he needed a partner.
I’d never played pickleball, and my best athletic days were
behind me. But I had played several racquet sports like
badminton, ping-pong and tennis. I went with my brother to
the local pickleball club and played quite well.
After about a month, my brother and I entered the
provincial tournament in 4.0. This was a
reality check. We finished fourth of four
teams. I was told after the tournament
that the tournament director had rated
me a 3.0. This hurt my pride, but I was
hooked and determined to get better.
By the time we arrived at the US
Nationals, I’d already played in 15
tournaments that year. The weather
was hot, but the atmosphere was
electric at the Indian Wells complex. My
brother ended up carrying us. We went
through the “A” side undefeated, but had a
close call when we were in the third game of
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