clubs , provinces / territories to the National , which is great to see .
OTHER EXCITING NEWS …
Agreement with Pickleball Brackets
PCO has partnered with Pickleball Brackets for tournament software , ladder and league tools , and ratings engine ( for both club level and competitive play ). As a general philosophy , PCO is moving away from self-ratings and subjective ratings , and toward performance-based rating numbers . Ratings based on results removes any human judgment from the equation , and hopefully produces fewer disputes regarding skill levels as the results will speak for themselves .
Also , PCO will be setting up the official competition-based national rating system within Pickleball Brackets , called the Canadian Tournament Player Rating ( CTPR ). The CTPR will be used for all PCO-sanctioned tournaments , to place and seed players , and the game and match results will then affect the CTPR number .
Sport Tourism
More and more cities and municipalities are realizing that sport tourism can be a great boost to their local economy , and those entities are also realizing the growth in popularity of pickleball . This was evidenced by my participation in a recent Sport Tourism Canada web-based “ speed dating ” event , where my allotted appointment slots ( 15 ) filled up very quickly . Suffice it to say that there are at least 15 cities across Canada that are keenly interested in hosting a major pickleball tournament , be it Nationals , Regionals , Provincials / Territorials , or others . I mentioned that one of the biggest constraints to our growth is the lack of facilities , and many mentioned their plans to add courts , which is great news . In addition to the social and physical benefits of our sport , businesses and communities are realizing there are economic benefits impacted by our sport as well . •
Welcomiing , iinclusiive and accessiible . Our sport embraces and supports players of all ages , abiiliitiies and iinterests� we foster sociial connectiions and a sense of communiity .
MAY / JUNE 2021 | MAGAZINE 67