Victoria Pickleball Centre’s (VPC) co-owner Crystal Andresen, general manager Cayce Fedberg and their fellow VPC owners and staff will celebrate one year of operation in April 2025. The past year has seen the team build, and support the growth of pickleball and the pickleball community on southern Vancouver Island as the Island’s first dedicated indoor facility.
Andresen landed a position at Courtside Sports in Victoria in 2021 and has since become a co-owner of both VPC and Courtside. She currently splits her time growing both businesses. Fedberg joined the VPC team shortly after the facility’s initial opening, and has played a pivotal role in the development and rollout of programming and VPC’s overall business strategy.
“Everyone on the VPC team has come together, and they’ve been pitching in, in different ways to help VPC grow…turning it into something awesome that we could have never never imagined,” said Andresen. “We’re definitely still growing and still trying to figure out things as a business. It’s kind of a unique thing that there’s there’s nothing like it in Victoria.”
Pickleball’s inclusivity has played a major role in the sport’s continued growth on Vancouver Island, catering to both the younger and older demographics. A diverse range of skill levels has also played its part in VPC’s approach to facility programming and structure.
“There’s still a lot of people who are just trying to find place to start playing,” added Andresen. “We’re trying to give those people a space to play while also offering higher level player players a place to play as well.”
In addition to providing players with a space to play, Fedberg and VPC coordinate a number of weekly tournaments and events, including Major League Pickleball-style leagues, and King of the Court competitions running alongside the traditional public court booking model.
“We are 24-7,” explained Fedberg. “Members can come in 24 hours a day if they want. We have some people playing here at midnight. We have six indoor courts, we have leagues, tournaments, lessons, open play and drop-in options.”
Since opening their doors last year, the feedback from the growing pickleball community for VPC has been positive.
“We’ve been we’ve been getting a lot of really warm reception and a lot of feedback on things that we could be doing better, and we’re trying to take everyone’s opinion and and make it into the most inclusive place that we can,” said Andresen.
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