Sunshine Coast Pickleball Association (SCPA) held a youth pickleball orientation and development program on the week of May 26, 2025 at Chatelech Secondary School. The program was run by SCPA Board Member and Player Development Chair, Rick Semel. Semel was assisted by volunteers and teachers.
The SCPA was formed by Karen Renfrew, Dennis Regnier and Lin Buckler in 2009. SCPA is a non-profit, provincially incorporated society which fosters and promotes goodwill, fellowship, fitness, and healthy competition among its members.
“It was a fairly straightforward introduction to pickleball, including history, basic rules, ball control, dinking, serving, and games,” explained SCPA Vice President, Secretary and Operations Committee Chair, Brian Chipman. “Our objective was to focus on the fun aspect, given these are high school students. We instructed the majority of the student body throughout the week during gym classes and free times.”
Chatelech Secondary School has approximately 600 students. This year’s event is the second one held at the school over the past two years.
“The students looked like they had a great time and I heard from a teacher that some were trying to get out of classes to join in with our program,” added Chipman.
The weeklong program ended with a tournament for over a dozen teams that signed up and awarded prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams.
“Our goal is to get other schools involved and at some point, create a high school pickleball league on the Sunshine Coast,” concluded Chipman. “We have invited the students of Chatelech to play in a Canada Day tournament at Hackett Park (local outdoor courts).”
To learn more about SCPA, please visit sunshinecoastpickleball.com.
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