Pickleball BC Association’s (“PBCA”) Activating Youth Pickleball in BC (“AYPBC”) Initiative Provides Pickleball Equipment for BC Regions

​Connie McCann, past President of the Victoria Regional Pickleball Association, delivered equipment to Ecole Macaulay Elementary’s PE Teacher Darren Comer and his excited students.

(Note This AYPBC Equipment Delivery news is the condensed version. The complete news version, with more photographs, can be read in the AYPBC section.)

March 6th 2025, Vancouver, B.C.— With the assistance of a $30,000 grant from the viaSport British Columbia Provincial Sport Development Fund awarded to PBCA in September of 2024, PBCA and Pickleball Canada (“PCO”) procured and delivered Franklin Sports equipment for the AYPBC initiative, introducing K – 7 students to the sport of pickleball across BC.

Working around the clock to out-race the impending, ever-changing Canada-USA 25% tax tariffs, David Snell PBCA President and Barry Petrachenko, PCO Executive Director, ensured that the pickleball equipment the students would use was shipped prior to the midnight deadline last month.

David Snell, PBCA President’s Comments & Background Recap
As David explains: “Though the final AYPBC lesson curriculum and tool sets for all of our BC clubs will not be ready until this Summer, our initiative of introducing pickleball to 16 Elementary schools and approximately 500 K – 7 students at our 3 BC Regions has had a tremendous start. Acquiring the equipment, including providing some Vancouver school teachers NCCP pickleball certification to coach students, were all positive steps towards our initiative.

To date, there are countless number of teachers and our 3 Regional Clubs (Vancouver, Victoria, and Vernon) who are overseeing this rollout, and all are involved in making this initiative happen. Overall, they are seeing the tremendous enthusiasm of both the teachers and the youth as our program is successfully deployed”.

Regional AYPBC Program Updates

1. Victoria, Vancouver Island Region: Connie McCann, past President, Victoria Regional Pickleball Association ("VRPA") states: “VRPA received the delivery of AYPBC equipment. Very exciting. We are eternally grateful for what we received and started distributing to our first school.”
2. Vernon, Thompson Okanagan Region: From Rick Klein, Chair Player Development Committee/Vernon Pickleball Association (“VPA”): “We received our equipment order from Franklin on Friday morning last week. Thanks to David and the rest of the PBCA board for your efforts in putting this all together—we really appreciate the work done and we are putting the equipment into use first thing Tuesday morning when we bring 90 grade 6 students to our facility and hold our first Slamboree!! … ”
3. Vancouver Region: AYPBC Project Coordinator Sharon Hoy provides an update:
   "The original EVES (East Vancouver Elementary School) project is into its third year of spreading pickleball throughout the district. We are really excited under the AYPBC program to be able to provide further equipment and pickleball introductions to under-resourced schools in Vancouver that are new to pickleball.
   
   We currently offer monthly ‘Learn & Play’ professional development sessions to teachers new to pickleball and twenty-two teachers have just received Canada's National Coaching Certification Program (“NCCP”) training as described below.
   
   Some of these teachers do not have equipment and we can now share the four sets of equipment with those that want to teach this great game to their students. …
   
   ​From the start, removing financial barriers by providing equipment has been an important part of the success and growth of youth pickleball in Vancouver elementary schools. We thank you for your support!"

Photo from the Level 1, NCCP Instructor Certification Pickleball Course for teachers held at the David Thompson Secondary School on Friday, February 14, 2025. The pickleball instructor certification program was a joint effort between Pickleball Canada and Tennis Canada's Tennis Professionals Association, which was taught by Mark Renneson (group photo top left), Head of Pickleball Coach Education, Tennis Canada and funded by PBCA.

Summary: Positive Energies!!
As eager players heading for the pickleball courts, we are all familiar with that pre-match excitement—the anticipation of playing with our partners and friends, and the euphoria of hitting that first ball. Those are some of the positive, healthy emotions we hope to pass on to our youth through our AYPBC program starting in our 3 Regions, and later in 2025 throughout BC.

For more information, contact:
David Snell, President, Pickleball BC Association
[email protected] 
Sharon Hoy, AYPBC Project Coordinator
​[email protected]