We are delighted to announce the merger between BC Pickleball and PICKLEBALLBC is now almost complete. The process will get a boost from the recent appointment of a Board of Directors for the merged entity which will be known as PICKLEBALLBC. The new Board is:
President: Walter Knecht (North Vancouver)
Vice-President: Karen Watson (Burnaby)
Secretary: Tricia Timmermans (Nelson)​
Treasurer: TBA
Registrar: Rick Wadsworth (Vernon)
At Large:
Akira Takeda (Vancouver) - BC Pickleball;
Ken Holman (Chemainus) -PICKLEBALLBC.ca website;
Silvia Simpson (North Vancouver);
Al Thomson (Victoria) - Referee in Chief.

Watch and listen to The Pickleball Life - an original song by Miguel Enciso.

Pickleball is the only racquet sport that does not use 'rally-point scoring'. Is 'side-out scoring' holding pickleball back? Do we need 'rally-point scoring' for pickleball to advance world-wide? Listen to pickleball teacher, historian, and thought-leader Steve Paranto as he advocates for rally-point scoring, including how volleyball and badminton made the switch and why.

The USAPA Board and staff, along with the team at PickleballTournaments.com, have announced the release of the third (and final) phase USAPA Tournament Player Ratings (UTPRs). This is the foundation rating for calculating your UTPR going forward and there will be no more phases. For members of the USAPA your UTPR can be viewed in your 'Member Profile' on the USAPA.org website.

Spec Tennis is played on a pickleball court with a different paddle, tennis ball, and style of play similar to tennis. It is "the tennis player's competitive alternative to pickleball". More information here.

Pickleball is not the quietest game ever invented. Courts that are positioned too close to residences often bring forth noise complaints.
Two new dedicated pickleball courts were recently installed at Tolmie Park, Victoria, replacing an aging, underused tennis court. A number of nearby residents complained about the noise. The City of Victoria responded by installing an acoustic barrier. Did it help? Players arriving at the courts a few days ago found the net vandalized - see image above. The police have opened a file.
A similar situation in the Victoria suburb of Oak Bay resulted in the Municipality posting the sign shown above!

The Vernon Pickleball Association officially opened 12 courts and two practice courts at Marshall Field in Okanagan Landing on Saturday, August 25th.

From the USAPA Ratings Committee:
"The USAPA Ratings Committee is pleased to announce the release of the USAPA Tournament Player Ratings (UTPR) - Review Phase 2! Click here to view your Phase 2 UTPR. This release is another step in our journey towards providing player ratings that are as accurate as possible. These updated ratings are a result of the feedback that has been received by the many members that have taken the time to review their tournament history.
With this release, we are once again asking for your help! We are asking all tournament players to:

• Review your rating and tournament history
  • Report history issues to matchreview@pickleballtournaments.com
  • Report ratings that are believed to be more than a full point off (this may be a result of an inaccurate initial rating)
• Confirm your USAPA number is properly entered in your PickleballTournaments.com profile

We continue to strive towards a final UTPR release on September 12, 2018. It is important to understand that the ELO rating system works (as has been proven in other sports) and that working with three years of history in a software program that was not designed specifically to feed a rating system has proven to be a monumental undertaking. Working back three years and coming up with a starting rating for the calculations is a programming challenge for the team at PickleballTournaments.com."