The newly formed Qualicum Beach Pickleball Club has joined the list of groups wanting more pickleball courts.
Sandi Reed, a representative of the club, appeared as a delegation at the Town of Qualicum Beach council’s regular meeting on March 22 to express the need for more pickleball courts to be constructed in the community.
Reed pointed out the increasing number of people playing pickleball.
“It is the fastest growing sport for the third year in a row and numbers have almost doubled, and over 158 per cent over three years,” said Reed.
According to Pickleball BC, in December 2021, there were 8,600 members and the numbers increased to 13,000 members in 2022. Reed said the numbers do not reflect those players who are not a member of Pickleball BC or Pickleball Canada. It is the second most popular sport in the province next to hiking.
The Parksville Qualicum Beach region has two main pickleball clubs — the Oceanside Pickleball Club which has grown to 305 members this year since it was established in 2012 and the Parksville Oceanside Pickleball Society, which has 220 members in 2022 and 170 signed up so far. They play at the shared tennis courts and lacrosse box (six courts) at the Parksville Community Park respectively.
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Qualicum Beach has only one pickleball court located at the tennis courts on Veterans Way just across the Qualicum Beach Legion. It is shared with tennis players. Other places in the region that have pickleball courts include Jack Bagley Community Park in Nanoose and Dunsmuir Park near Qualicum Bay.
Reed said there are two possible locations in Qualicum Beach where pickleball courts can be built. One is the space between the Qualicum Beach tennis courts and Qualicum Beach Curling Club. Reed said three courts could be built there.
The other site targeted by the club is the middle field at the Qualicum Beach Community Park, which is close to the civic centre that already has washrooms and will be close to other facilities. Reed said four courts could possibly fit there.
Councillor Scott Harrison referred to the Regional District of Nanaimo’s recreation master plan for District 69.
“After four years, I think we finished precisely zero of the things in the plan,” said Harrison. “So I caution the town starting to do recreational infrastructure. I think we should be doing this as sort of a regional approach. I think the appropriate venue to be talking about this is more through the RDN as opposed to the town just because the RDN’s initiatives for infrastructure are getting stalled.”
Harrison said these kind of projects are not cheap and he wants to make sure they have a broad view of where the money is being spent.
Reed asked council at its Committee of the Whole meeting on the budget on March 23 whether some of the $3,346,000 grant the town received from the Growing Communities Fund could be allocated to recreation.
“It can be directed to recreation based on council decisions as long as we can make a connection with growth,” said Raj Hayre, director of finance.
Mayor Teunis Westbroek said “pickleball is definitely a growing industry.”
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