Pickleball enthusiasts in Quesnel are looking for an indoor home

The Quesnel Pickleball Club is looking for an indoor facility to make the sport available year round.

A presentation was made at the North Cariboo Joint Advisory Committee meeting on Tuesday (Nov 14) night.

Vice-President Rick Prosk was one of the speakers.

“There is nothing like a rainy day or smoke so thick you can’t see the end of the driveway to throw a damper on the pickleball mood. The other damper is the cooling weather and the end of outdoor play.”

Prosk said there were limited options for them right now, either at the Seniors Centre or in schools where there is a lot of competition for the space.

“Pickleball vies for available space with recreation centre programs, volleyball, badminton, Special Olympics, and school sports teams. Venues are closed for weekends, statutory holidays, band and Christmas concerts, fun fairs and any time a school wishes to use that space.”

Prosk said that those spaces weren’t ideal in terms of space and the type of flooring, but that was all that was available right now.

Club Secretary Wendy Forsythe was asked by Councillor Mitch Vik what type of venue they were looking for.

“We are eager to find any empty site. That could be empty retail space here in town, it could be an agricultural building, it could be an empty shop, industrial shop. There are obviously things we need to look into. We’re working to create a committee of people who can look around and contact those people who have places to lease that we could look at.”

Forsythe went on to say that any facility would have to have a fairly high ceiling and that the ideal size would be 30 by 60 feet.

She said a good example of an ideal venue would be one that is modeled after the Charles Jago Northern Sports Centre at UNBC in Prince George where Pickleball and Basketball and other indoor sports can be played simultaneously.

The Quesnel Pickleball Club was formed in 2019 with 25 members that has now grown to 170.