Pickleball community gets a new online hub

Pickleballers playing in Victoria. Photo: Vancouver Island Pickleball / Facebook

There’s a new online hub for all things pickleball that will help those looking to get in a game when they’re up-Island or visiting Victoria.

Vancouver Island Pickleball (VIPB)—a one-stop website for pickleballers across the Island—launched last week, providing “an Island-focused pickleball resource,” offering Island pickleball club listings, feature stories and more.

“There’s court guides and court maps and some resources and a coaching directory,” James Nielsen, the sites’ founder tells Capital Daily.

“There's definitely opportunities to provide coverage and content and interviews to just help grow the game.”

It’s a game that has been growing, with 80K+ registered to play in Canada—that’s registered, the number of people playing recreationally is believed to be much higher.

The Victoria Regional Pickleball Association (VRPA), which has 635 active members, applauds Nielsen for helping to spread the word about the game.

“Up and down Vancouver Island, pickleball is flourishing and we know that visitors to our Island are bringing their paddles with them and are seeking places to play,” VRPA President Connie McCann tells Capital Daily.

“James' website will assist both Vancouver Islanders and visitors to our Island.”

Nielsen, an avid pickleballer who lives in Victoria, says he kept hearing the same question over and over.

“Essentially, my wife and I were out doing lessons for a couple of consecutive months, and the people we were speaking to were asking questions about ‘where can we play?’” Nielsen says.

“And I was literally like, ‘OK, I'm going to build a website to kind of hopefully fill those gaps.’”

So, Nielsen, a communications specialist in multimedia, including web development, writing, and photography, and his wife Amanda Richardson—who is also a communications professional—did just that.

Lots to look at on the website

The website features a list of the approximate 70 or so pickleball sites that have either outdoor or indoor courts throughout the Island—and is encouraging players to submit the names of courts that may have been overlooked.

The site lists events, a coaches and lessons page, news features—including a nook to nominate a pickleball player of the month—clubs and associations from Victoria up to Port McNeill, along with a resources page with provincial pickleball contacts and information on the pickleball strategy developed by Victoria, Esquimalt, Saanich, and Oak Bay.

It has news from Pickleball Canada—the national championship will be held in Manitoba this year—and information about Vancouver Island Pickleball TV on YouTube, which will feature a variety of content ranging from Island court features to player profiles and coaching tips.

Everything from basic rules to information on equipment is on the site, and social media channels with group forums where players can meet and communicate with each other are expected, along with a weekly newsletter.

“I think it’s awesome,” says Brittany Buna, one of the owners of Victoria Pickleball Centre (VPC) in Langford, Greater Victoria’s first dedicated indoor pickleball courts, which sees upward of 200 players come through each day.

Great for travelling pickleballers

Buna says unless you join a Facebook group, there is (make that was) no central Vancouver Island website dedicated to the game, so this fills a void.

“For example, if I wanted to go up to Ladysmith [to] go play pickleball, I would have to Google Ladysmith pickleball locations, and then I would have to go and filter through all the public locations that they have there,” she says.

“Now I can just go to this website and look [up] Central Island, up-Island, and it will break it down for me.”

Nielsen says he eventually would like to monetize the website but right now, it’s baby steps and that means just getting people aware of it is a good start by having full representation from the South Island to the North Island.

“It would be nice to have regular engagement and a following and contributions from the whole Island community towards [it], whether that be contributing to updates on the articles, providing news stories that we can work with, [or] talking to people from across the Island.”