THUNDER BAY — The Thunder Bay Pickleball Club kicked off its first tournament at its new facility inside the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition (CLE) building.
The new location for the sport fills the space that formerly housed the Boulder Bear Climbing Centre.
John Duck, the director of long-term planning with the Thunder Bay Pickleball Club, said when he got his position with the board, they gave him the responsibility of finding a facility that the club could have as their own and here they stand at the CLE.
“The Thunder Bay Pickleball Club is donating all the proceeds of this tournament to Special Olympics Thunder Bay,” said Duck.
“Every dollar that was given for registration — we’ve had close to 2,000 athletes have signed up for this tournament over a three-day period — so all of that money will be donated back to the local community through Special Olympics.”
The tournament began last Friday with all men’s doubles before continuing into all women’s doubles on Saturday and mixed doubles on Sunday.
“At least here in Thunder Bay, we typically just play doubles. Not very much in singles is played and that gets the most amount of players in through the gate here as well for the fundraiser,” said Duck.
With the total registration fees close to $10 per athlete per event, Duck said they’re hoping that donations will be over a couple thousand dollars.
“We’re also hosting a silent auction for a few donated items that we have here as well and we have a couple of buckets up front that we’re taking additional donations. So, we’re hoping that by the end of today, we’ll have a good number, but we won’t know exactly until the event’s finished,” said Duck.
Tudor Nisioiu, the past president of the Thunder Bay Pickleball Club, won silver in the tournament’s men’s doubles alongside Duck.
“I got a silver medal, which I’m really proud and I’m going to continue to improve as much as I can,” said Nisioiu
He said his previous board worked hard and dedicated pickleball players in the Thunder Bay community fulfilled its legacy.
“This tournament is a charity for the Special Olympics and we’re really proud to help out the community. The club was opened just a week ago and here we are. Dream come true,” said Nisioiu.
Nisioiu added that everyone in the tournament was also engaged and gave the best out of them.
“Absolutely fantastic atmosphere and experience, all led by our volunteers, an amazing board, dedicated, passionate pickleball players and very successful,” said Nisioiu.
He said the club welcomes everybody to come and check out the not-for-profit organization.
Alongside the club having a couple of additional tournaments that will be announced in the future, Duck added that the facility will be open 24 hours a day, which they hope to have an awareness event on by running a 24-hour pickleball marathon that will also help raise money.
“We have a few things kind of up our sleeve. There are other communities that run pickleball tournaments, so we’re trying to navigate through all of those and find an ideal spot,” said Duck.
“We’ve had some players from the United States have come. Some people from other clubs have come this weekend, so it’s been a great way for us to be able to introduce outside players to our new facility.”
The club will host the Thunder Bay Open around the first of July at the Boulevard Lake outdoor pickleball facility, which will be brought to the new facility’s indoor courts if it rains.
Duck encourages people to stay tuned for upcoming events and find out what’s exciting on their Facebook page or come in to be shown all about the new facility anytime from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. if an interested pickleball player when the doors will be open.
“We have acrylic textured floors here, something that’s unique. It’s very similar to an outdoor playing surface and it’s also the playing surface that the professional pickleball players play on. So, we’re pretty excited to offer that to the players here in town,” said Duck.
