[Canmore] Brent Johner, president of Pickleball Alberta and a Canadian national pickleball team coach stopped by the Canmore Seniors Centre yesterday for a brief demonstration and a question-answer session.
Several topics were covered including regional differences in pickleball culture, rules, funding for new pickleball courts and the growth of pickleball in Alberta. The Q&A session was immediately followed by a brief demonstration of pickleball during which Coach Brent dealt with funamental issues such as grip, body position and court movement.
The audience was particularly interested in the concepts of building, breaking and reforming “walls” — the process by which two players try to stand side-by-side (like a wall) near the kitchen line while the other team tries to break them up, get them moving around and prevent them from forming (or re-forming) a wall.
The pickleball group at the Canmore Seniors Centre has been playing there for three years and can legitimately claim to be one of Alberta’s first pickleball clubs. The oldest player present at Friday’s session was 83; the youngest was 60.
