On March 11, 2021 we applied for a Campbell River Community Foundation Neighbourhood Small Grant and when we received notification of being successful, we ordered two portable pickleball nets from PickleBallDepot.ca a local distributor located in Vernon BC.
When the nets arrived, we laminated the assembly instructions for each net and stored the nets, complete with instructions in a shed next to the tennis courts where all the tennis and pickleball equipment is stored. A key for this shed is available from the Quadra Recreation Office located in the Quadra Community Centre at Blenkin Park.
As the weather improved, we marked out the corners of two pickleball courts with small black marks on the opposite sides of the tennis net in one of the tennis courts at Blenkin Park…enabling a quick and temporary lining of the pickleball courts with sidewalk chalk for the planned drop-in or for players who showed up to play at other times of the week.
We posted in the local news…Discovery Islander, Bird’s Eye, Quadra Island Corkboard Facebook Page… that pickleball players were needed and we offered a Drop-In Pickleball opportunity on Tuesdays at 4:00 pm throughout the summer months.
We also offered lessons to kids and their parents through the Quadra Recreation Society’s Summer Program for kids. All in all, for the first year of the program, it was successful and we will try to build on that success next season. Thank you for giving us the grant to get us started.
Louella Baker
