On May 17, 2023, 48 POWWR members participated in the Crazy 8s Tournament. The 8 teams showed their team spirit by sporting their team colours and having fun on the pickleball court.
In honour of the late Garry Dagenais, the first POWWR Spirit Award was presented to Murf by our special guests, the Dagenais family. Congratulations to Murf!
While the tournament winners have bragging rights, the real winner of the day was the Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region. Through the tremendous generosity of the tournament participants, over $1200 and lots of lots of diapers, baby wipes and other needed items were collected. A big thank you to all for making this day such a success.
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POWWR Coaches led two pickleball sessions at the WRDSB teacher’s PD day in April 2023. Sixty PHE teachers learned the basics of the sport.
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POWWR’s first Women’s Only Play session was a big success in the winter of 2023! Thanks to all of the players and volunteers who made the sessions so much fun.
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On December 10th, 2022, POWWR held a Beginner Skill Clinic and an Intermediate Skills Clinic at the KW Badminton Club. The Intermediate Skill Clinic included 6 different skill stations and players rotated through each one.
On June 1st, POWWR convened the OSGA District 26 Pickleball Tournament. Twenty-five teams competed throughout the day, with winners of the qualifying events earning the right to represent District 26 at the Summer Games in Peterborough. POWWR members developed the schedule for 7 different tournament pools, filled the role of Tournament Director and refereed matches. Thanks to all involved for a great day!
POWWR offered a Rules & Play Clinic on Wednesday, May 4th from 11am – 2pm. The Rules Clinic was a 2 hour fun and interactive session to learn the rules of the game, including the lesser known ones. The clinic was held at the Parkwood Gardens Church on 501 Whitelaw Road in Guelph.
POWWR held a 2 hour intermediate skills clinic on Wednesday, May 4th from 10:30 am – 12:30 pm. This clinic focused on recognizing your opponent’s play, making in-game adjustments and was a blend of strategy and skills. Specific attention was given to serve and serve receive, punch volley, block volley, reset, soft shot and court positioning. The clinic was held at the Parkwood Gardens Church on 501 Whitelaw Road in Guelph.
POWWR held two 10-week Drill & Play sessions from February to April 2022 at the KW Badminton Club. What an outstanding group of pickleball enthusiasts!
POWWR held Skills Clinic and ‘Bubble Tournaments’ on Saturday March 19th 2022 at the KW Badminton Club located at 69 Agnes St in Kitchener. Donations for the Women’s Crisis Center of Waterloo Region were also collected.
CTV News highlighted the event on the evening news.
Clinic 1 – The Beginner/Intermediate Clinic focused on serve and serve receive placements and strategies; soft shot (dink); blocking and volley including decision making; offensive lob, lob retrieval and emphasis on footwork.
Clinic 2 – The Advanced Clinic focused on 3rd shot drops and working through the transition zone; developing more aggressive soft shots (dinks) in order to move opponents around; volley blocks and volley pushes; game strategy and working the point.
‘Bubble Tournaments’
Each team played a 5 game round-robin tournament. The top two teams in each division earned bragging rights… and a ‘pickly’ prize.
On Monday, February 7th, 2022 at 7 pm POWWR held its Annual General Meeting. The meeting minutes and reports referred to in the meeting are found below.
POWWR AGM Minutes 07Feb2022.Final
POWWR 2021 Financial Statements
Membership Report – Dec 31, 2021
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Tournament of Sixes on November 3rd, 2019
The team format of this tournament fostered new pickleball connections, and the big winner was the Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region. A big thank you for the generous donations made by all participants.
Crazy 8’s Tournament on September 14, 2019
Great fun was had at the round robin tournament held at the KW Badminton Club. The players generously donated to the Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region. Thank you to all the participants for a fun-filled day of pickleball!
Ontario Deaf Sports Association Tournament on Saturday, September 7th
On behalf of Ontario Deaf Sports Association (Non-profit organization), we wanted to thank POWWR, in Kitchener on September 7th, 2019. Pickleball of Waterloo Wellington Region, member Fiona for helping us to find the location plus 2 POWWR volunteers – Cindy and Rob. 17 players attended including 10 were first time players. They really enjoyed it and wanted us to do that again and more often. They believe more new players and experience players will want to come too. This is Ontario Deaf Sports Association’s first time to host pickleball, it was important for us to let players know that we do have Canada Deaf Games every 2 years – next year in May in Edmonton and 2022 in Montreal. Thank you again to Fiona, Cindy and Rob.
ODSA President Dana McCarthy
Pickleball Tournament presented by POWWR!
Thirty-six enthusiastic players took to the courts at KCI and battled for the ultimate team championship and the right to claim first prize, a pickle Christmas tree ornament!
Okay, the actual purpose of the event was to enjoy 5 or 6 games of pickleball, give a donation to student-athletes in need at KCI and raise money and give donations to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region. Mission accomplished!
Sincere thanks to all participants for their enthusiastic play and generosity in support of KCI Athletes and the Food Bank.
Food Bank Totals:
174 lbs of food = 154 meals
$313.00 cash donation = 939 meals
TOTAL = 1093 meals!
Also, thanks to Bob Riehl for his sponsorship and donation of items to our prize table. bgriehl@gmail.com
Hope to see everyone at our next tournament!
POWWR
CSI Tournament at RIM Park
On June 12th and 13th the City of Waterloo completed another successful CSI Tournament at Rim Park. the competitors were very keen and demonstrated good sportsmanship over the two days.
The POWWR Pickleball Club enjoyed the opportunity to volunteer its services during the competition. A few of our members were involved in keeping stats, refereeing medal games and acting as gym marshalls. A few referees in training had their first taste of refereeing in tournament play and hopefully will continue to participate in future events.
A big thank-you to all the participants and volunteers who made the event such a success. Also, congratulations to all the winners who medaled in each of the events.
This year’s event was held in June, but it is hoped that it will return to its original date in March for next year.
See you on the court and happy pickle balling.
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OSGA District 26 Pickleball Medalists!
The OSGA (Ontario Senior Games Association) hosted an Open Pickleball Tournament May 1st, 2nd and 3rd at the Rim complex in Waterloo.
We had a number of local first, second and third place finishers in both men’s women’s and mixed play.
Here are just a few.
Congratulations!
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POWWR Mondays
It is official, POWWR has leased four Pickleball courts at the KW Badminton club in Kitchener on Monday nights from 7:00pm till 9:00pm.
As you can see by the picture, it is just a wee bit cold, as this section of the old curling rink has no heat! So sometimes layers, toques and mitts are needed for the warm up, literally to warm up!
This hardy, dedicated group of very enthusiastic players started playing the end of November and will play right through till mid May. A number of different playing formats will be used throughout the season. Ladder, play and split, strategy sessions, and socials…of course!
If anyone is interested in joining POWWR Monday’s next season contact us at powwrinfo@gmail.com.
Local players win some hardware at the Ontario Championships
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Tournament of Sixes on November 3rd, 2019
The team format of this tournament fostered new pickleball connections, and the big winner was the Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region. A big thank you for the generous donations made by all participants.
Crazy 8’s Tournament on September 14, 2019
Great fun was had at the round robin tournament held at the KW Badminton Club. The players generously donated to the Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region. Thank you to all the participants for a fun-filled day of pickleball!
Ontario Deaf Sports Association Tournament on Saturday, September 7th
On behalf of Ontario Deaf Sports Association (Non-profit organization), we wanted to thank POWWR, in Kitchener on September 7th, 2019. Pickleball of Waterloo Wellington Region, member Fiona for helping us to find the location plus 2 POWWR volunteers – Cindy and Rob. 17 players attended including 10 were first time players. They really enjoyed it and wanted us to do that again and more often. They believe more new players and experience players will want to come too. This is Ontario Deaf Sports Association’s first time to host pickleball, it was important for us to let players know that we do have Canada Deaf Games every 2 years – next year in May in Edmonton and 2022 in Montreal. Thank you again to Fiona, Cindy and Rob.
ODSA President Dana McCarthy
Pickleball Tournament presented by POWWR!
Thirty-six enthusiastic players took to the courts at KCI and battled for the ultimate team championship and the right to claim first prize, a pickle Christmas tree ornament!
Okay, the actual purpose of the event was to enjoy 5 or 6 games of pickleball, give a donation to student-athletes in need at KCI and raise money and give donations to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region. Mission accomplished!
Sincere thanks to all participants for their enthusiastic play and generosity in support of KCI Athletes and the Food Bank.
Food Bank Totals:
174 lbs of food = 154 meals
$313.00 cash donation = 939 meals
TOTAL = 1093 meals!
Also, thanks to Bob Riehl for his sponsorship and donation of items to our prize table. bgriehl@gmail.com
Hope to see everyone at our next tournament!
POWWR
CSI Tournament at RIM Park
On June 12th and 13th the City of Waterloo completed another successful CSI Tournament at Rim Park. the competitors were very keen and demonstrated good sportsmanship over the two days.
The POWWR Pickleball Club enjoyed the opportunity to volunteer its services during the competition. A few of our members were involved in keeping stats, refereeing medal games and acting as gym marshalls. A few referees in training had their first taste of refereeing in tournament play and hopefully will continue to participate in future events.
A big thank-you to all the participants and volunteers who made the event such a success. Also, congratulations to all the winners who medaled in each of the events.
This year’s event was held in June, but it is hoped that it will return to its original date in March for next year.
See you on the court and happy pickle balling.
PICKLEBALL AMBASSADORS – MARY AND PHILIP RAJOTTE
January 2013 while vacationing near Puerta Vallarta, Mexico we were introduced to a new sport called Pickleball. We had played all the racquet sports over the years but had never heard of Pickleball, what’s that? We were handed a paddle and a ball with holes! The courts were asphalt, cracked and uneven in spots and the nets were probably tennis high. We were advised of a few rudimentary rules and told to hit the ball over the net. Zap, the attraction was instant and we were hooked. Playing was so much fun, easy and social. 
Back home and Phil is searching the internet for Pickleball sites. Downtown Community Center offers Pickleball….let’s Go! Staff at the facility were very polite and helpful. The more we played, the more we wanted to play. Forest Heights Community Center, the “YMCA”, Kingsdale Community Center, etc.
February 2014, we, along with Marsha and Jack Redmond presented Pickleball to Jim Zuber and Kendra Priddle at the Research In Motion sports complex in Waterloo. Facility workers joined in the play wearing their steel toed shoes. It was great fun doing the demonstration. Nets, poles and paddles were purchased by RIM and the game was on. Court play was offered free of charge until September. In the first year 3500 players attended the program now named the Waterloo Pickleball Club. To access sites that offer Pickleball go to Pickleball Association of Ontario.
Along the way we realized that there was a great need for referees so we studied the rules and offered a workshop to introduce the “rules” of the game. Fun time sharing our love of the sport with others.
As the sport continued to grow in our region we volunteered to help with the initial formation of a new organization, Pickleball of Waterloo Wellington Region or POWWR. POWWR is a registered non-profit volunteer run association. POWWR provides a safe and welcoming environment for the promotion, development and growth of the sport of Pickleball in the Waterloo-Wellington Region of Ontario.
We have volunteered at local tournaments, London, Hamilton, and Midland. We feel privileged to be ambassadors for this growing sport. See you on the courts.
Mary and Philip Rajotte
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OSGA District 26 Pickleball Medalists!
The OSGA (Ontario Senior Games Association) hosted an Open Pickleball Tournament May 1st, 2nd and 3rd at the Rim complex in Waterloo.
We had a number of local first, second and third place finishers in both men’s women’s and mixed play.
Here are just a few.
Congratulations!
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POWWR Mondays
It is official, POWWR has leased four Pickleball courts at the KW Badminton club in Kitchener on Monday nights from 7:00pm till 9:00pm.
As you can see by the picture, it is just a wee bit cold, as this section of the old curling rink has no heat! So sometimes layers, toques and mitts are needed for the warm up, literally to warm up!
This hardy, dedicated group of very enthusiastic players started playing the end of November and will play right through till mid May. A number of different playing formats will be used throughout the season. Ladder, play and split, strategy sessions, and socials…of course!
If anyone is interested in joining POWWR Monday’s next season contact us at powwrinfo@gmail.com.
Local players win some hardware at the Ontario Championships
POWWR 