Photos of National Championship July 7 -8, 2012

Pickleball Canada National Open Championship July 7 - 8, 2012.  The tournament was a great success !!!  Everything went smoothly with 20 events on 14 indoor courts, 114 medals presented to winners.  ARC and Yale Secondary School were jammed packed with 168 players, 17volunteers, 12 referees, and lots of spectators, 8 Pickleball Canada Directors and 15 Ambassadors.   Mayor Banman welcomed the players at the opening ceremony.  The atmosphere was festive, fun, friendly and happy.  There were displays of several pickleball suppliers, gift baskets and prizes from many sponsors.  Food and drinks were served on both days with sandwiches, chips, muffins, fresh fruit, etc. Each participant receives a waterbottle, $5 Thrifty Foods gift certificate, City of Abbotsford brochures and coupons.

It was so exciting to watch the matches with top players from Canada and the USA.  Four USAPA National Champions Chris Miller, Billy and Darcie Jacobsen and Jennifer Lucore (all 5.0 skill levels) were fantastic to watch.  I watched the final two matches of the Canadian team Luba Zhekhovskaya and Elaine Lerner against the USA team Jennifer Lucore and Darcie Jacobsen in Open Womens Doubles.  The matches were so close with lots of cheers and applause and very exciting to watch because it was like watching the tennis pros play in open tournaments where you have to pay a lot of money to be a spectator.  The USA team finally won.  The Open Mens and Womens Singles matches also drew large number of spectators.  I watched Open Mens Doubles with USA team Chris Miller and Billy Jacobsen against Canada team Denis Zhekhovskiy and Reg Skinner, fantastic play by the top notch players from the two countries.  Play started at 8:30 am and ended at 5:30 pm on both days.
Updates:  July 15, 2012
A big thank you to the City of Abbotsford for hosting this event, Jenny Thornton, Mandy Hadfield and Dino Tsembelis for organizing and planning with Dave and Shirley Shepherd, Tournament Directors.
Ed Burke - Photographer and newsletter publisher
Medal Presenters - Bill Canning and Shirley Shepherd
Membership - Larry and Debra Evans
Referees - Colin Caldwell, Linda Dane, Earl Hill, Brian Parkes, Carol Haworth, Del Iggulden, Rosie Roper, Grant Brittain......
Volunteers:  Rita Meerkerk and her granddaughter, Henrietta, Iris Vlake, Henry and Dawna.
17 Volunteers from City of Abbotsford 
Local and National sponsors:
Pickle-Ball Inc., Pickleball International.
A raffle of 65 prizes include paddles, caps, t-shirts, bags, golf passes, seafood, chocolates, games, restaurant vouchers, gift certificates etc. from our sponsors:
Pro-Lite Sports, Pickleball Specialties, Pickleball Outfitters, Pickleball Central, I got it Pickleball, Murrey G.M. Abbotsford, North Bellingham Golf Course, Great Clips, ARC, King and Prince Seafood, Surburban Swings, Ocean Park Pizza, Me n Ed Pizza, Old Spaghetti Factory, 3 large Gift baskets from:  IGA, Phoenix Lounge and Tourism Abbotsford.
Some of the out-of-town participants are:
B.C. - Ed Burke, Christine Perras, Jim and Terry Saunders, Doug Ross, Tim Mah, Brian Lam, Keith and Linda Brown, John and Pat Booth, Jim Boris, Ken Akins, Glenn Degregario.....
Alberta - Linda Dane (Edmonton,AB), Dorothy Downie, Bill Canning (Red Deer, AB), Jake Jacobsen, Hazel Sakaluk. 
Sask.- Larry and Debra Evans
Ontario - Peter Werry (PAO Treasurer), Peter and Susan Singleton (London, ON)
Washington, USA - Vi Stockman, Earl Hill, Billy and Darcie Jacobsen, Chris Miller, Jason Hanson, Alan Gadbaw, Bud Meltsner.
California - Rosie Roper, Devon Heys, Lisa Copeland, Jennifer Lucore, Gordon Bolton, Maria Doest
Texas - PJ Leonard