Tofino’s constituency of pickleball players that went to the +55 BC Games in Greater Victoria last month brought home eight medals total over the course of five events.
Players Janet St. Pierre, Kris Brown, Steve Thicke, Judy Michaud and Dan Audet all earned hardware over the four day tournament.
“For a small club like this, we just played well together. Everybody seemed to gel,” said St. Pierre, who nabbed a pair of bronzes in the mixed doubles and ladies doubles.
Michaud and Brown were losing their first game of the tournament 1-9, but they made a triumphant come back, beating the team 11-9, and eventually advancing to the gold medal match.
“They didn’t know what hit them,” said Michaud, adding that they met them again for the gold medal and lost.
“It was very co-operative (tournament). People cheered you on. It had a really good vibe to it all,” Michaud.
“At the end of the match you were up hugging your opponent. It was just a big, social activity,” St. Pierre said.
Steve Thicke placed second in the men’s single out of about 14 competitors. He said the gold medal game was really close.
“It was a great game. I was leading most of the game until the end and then I just kind of froze. I got nervous and I started playing conservatively. It just slipped by me,” said Thicke.
The unofficial team captain, Dan Audet, says the Tofino team had a lot of fun on the road.
“We made sure we went for a drink after. That was the fun part. We had a lot of laughter,” he said, noting that it’s the social aspect, in addition to the mental and physical benefits of the sport, that he really enjoys.
Thicke says it’s just plain fun.
“If you like racket sports there’s enough strategy and technique that it’s a lot of fun. You can be competitive fairly easily and it’s quite social,” said Thicke.
Tofino hosts free drop-in pickleball from 9 a.m. to noon on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at the tennis courts by the Village Green or in the Tofino Community Hall if it’s raining.
“Through the year we’ve had about 100 people drop-in,” said Michaud.
The players are in the process of advocating to the district to get the tennis courts resurfaced and one day, they say they’d love to see the town have designated pickleball courts.
nora.omalley@westerlynews.ca
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