Downtown Paddle Palooza returned to Carl Zehr Square in Kitchener to celebrate a growing sport while raising money for a good cause. The event featured both drop-in pickleball matches as well as a tournament. “Pickleball is a growing sport in Kitchener. In fact, all over we’re seeing all types of people come out and want pickleball space,” Kitchener councillor Stephanie Stretch said. “We have different pickleball spots around town – Montgomery Park is a big one in our ward, and there’s just a high demand. We’re seeing all ages, all abilities.” The sport has proved to be so popular, the city is working on creating more spaces for people to play. “We’re adding more courts as a city out in our Cowan Recreation Centre,” Stretch said. “Montgomery in Kitchener is expanding to include more pickleball spots. We’re just seeing a high demand as we open up our streets and have people come out and play.” During Downtown Paddle Palooza, seasoned players and people new to the game were invited to pick up a paddle and serve up some fun. The event ran from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. Tuesday. “Fantastic. Beautiful day outside, and why not get out and play some pickle?” Chance Nguyen, a pickleball player with the Tri-City Cheapshots, said. “We need lots of pickleball courts. That’s where we started pickleball – at RBJ Schlegel. He bought some Amazon paddles and next thing you know, a few years later, it’s our whole personality.” Proceeds from the event are going to the Every Kid Counts program that helps send kids with disabilities to local camps. “So last year they raised about $600 for us, which is great, it costs about $700- $800 a week for us to have a staff in program, so basically this event is making sure that we have enough support for one camper to go to camp,” Olivia Curtis, supervisor of inclusion services for the City of Kitchener said. Curtis said they’re now in the fortunate position to provide the same level of service for the program in both Kitchener and Waterloo. “This past summer, we were at 250 weeks that we were able to support. And this summer we are looking about the same, which is also been exciting because we’ve been able to expand our programming. So, we’ve added an additional week for our young children between the ages of four and eight years,” Curtis said.
