National pickleball championship lands in Winnipeg

Harrison Shin reports on the national pickleball tournament volleying its way into Manitoba for the first time.

Winnipeg’s Taylor Tennis Centre in River Heights is now occupied by hundreds of picklers.

On Tuesday, the 2025 Myoflex National Championship served up the first rounds of its annual national pickleball competition. This is the championship’s first time in Manitoba since it started five years ago.

Over 700 participants are participating in 32 indoor courts, which will host more than 2,000 games.

“I think our youngest participant is 14 (years old) and our oldest is over 80,” said competition co-director Ted Fardoe.

“We’re very excited about what we’ve got going on here, all ages and all skill.”

Fardoe said pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in Canada, with Pickleball Manitoba membership jumping from 400 members in 2022 to 2,500 in 2025.

“Every year, we’re growing by 25 per cent easily, and that’s just our membership. I would say that we have only captured half of the people playing this sport in Manitoba.”

Kim Ezzard-Simpson, coach-director of Pickleball Manitoba, echoed the sentiment, pointing out that everyone can play the game.

“I actually started to play pickleball a few years ago because my father played. He is now 80 and he got me into the game,” Ezzard-Simpson said.

“And that’s the beauty of pickleball. You can play any age from young to old, and it’s just such a fun game.”

She wants to see the game join the Olympics as an official sport and she’s not alone in calling for its inclusion.

“That is a little way away at this time, but we’re working hard. All of the Canadian provinces are working hard to make that come to fruition, and I believe that it will happen,” she said.

“People are having these tournaments, and pickleball is here to stay.”

Lisa Bergson was one of the hundreds competing at the Manitoba tournament, recalling her journey to the sport with a smile. In Bergson’s case, she walked into a pickleball clinic in Winnipeg Beach nine years ago.

“I was hooked as soon as I hit that first ball,” she recalled.

It was soon after her retirement, and the game was a perfect fit for her.

“It’s easy to learn to play, whereas tennis is a little more difficult for people to get a hang of. Pickleball is a little easier, and it’s very social,” she pointed out.

The 2025 Myoflex National Championship runs until Sunday at Taylor Tennis Centre.