Vernon Pickleball Association named the best in Canada

It is an exciting day for the Vernon Pickleball Association (VPA) and its members.

The club has been dubbed as Canada’s Best Pickleball Club for 2023 by Pickleball Today, beating out 140 clubs from across the country in a months-long voting process.

"You folks have created a club that could be a template for all of us to follow," said Patrick Batty of Pickleball Today in a statement.

"Your achievements, enthusiasm, tournament hosting, fundraising and local community relations are quite amazing."

The honour comes as no surprise to pickleball enjoyers in Vernon.

The club has a strong and passionate following that has grown to 1,000 members since being created nearly a decade ago.

One of the gems that set the VPA apart from other clubs is the Okanagan Wealth Advisor’s Pickleball Complex.

The complex has slowly come together over the years, initially opening with 12 outdoor courts in August 2018.

Members of the VPA then raised $1.2 million in less than two months in early 2020 to cover the cost of building a roof over the courts.

In 2021, the steel truss and fabric-covered roof was completed, creating a year-round pickleball facility in Vernon.

This past summer the VPA hosted the very first BC Provincial Pickleball Championships, attracting more than 600 participants from across the province to compete.

The VPA and its complex host multiple tournaments and events throughout the year, on top of being open seven days a week from 8 am to 8 pm.

The club is currently embarking on phase three of construction, creating the ‘Hermann House’.

Named after one of the founding members of the VPA, Wally Hermann, the addition will see the construction of a reception area, meeting room and change room.

Once again, this construction was made possible because of the VPA’s members, who fundraised $2.4 million to fund the addition.

When not competing on the courts, the VPA and its members have held a Christmas food bank donation fundraiser for the past two years.

The food that is donated is then placed under a massive 17-foot-tall pickleball Christmas tree that contains more than 800 broken pickleballs.

More information on the club can be found online at this link.