Local athletes gearing up for pickleball provincials

Gorder, who also sits as on the Provincial Pickleball Board of Directors, is a former pickleball provincial champion and claimed two medals during the 2024 championship in Regina, where he took gold in men’s singles and in mixed doubles, which he won with Saskatoon teammate Sarah English.

Locally in Prince Albert, the sport continues to boom with more than 140 registered players that play inside Alfred Jenkins Fieldhouse and outdoors at the Carlton Park and Midtown Community Club’s. A new private indoor pickleball-specific facility named the CrossCourt Pickleball Centre is currently in the works on 40th Street E. and according to Gorder, it’ll welcome their first members later this fall.

“Everybody’s super excited for that,” he explained, adding it will be the first of its kind for the area.

“I know they’re renovating [the building] right now, and then that’ll be a dedicated facility. It’ll have the surface that all the players want to play on.”

Gorder continued that the local youth footprint within the city is also seeing a boom.

“Numerous schools are playing; they’re playing it in gym classes, and they’re also having people come in and do a little bit of instruction. On the local courts, there are kids that are playing out there anywhere from maybe 7-8, all the way up to teenagers. At the higher competitive level, some of the best players in the world are 16, 17, 18-years-old. There’s definitely a rapid growth in those age demographics.”

The 2026 Pickleball Saskatchewan Provincial Championships get underway on Thursday in Regina with the men’s and women’s singles. That’s followed by the women’s doubles on Friday, mixed doubles on Saturday, and men’s doubles on Sunday. More information about the event can be found here.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

by Logan Lehmann

Local athletes gearing up for pickleball provincials

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