CANORA — One thing to know about pickleball players: they’re determined.
Even though the weather outside in Canora was rainy on Aug. 9, organizers of the Canora Pickleball Tournament moved indoors to the curling rink, set up their courts and carried on with the tournament.
Organizer Ken Kolisnek said there were eight male and 16 female players entered, hailing from Canora, Canora Beach, Good Spirit Lake, Kamsack, Springside and Wynyard.
“Each player played 10 matches,” said Kolisnek. “Each player was awarded the number of points that his or her team scored in each match, with a maximum of 150 points total.”
On the women’s side, the gold medal went to Jody Chupa of Yorkton with 132 out of a possible 150 points. The silver medal went to Gina Resler of Yorkton with 125 points, and Sandy Persick of Burgess Beach took the bronze with 120 points.
Lewis Rathgeber of Canora Beach topped the men’s side with 125 points to earn gold. Lonnie Chupa of Yorkton grabbed silver with 113 points, just ahead of Mark Swan, also of Yorkton, who took bronze with 111 points.
“This tournament was in celebration of Canora in Bloom, and it also happened to be in conjunction with National Pickleball Day,” said Kolisnek.
The original goal was to have 16 women and 16 men, utilizing all four courts at all times.
“Unfortunately, Dauphin also had a tournament at the same time. Even though they expressed they would have attended this tournament, you can’t be in two places at once. There were also a number of players who indicated that because of other commitments they were unable to attend the one in Canora.”
In the future, Kolisnek said he would like to see Canora host an open tournament event, with men’s, women’s and mixed competitions.
“It takes a big commitment from our community to pull something like this off. There would also be the possibility of having a multi-day tournament event, such as a Saturday and Sunday. All it takes is a commitment of the local pickleball community and our surrounding pickleball family from the Parkland area and beyond.”
Kolisnek sees the benefits of regularly hosting a tournament in Canora spreading across the region.
“It would hopefully spur on communities like Kamsack, Preeceville, Sturgis, Rama, Invermay, Wadena and Norquay, with the possibility of hosting events. The tournaments don’t have to be large at the start—do what is comfortable for the community and who you are able to reach out to.
“We would like to acknowledge our sponsor Gateway Co-op for the $150 gift card.
“Hopefully this tournament attracts younger players to enjoy the sport as much as we do,” concluded Kolisnek.
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