The 2022 Pickleball Alberta Provincial Championships at the Big Marble Go Centre in July 2022. (Photo Courtesy Marco Jansen)

By Chris Brown

Hat to host 2023 Pickleball Canada Western Regionals

Dec 7, 2022 | 4:13 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Last summer Medicine Hat hosted the 2022 Pickleball Alberta Provincial Championships at the new South Country Co-op Pickleball Courts at the Big Marble Go Centre. This summer will an even bigger event pickleball event will come to the city.

Medicine Hat has been selected to host the 2023 Pickleball Canada Western Regionals from July 6-9. The event is expected to attract more than 500 players from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

“The {Medicine Hat Pickleball Club} cannot wait to showcase our new 20-court facility, our city, our club members, and our outstanding volunteers to the western Canadian pickleball community,” says tournament director Brenda Lea MacPhail in a release. “Our past tournament successes have been noted by all that have attended over the years, and we hope to continue that legacy in 2023 making this event a very memorable one for all.”

The new pickleball facility was built using funds from the 2020 Municipal Stimulus Program (MSP), a provincial program created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The City of Medicine Hat used $2 million of the funding it was to support the facility’s development.

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Scott Richter, business and innovation manager with the City of Medicine Hat’s parks and recreation department, told CHAT News having a top-notch pickleball facility helps put Medicine Hat on the national map and the club continue to grow.

“They do want to enhance and promote to the sport of pickleball in Medicine Hat,” he says. “The cool thing about pickleball, it’s a sport for every age. So Medicine Hat has one of the largest youth programs in Alberta and that was demonstrated even last year in provincials, the number of kids that were participating. And so the sport’s great for 10-year-olds to 75-year-olds.”

Richter adds large events also have a large impact on the city’s economy. He says the economic boost from provincials last year was about $300,000.

“There’s hotel rooms that people book, people go out for food, etcetera. So there’s a lot of people experiencing Medicine Hat and all the good things we have to offer.”