Upstart pro pickleball league launches first season in Guelph | 24CA News
Professional pickleball is coming to Guelph.
The Canadian National Pickleball League (CNPL) will launch its inaugural season with an occasion at Sleeman Centre July 29-July 30 that includes 32 of Canada’s greatest pickleball gamers, together with some from the Guelph space.
League commissioner Mike McAninch is from Guelph and is happy to deliver professional pickleball to the Royal City.
“This is a chance to be part of something big,” McAninch stated in an announcement. “We’re not just playing pickleball, we’re building a community.”
Sari Paje is the occasion supervisor for the league. She, together with fellow Guelph natives Eden Weiss, Ryan Thompson, and Cameron Taylor, see the game of pickleball rising by leaps and bounds and desires to place the highlight on among the native athletes.
“We’ve had a lot of support from the pickleball community and the Guelph Pickleball Association,” Paje stated. “Having that support and being surrounded by that, we really wanted to draw some attention to our city.”
The league consists of eight groups from throughout Canada. One crew options present NHL gamers TJ Brodie, Alex Kerfoot and Mark Giordano. Another crew has Canadian curlers Glenn Howard, Brett Laing and Jennifer Jones.
The CNPL is Canada’s first nationwide skilled pickleball league. Its goal is to showcase the nation’s top-ranked pickleball gamers in addition to develop the subsequent era of beginner athletes aiming to compete professionally.
“We want to bring that recognition to the talent that we have here in Canada,” Paje stated. “Our athletes won’t have to travel down to the states to have to play in these leagues.”
The Guelph occasion represents the japanese portion of the league schedule. It strikes to Edmonton for the western leg Sept. 1-Sept. 3. The season wraps with the playoffs and championships Sept. 29-Oct.1.
Tickets for the Sleeman Centre occasion could be bought at Ticketmaster. It will even be live-streamed with hyperlinks to be posted on social media and on the CNPL’s web site.
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