The Club First Executive
Keith & Linda Brown share the story from 2009-2016.
In 2009 – Keith and Linda Brown were playing tennis with Ben Harrison who convinced them to come out and try this new Pickleball game. Of course they loved it and were addicted right away.
When Linda started to shop for paddles, she was approached by a Canada Pickleball Director in Kelowna and was appointed the Ambassadorship for the Salmon Arm/Shuswap area.
From that point onwards, Keith and she were promoting, coaching, and finding product and sales reps to come to our club. They would sponsor an open house each year to bring in new members.
With the help of Jeff Gerrard, they found that the Club Shuswap Golf Course would allow them to build 4 courts at that location. It was a lot of work, but they had enthusiastic help.
At that point Salmon Arm became the 7th organized Pickleball Club in Canada. Quite a feat for this small town considering that there are close to 200 clubs today. The club consisted of 95 paying members at that time, and many drop-ins.
Linda ran 3 different tournaments each year. An “in house” tourney, a fun tourney and then a 2-day “open” tourney that would bring in players from Alberta, the Island, the Vancouver area and our own Shuswap/Okanagan area. They would all camp nearby~~the tournament being the focus, but the “Christmas in July” turkey dinner and fun night following was always a huge attraction.
Linda ran the club for 7 years, until it was handed over to the next executive after participating with the official registration of the SAPC name. SEVEN years – Thank You KEITH & LINDA!