Stratford Pickleball Association

Stratford Pickleball Association

Stratford, Ontario

THE HISTORY OF SPA

THE HISTORY OF STRATFORD PICKLEBALL ASSOCIATION (SPA) :

HOW IT BEGAN

A few of us avid pickleballers fell in love with the game and, because there was a lack of playing

facilities, we began looking for possible places to play. Wayne Sangster spearheaded our effort. He had

some contacts he could talk to.

On April 2018, Wayne informed a few of us about his conversation with Dana Duskosy 's wife. Dana

worked at Pinnacle. She mentioned to Wayne the possibility of using empty warehouses at Pinnacle, a

storage company, converting them to pickleball courts. She arranged a meeting between Wayne and

some pickleballers with Dana, Jason and Tammy Baier. Jason and Tammy owned these warehouses,

and Dana worked for them.

So Wayne formed a group consisting of Wayne, Gary Dalby, Peter Stewart, Peter Shillolo, Dennis and

Jean Tuling, Dave Price, Deb McArdle, Bev Nichols and Jim Pol.

Jason was very keen about building the courts in the warehouse, and suggested $400 per person per

year ; We were totally taken aback by the steep price and we refused his offer. Later he reconsidered

and came to the final figure of $160.00 /person/year.

He suggested we give our group a name to which he could refer, and then , SPA was suggested. !

After some discussion with St Marys Pickleball Association, who were already using the acronym ‘ SPA” for

their Club they agreed to let us use SPA and they would use SMPA

The New SPA was born .

We would be overseeing the building of 6 courts, and help with the labour wherever possible.

We wanted these courts to be perfectly measured with the correct colors between Kitchen and rest of

the courts.

But, before they started cleaning and working on the courts, we had to produce 25 x $160.00 cheques

as a down payment. He said he needed something like this to demonstrate to him that we were serious

about our intentions.

At this point we all got busy talking, emailing.

Luckily, we had some loyal players who believed in us and we managed to produce the money and the

25 new members.

Our Executive :

President : Wayne Sangster

Vice : Gary Dalby

Secretary: Deb McArdle

Treasurer: Julie Cottenie

Exe members: Dave Price, Peter Shillolo. Peter Stewart, Dennis and Jean Tuling

Consultant : Dave Ashkanase

There were so many things to discuss, and we met regularly , every week.

Jason and Dana relied totally on us for guidance about the courts.

Finally, 4 courts were done !

We pressured them for the next two courts to make 6 in total

Then it happened !

We held Open Houses in the evenings, and one time we held a week long Open House.

We were there EVERY day welcoming new people.

The response was tremendous .

The men on the executive (Peter Shillolo, Peter Stewart, Gary Dalby, Dave Price, Dennis Tuling) spent

time helping the newbies to know the game.

Their time and patience made them all feel so good, and this increased the pinnacle membership.

Jean did all the administration work welcoming the new members, and compiling a list of their info,

and devised the drop in locked money box.

Newcomers had 2 chances to play for free, thereafter they had to pay a $5 fee.

We had to keep a list to show all this. All monies went to Pinnacle.Field House

Later, with help from Doug Diplock, Jean set up a fun tournament to be played, in their own time,

and in the space of 2 months.

Categories were for players 64 and under and 65 plus.

By then we had a membership (Pinnacle) of almost 100 players playing on 6 courts.

(Not all were SPA MEMBERS, many were SMPA MEMBERS and still others had no affiliation)

All went well until Wednesday, January 22nd 2020, when The City of Stratford (Fire Dept) forced the

closure of the courts. They said that because recreational activities and a storage warehouse were under

the same roof, we needed a firewall to separate the two. It had to do with safety bylaws.

It was important to keep SPA “alive”

Dennis called Shakespeare Optimist Club, and we were able to play there until we got

hit by Covid 19.

Everything came to a standstill, then later, very slowly people could play, but with limited numbers.

Dennis contacted both Shakespeare Optimist Club and Milverton Recreational.

Milverton turned out to be a better facility at this time. Numbers had to be restricted.

People were really keen and we had a lot of members from St Marys wanting to play , especially on a

Saturday as we could increase the number to 20 players.

Before each session, Dennis and Jean gathered names , sent them to the office at Milverton, and

everyone who played had to follow strict covid procedures.

SPA was still ongoing.

Later, Wayne had to opt out for health reasons and Gary stepped in.

Gary, Dennis and Jean still held “informal” meetings to keep SPA going. We had a lot of support from

everyone....mainly, Doug Diplock who had just completed his SMPA presidential term.and came onto

the Executive of SPA as a Board member in March of 2021, initially to represent the interests of those

players from St Marys who utilized Milverton and hoped to return to Pinnacle.

Together Peter Stewart and Doug Diplock registered SPA with Pickleball Ontario and and Peter took

over the Administration of SPA’s new web site with Pickleball Ontario.

Gary then opted out for personal reasons .

After a quick meeting on March 26th 2021 Doug was elected as President and Tanya McKay in the

position of treasurer., Gary Dalby stayed on as Vice-President.

A Constitution was written and signed.by the Executive .

With no home base to call our own Executive Meetings were held at various places, at ad hoc time.

Church Halls, The Army Navy Club, outside on lawns and eventually back into the office space area of

Pinnacle to use their board room.

Covid came to an end but Jason Baier still had an ongoing battle with the city to have the courts re

opened.

SPA held meetings with Jason and Dana and insisted on updates.

In Feb 2023 , Pinnacle Field House re-opened. And SPA was back in business, this time with a Home

Base and regular use of the Pinnacle Board Room for our meetings.

SPA asked for an extension for each member due to to above two interruptions. This was granted.

To play on 6 courts was great, but SPA wanted more....improved surfaces and an additional 2 courts.

Jason then gave the go-ahead. SPA was still on top of everything, urging, advising and encouraging the

Pinnacle people.

We now have 8 beautifully surfaced courts and the membership is still increasing.

Without a doubt, it is SPA that spearheaded these beautiful courts. Pinnacle still consults with SPA

about various pickleball matters.

It is a real honor to be a SPA member and we can all be proud !

COMPILED THROUGH THE DEDICATION AND MEMORIES OF DENNIS AND JEAN TULING