Estevan Pickleball Club Expansion: The sport of pickleball is gaining major ground in Estevan, Saskatchewan, with new courts under construction and a growing club community. The Estevan Pickleball Club and Fresh Air Fitness are leading the way, showing strong support for what has become one of Canada’s fastest-growing games.
Estevan Pickleball Club Grows Membership
Taylor Herman, President of the Estevan Pickleball Club, said the 2025 season is going well despite the usual summer slowdown. “Everything’s been going good for us. It’s a little slow right now, just with everyone on holidays. But prior to school being done, everything’s been busy and looks to be a busy fall coming up,” said Taylor Herman.
He confirmed a rise in interest among players. “We’ve seen an increase. It seems year after year we’ve been growing and trying to accommodate that,” he added.
To meet demand, the club is expanding its facilities. “We’re working with the Outdoor Parks Committee, we’re going to get some more courts here. We’re working on them,” he said.
For now, regular drop-in games are still taking place. “Monday and Thursday mornings are from 9:00 to 11:00, and Tuesday, Thursday evenings are from 6:30 to 9:30 at the tennis courts behind the hockey rink,” said Taylor Herman.
New players are always invited. “They can be newbies. We have set up a couple of ‘Learn to Plays’ for people that have never played before, but everyone’s open to teaching new people and helping everyone out, so everyone’s pretty welcoming no matter what your age or skill level is.”
Weather has occasionally disrupted play. “It’s hard to play outside when it’s raining, well, nobody wants to play outside. And then the smoke’s played a little bit of a factor. Kind of less participants or just kind of cancel a night in general, just if it’s too smoky.”
Taylor Herman, who has led the club for three years, shared his goal: “Just continue growing and getting more people out and playing the sport, and just grow from there.”
Fresh Air Fitness Builds New Court with Local Support
Fresh Air Fitness is also building a new pickleball court at its park. Peggy Rohatyn, who helps run the park, confirmed that generous donors made the project possible.
“We did have a very nice donation from Tundra Oil and Kingston Midstream. Together, they donated ,000,” said Peggy Rohatyn.
The project has been moving ahead. “We’ve got our cement down already, and we’re waiting for the paint to come in. It’s been ordered. It just takes a little bit to come in. We’ve got our net and there’ll be paddles down at the park. We’ll be painting, hopefully, within two weeks.”
She said fencing will be added soon. “We’ve talked to the local fencing company that will be putting up the fence around it, and then we’ll need to get the windscreen and once we get the paint. With it taking a couple of days to cure, we should be all set, so it moves quite quickly, actually.”
Weather caused slight delays early on. “They were probably delayed about a week and a half with the pouring of the cement. But once they got that down, we had to wait at least a month before we could do anything on it anyway. Besides that, it hasn’t been an issue really for us.”
The fitness park has also seen other improvements. “We’ve got the disc golf coming in, and have moved all our weight machines over to the Shred Shed, which is right beside the pickleball court; they’re sheltered a little bit if you’re lifting weights. We’ve always got something that we’re working on. It seems like this year has been very busy with the two different bigger projects that we’ve had. So yeah, it’s been very busy with it. But it’s all good.”
Fundraising for Community Fitness Projects
Fresh Air Fitness will hold its annual garage sale to raise funds for more community upgrades. The sale is on Friday, July 25th, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 1282 King Street.
“Well, all year, we have had very generous people donate stuff to us, and it kind of gets to build up a lot. Once a year, we have it. Anything you buy is $1.00, we clean out all of the little stuff and give people some bargains,” said Peggy Rohatyn.
The money raised will support Fresh Air Fitness’s free outdoor gym, the new pickleball court, disc golf, and general maintenance. “Right now, our two main projects are Disc Golf, which is almost ready to go, and the pickleball court, which again is waiting on paint. But it should be up and going late this summer, also everything should be done. And of course, general maintenance, there are always ropes and boards to replace here and there, and there’s always something that we need to be doing.”
News in Brief: Estevan Pickleball Club Expansion
Pickleball is booming in Estevan with new court projects and growing player interest. The Estevan Pickleball Club is expanding, and Fresh Air Fitness is building its own court with strong community support. Together, they’re helping to make pickleball a lasting sport in the region.
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