Busselton dominate at WA pickleball championships

A number of local pickleball players recently participated in the first sanctioned tournament in Western Australia and came away with various medals.

Pickleball is a fast growing sport that’s beginning to become very popular in the South West.

Owner of Power Pickleball in Busselton Jayne de Silva, says they have 290 registered players and run social sessions three times a week.

“It’s such an amazing sport, it’s allowing people who perhaps might have played tennis back in the day that want to get back into it but it’s a lot easier and you don’t have to have a lot of skill to start with,” she said.

“It’s a bit of a mix between tennis, table tennis and badminton.

“You play on a mini tennis court, which is the size of a badminton court, but the paddle is like a giant table tennis bat and I got into it through being a tennis coach.”

The pickleball championships were played in Perth over a span of three days, with about 150 people competing — six of them from Busselton.

There were players of all ages, the youngest being 14 and the oldest competitors about 80.

Local Busselton players brought home six medals ranging from bronze, gold and silver.

“We are always looking for more players, so if people are interested they should definitely jump on our website and join,” Ms de Silva said.