Pickleball’s finest Canadian pro-players are coming to Guelph to play in the Canadian National Pickleball League’s (CNPL) inaugural event.
On July 29 and July 30 pickleballers will battle it out at the Sleeman Centre. With 32 players, eight teams, four events and $100,000 of player payout the CNPL's first season is coming in hot.
There will be men’s doubles, and women’s doubles at the Eastern split in Guelph. Two games at a time will be played concurrently. From those games one man and one woman will be chosen to play in the mixed doubles matches. Fourteen games a day will be played during the weekend.
“There's really no major organization in Canada doing pickleball on a national level,” said Mike McAninch, co-founder and commissioner of CNPL.
“The U.S. has always been a hub for sports, sports leagues and I think it's time that we kind of put our name out there,” said Sari Paje, events manager for CNPL.
McAninch, Ryan Thompson, Cameron Taylor and Yui See Lau who all founded the league saw an opportunity to create the league for professional players. The league formed in February 2023.
Taylor has played pickleball for longer than any of the co-founders. He’s always dreamed about having “a place for the Canadian professionals to really showcase their skill. So I know that he's just over the moon about it,” said McAninch.
Prior to the upcoming CNPL Eastern split, there were two draft events to determine qualifying players for the split.
Leanna Macdonnell, a professional pickleball player from Guelph was draft eligible but didn’t get drafted. They are hoping to invite her to be a substitute during the games on the July 29 weekend.
“She was a wonderful player and such a great person,” said Paje. Macdonnell was a standout player in the draft games, she said.
The second pickleball event will be in Edmonton on Labour Day weekend and at the end of September there will be the playoffs. The city the playoffs will take place in is yet to be determined.
Pickleball is a fun and athletic game, said Sari. It’s dynamic, technical, involves strategy and is unbelievable to watch the professionals play, she said.
Sari realizes the game is often associated as a sport for seniors. “Now with a growing popularity, we really want to be able to put on the map all these other small cities, smaller, lesser known cities,” she said.
Smaller cities like Guelph where many of the co-founders of the league live. “It really just felt like we needed to bring recognition to our small little town,” said Paje.
“The most important thing about pickleball is that you have fun. And that's what we're trying to bring to these events is we're making sure that everybody is having fun and having a great time,” said Paje.
