Get ready for pickleball play in Vaughan!
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Seven new courts now available
Grab your racquets and wiffleballs and get ready to practise your swing – pickleball programming is here in Vaughan! Seven tennis courts in six parks across the City were recently updated to make them compatible for pickleball play – and are now shared pickleball-tennis spaces. These courts are available for recreational play across the City on a first-come, first-serve basis. Registered pickleball programs will also be available for adults of all ages this summer.
These new pickleball opportunities come following the City’s Pickleball Study to assess demand and evaluate the feasibility of retrofitting some existing tennis courts to make them compatible for pickleball play, as recommended in Vaughan’s 2018 Active Together Master Plan. Residents were encouraged to get involved and join the conversation by taking a survey to help identify best practices, ideal locations and preferred court features. After completing the study, seven pickleball courts have been created at existing tennis courts across the City at the following locations: Dufferin District Park, Giovanni Caboto Park, Maple Community Park, Maxey Park, North Thornhill District Park and York Hill District Park. The findings will be considered while drafting the Active Together Master Plan update in 2023.
Registered Pickleball Programs
Starting Tuesday, July 6, a two-session learn-to-play pickleball workshop will be available for adults and older adults at Dufferin District Park and Giovanni Caboto Park. A competitive pickleball ladders program for older adults will also run once a week, from Tuesday, July 20 to Tuesday, Sept. 7, at Dufferin District Park. The City will provide racquets for players in these registered pickleball programs who do not have their own, and all borrowed racquets will be disinfected after each game played.
The programs offered are as follows:
Learn to Play Pickleball
- Learn to play pickleball, a popular new racquet sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis (featuring a similar court, net and rules with a few modifications). Through friendly gameplay as either singles or doubles, learn basic pickleball shots, court awareness and scoring. The number of players is limited to 12, safely distanced on the court.
- Select one of two applicable sessions:
- For ages 18 and older – Thursday, July 8 and Thursday, July 15 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Dufferin District Park
- For ages 64 and older – Tuesday, July 6 and Tuesday, July 13 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Giovanni Caboto Park
Pickleball Ladders
- Able to commit to playing pickleball every week? Looking for a friendly competitive environment? Work your way up the rankings throughout the summer by winning matches against other pickleball ladder players. If you challenge someone and win, you take their spot in the ranking, and they get bumped down one spot. Note: All matches are played best two out of three games. Scores are to 11 points and a win by two. The number of players is limited to 16, with only four allowed on the court at once.
- Session for ages 64 and older are on Tuesdays, from July 20 until Sept. 7, from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Dufferin District Park.
Pre-registration is required for these programs at vaughan.perfectmind.com. If you require assistance registering, call Access Vaughan at 905-832-2281 or email RecCSD@vaughan.ca. For more information, visit vaughan.ca/recreation.
To continue to keep the community safe from the spread of COVID-19, physical distancing of a minimum of two metres between players will be mandatory. Players are encouraged to bring their racquets and not share any equipment and personal items, such as water bottles.
Pickleball is a popular, emerging sport in Canada. As a paddleball sport, it combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong. It is played with a paddle and a wiffleball (a plastic ball with holes) on a badminton-sized court with a slightly modified tennis net. It can also be played on a tennis court modified with additional line painting. The sport can be enjoyed as doubles or singles and by all ages and skill levels. Visit the Pickleball Canada website to learn more about the sport.
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