The mission of the Cochrane Outdoor Pickleball Club is to facilitate the growth of pickleball in Southern Alberta for the enjoyment, health and social engagement of all players by offering recreational and competitive play.
Tony Van Son
Bill Cooper
Cat Carter
Laureen Smid
Val Ball
Tricia Miller
Claudia Obando
Court Usage – Val Ball
Skills and Drills – Claudia Obando
Ratings – Les Franke
Communication – Tony van Son
Land Allocation – Joanne Ferster
Fund Raising –
Registrar –
Tournaments – Greg Young
After playing golf one Saturday during the summer, Joel Pritchard, congressman from Washington State and Bill Bell, successful businessman, returned to Pritchard’s home on Bainbridge Island, WA (near Seattle) to find their families sitting around with nothing to do. The property had an old badminton court so Pritchard and Bell looked for some badminton equipment and could not find a full set of rackets. They improvised and started playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. At first they placed the net at badminton height of 60 inches and volleyed the ball over the net.As the weekend progressed, the players found that the ball bounced well on the asphalt surface and soon the net was lowered to 36 inches. The following weekend, Barney McCallum was introduced to the game at Pritchard’s home. Soon, the three men created rules, relying heavily on badminton. They kept in mind the original purpose, which was to provide a game that the whole family could play together.
© Cochrane Pickleball Club 2022