(we've removed the fancy headers, Councillor email addresses and dozen or so "cc's" from the original, official letter..here's the content only)

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Re: Urgent need for indoor pickleball playing facilities for St Albert 

Esteemed Mayor and Councillors,

Greetings from the board of the St Albert Pickleball Club. We hope that this letter finds you all well in these “interesting” times. We would like to commend all of Council for the vision you have to make St Albert a healthy, active community and promote our City as the preferred place to live, raise a family and retire.

As the St Albert Pickleball Club we are very thankful for your leadership in developing the Alpine Courts to be a first rate pickleball facility, and for making the St Albert City schools available for indoor play to the extent possible. We also treasure the relationship we have with the City Recreation and Parks department.

As you know, there has been a phenomenal growth in the sport of pickleball in North America. St. Albert has seen the same growth in interest, as the sport of pickleball is health-building activity, conducive to developing friendship, serving a social need for connections to people and community.  This sport can be played by those of all ages and is particularly well-suited to growing numbers of seniors who want to stay active.  St. Albert’s interest in playing pickleball has barely diminished during the pandemic, and we expect the trend of rapid growth to resume unabated, as proper facilities become available. We had over 640 members in April 2020, and wouldn’t be surprised if our numbers quadrupled within four years, given sufficient play venues.

The interests of St. Albert residents have been hampered by not having sufficient indoor pickleball facilities. As well, the longer our city goes without having a central indoor pickleball facility, the more we will see opportunities to play pickleball and host tournaments slip away. Facilities in Edmonton and other surrounding communities are starting to pull players and tournaments away from St Albert, resulting in lost opportunity to contribute to the economic sustainment of St. Albert businesses and services.

The lack of adequate indoor spaces limits the growth of this sport in St Albert and the positive impact on the community that it can bring. 

We also want to be clear that the model of play currently provided by Servus Place is not conducive to fully developing pickleball play for the majority of players. As a club we look forward to being a part of a facility with 12 or more courts and where we can structure some play, providing opportunities for players to develop their play with those at a similar skill level, and providing additional fun through participation in round robins, paddle play, ladder play, shootouts, fun tournaments, family play, and all (mixed) play.  We also look forward, as our club grows, to being able to nurture youth play, build champions and feed competitive players into regional, national and international competitions. These are not possible without a strong local presence and a strong supportive club made up of many volunteers.

Our vision to be the preferred club for St Albert and the region, both for recreational and competition play is in danger of slipping away as the window of opportunity closes and other communities provide better play opportunities. 

So, we are in urgent need of an indoor facility to call home in order to remain the preferred option for pickleball play in St Albert, and to maximize the social and health benefits that pickleball provides to the seniors and families of St. Albert.

As part of our strategic planning, we recently met with Matt Bachewich, President, Active Communities Alberta and part of the ACA board to sustain our ongoing dialogue with ACA, and to discuss progress on their plans for a facility in the City of St Albert. 

It was great to again hear their vision and their passion to provide facilities that will help our community to be more active in multiple sports, and we look forward to further develop arrangements with Active Communities Alberta for using the facility, should their plans become a reality. At this point it looks like we would be an excellent fit together, and we see a clear path forward to make this facility our home base.

We hope that you as our City leaders will support Active Communities Alberta in realizing their plans and thereby help us to provide the best pickleball experience possible in St Albert. 

Thank you for the opportunity to provide our point of view.

On behalf of the St Albert Pickleball Club (SAPC) board,

Eileen McClean, President SAPC