Using a $500 donation from the Shawville Lions Club, Welsh purchased new pickleball racquets, balls and regulation-sized nets for Dr. S. E. McDowell Elementary School, which she gifted to the school on Thursday afternoon.

In exchange for the equipment, the school is giving Welsh a reduced gym cost for a new club she plans to start there. Pickleball players will pay only a $5 drop-in fee per night of play.

Welsh said the only indoor space available for the Shawville Pickleball Club to play through winter months has been the United Church, which isn’t an ideal space due to its small size.

“It’s one court, it’s very small, it has low ceilings, it has all kinds of things against it,” she said, adding the club is growing and needs a larger venue.

Welsh said the new club she’s starting at McDowell is open to all adults, contrary to the current club that plays during the day and is only for retirees.

“This club will be open at night, from 6-9 in the evening, and it will allow people who are coming from Ottawa, or wherever, [ . . . ] to register their name,” she said, adding that working people cannot make it to the daytime sessions.

“It’s to capture all those people who haven’t had that opportunity to play.”

The pickleball equipment will also be used to teach and grow the sport at McDowell, according to physical education teacher Darren McCready.

“Last year we did buy a little bit of equipment, but [ . . . ] it was a costly endeavour,” he said, adding only eight students were able to play at once and they never really played proper games.

“Now that we have proper equipment, we can possibly get Cheryl in and maybe she can instruct the kids in the proper rules, and definitely look more into evolving the sport here at McDowell.”

McCready said the kids are excited to receive the new equipment and some of his students are already asking him when they are going to play in gym class.

Welsh said the club will start Dec. 4, and will begin with her teaching the basics of the game before eventually advancing to full games.

She will take advantage of a family trip to Alberta in December to also hone her pickleball skills, and return a better player and teacher.

“I am taking training from pros and attending clinics,” she said, saying she wants to improve her pickleball rating (the ranking system used by Pickleball Canada), and maybe learn a new trick or two.

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