From pickleball friendlies to the national stage Yang set to compete in championships as Winnipeg plays first-time host to tourney By: Zoe Pierce Posted: 6:53 PM CDT Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025

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This article was published 14/08/2025 (224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In 2020, Erin Yang moved to Brandon alone without any family or friends nearby.

The local pickleball community changed that.

Four years after first picking up the sport in 2021, she has built lifelong friendships and community through the game, and is now headed to her second national championships, representing Team Manitoba at the 2025 Pickleball Canada National Championships, being held Aug. 19-25 in Winnipeg at the Taylor Tennis Centre.

It’s the first time Winnipeg is hosting the event, which will bring together over 700 players from across Canada.

Yang, who originally immigrated from China to Winnipeg for graduate school, first started playing badminton in 2019 in the city before discovering pickleball.

The long commute to play in Winnipeg and the limited badminton scene in Brandon made it hard to continue, but when she saw a Facebook ad for a pickleball introductory session offered by the City of Brandon Recreation Services, she decided to try a new racket sport — and by the summer of 2022, she was hooked.

“Specifically, as an immigrant here, all my family is still in China,” said Yang. “Pickleball definitely helped me settle down in Brandon, and it helped me to build my local connections here. I made a lot of lifelong friends through pickleball, and not just in Brandon but also in Winnipeg, and people in other provinces and locations, cities.”

Also having grown up playing table tennis, Yang quickly found success in pickleball, medaling in her first national championships in 2023 in Regina.

After taking a break during the 2024 nationals in Nova Scotia, she’s back in 2025, competing at the 4.5 level in the Ladies Doubles and Mixed Doubles events, one step below the 5.0 level that separates pro players from amateurs.

“I’ve always liked racket sports,” said Yang. “And then with pickleball, I don’t know that’s a very interesting question, because people keep asking pickleball players, ‘Why? Why are you guys so addicted to the sport?’ I don’t really know why I’m more addicted to pickleball than other racket sports. One, I think it has all of the elements from other racket sports because, as you know, pickleball is kind of a combination of badminton, table tennis and tennis.”

“Two, is of course, the social aspect of pickleball. Pickleball communities are known for being friendly and very approachable, easy-going and just, in general, very welcoming.”

Ted Fardoe, president of Pickleball Manitoba, hopes that hosting the national championships in Winnipeg for the first time will welcome even more people to the sport that is steadily growing in the province.

“Being a young organization and a relatively young sport, bringing a major event like the national championships to Winnipeg brings us to the forefront,” said Fardoe. “It’s going to allow us to build on programming, youth development, and that kind of thing, which is really exciting.”

“Being a young organization and a relatively young sport, bringing a major event like the national championships to Winnipeg brings us to the forefront.”–Ted Fardoe, president of Pickleball Manitoba

When Fardoe started with Pickleball Manitoba three years ago, there were around 400 members. Now, membership is approaching 2,500.

“That’s just a testament to how many people are picking up the sport and getting involved and wanting to play in the sanctioned tournaments,” said Fardoe. “When I started, the average age was probably over 60. And since the increase in membership and the awareness of the sport in the public and the popularity, younger and younger people are joining every day, I’d say our average is down below 55 now.”

“I think one of the reasons why it can grow so fast is that people with or without sports backgrounds can pick it up fairly easily compared to other racket sports,” said Yang. “So I think for people who want to try it, just get yourself on the court. Pickleball communities are probably one of the most friendly sports communities I’ve ever seen and met.”

The national championships feature Men’s and Women’s Singles and Doubles, Mixed Doubles, as well as U18 Junior Boys and Girls Singles, Junior Boys and Girls Doubles, and Junior Mixed Doubles.

Additionally, this year, the Pickleball Canada National Championship is introducing the Provincial/Territorial Team Competition, featuring 16 players from each province — eight men and eight women — all with a Canadian Tournament Pickleball Rating of 4.0 and above.

“When we first met with Pickleball Canada and started discussing this year’s national championship, there was a lot of discussion about how we can make it better and make it more of a celebration and get people excited about being there,” said Fardoe. “And one of those concepts was, well, ‘let’s pose province versus province in a competition.’”

Yang is one of 16 members on Team Manitoba and hopes to show that her home province can compete with the best in Canada. Thursday, Aug. 21, will be the day dedicated to the provincial team competition

“It’s definitely an honour to be selected amongst all the other really good players in our province,” said Yang. “Just an honour to be selected and hopefully me and my fellow Team Manitoba members can represent our province well.”

For her other events, Yang — who has been practicing regularly, at least three to four times a week — is aiming for another medal.

In gender doubles, one day is split into 0.5 skill-level brackets (3.5, 4.0, 4.5, etc.), while the other day is divided into just two groups — 4.0 and below and 4.0 plus, where top-level players compete together.

“My goal will be to get some really good results, or some good competitions on the days that the levels are 4.0 plus playing against those pro players, and on the days that are very level-based, I’m hoping to medal on one of the events that I registered for. Both, if I get lucky.”

As pickleball continues to grow in Manitoba, Fardoe hopes the 2025 nationals will raise the level of the game in the province, attract new players and further develop the sport.

“Not just me, but every player in Manitoba, we’re pretty proud to present this tournament to players across the country,” said Yang. “I look forward to this event to be a big success.”

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca