Glenlawn wins big at high school pickleball championships

St. Vital

Two pairs of Glenlawn students recently served up success at the Pickleball Manitoba high school championships.

On May 14 at The Picklr Winnipeg South (262 Commerce Dr.), the pairing of Carlos Mendez and Jayden Lalla won gold in the boys’ doubles category. In girls’ doubles, Jessie DeCraene and Addisyn Courchaine won silver.

In the competitive divisions, there were 29 pairings in the boys category, 25 in the girls, and 10 in the mixed doubles.

“It feels good,” Mendez, 17 said. “We’ve been working really hard and going every week to play pickleball.”

The Grade 12 student said he’d never played a racket sport before trying pickleball, and he enjoys playing side-by-side with teammate Lalla, with whom he communicates a lot with on the court.

“I’d like to thank the school for giving us a place to play. It’s been really fun, a great opportunity,” Mendez said.

The teen hopes to keep playing the sport in some capacity once he soon graduates Glenlawn and attends the University of Winnipeg in the fall.

“It feels really cool, actually,” said DeCraene, 17, after earning a silver medal. “I like how anyone can pick the sport up and learn it… and then keep learning.”

DeCranene was also a member of the Glenlawn Lions girls hockey team that won the Manitoba Women’s High School Hockey League’s Division 1/2 East title earlier this year.

While many of the dynamics of the two sports are different, DeCranene said the teamwork aspect of both has inherent similarities.

“There’s not as much practice with pickleball, but the teammate aspect is very similar — teamwork and trusting each other is still very important.”

DeCranene said she hopes to keep playing pickleball in her Grade 12 year.