Patrick Batty has taken his new love of pickleball to the next level with a dedicated website and the creation of a local club.
Cambridge resident Patrick Batty was recently in search of a new hobby that would give him an outlet from his busy day-to-day life as a web design and IT professional when he stumbled upon pickleball. Having played tennis and squash in the past, and given the similarities of the sports, he decided to try it out. Within a few days of playing, he was hooked. “I started playing about four or five months ago,” Batty said. “I wanted to start focusing on my health and having fun. On day two I became addicted to it.”
As Batty’s passion grew and he tried to learn more about the game, he began to notice a lack of Canadian coverage online. “I was reading news sites and everything I was reading was from the United States,” he said. “I thought there was a market in Canada for a publication.”
From there, pickleballtoday.co was born. The website gives Canadian pickleball enthusiasts a space to stay up-to-date on the latest news and equipment. He plans to expand the content to include training videos from professionals and Ontario champions. An aspects of the site that has helped it gain national popularity is a poll asking people to vote on the best pickleball club in the country, Batty says. “We’re getting thousands of votes,” he said. “Now we have a connection with a hundred pickleball clubs in Canada. People are voting then sharing it with their club.”
From: Cambridge News – Matt Betts