A Bridgenorth woman is part of the first Team Ontario ever put together by fledgling Pickleball Ontario.
Marie Aubie is part of a mixed five-person team competing at the MiLP Nationals (Minor League Pickleball) being held in Orange County, California on Friday through Sunday.
MiLP is an innovative team competition where teams of four players (two women and two men) compete against each other over several days. It is a novel and engaging format, with twists on traditional matchups and scoring for games, matches, and
tiebreakers. It encompasses gender matchups and mixed doubles. The tiebreaker is called the Dream Breaker and it challenges players by having them play singles, rotating among each team member till they reach 21 points.
The team, which ranges in age from their late 20s to mid 50s, was selected based on their results at the provincial championship series and also includes Carolina Hack, Carlo Sguassero, Stephen Robinson and Kyle Hermetz.
“I’m super excited, I can’t wait,” said Aubie, 47. “We’re going to get all kitted out and it’s going to be great to be representing Ontario and Canada as well because I don’t know if there will be any other Canadian teams there. Just to show them we’re playing this game as well and that it’s really popular here, too.
Aubie had never played pickle ball until she discovered it in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was a way to play with my kids outside fairly safely,” she said. “It kind of escalated from there. It’s incredibly addictive and I just found that I was getting better and better all the time. One of my kids plays with me as well.”
Aubie is a native of New Zealand who met her husband Jerry, who is from Oshawa, when they worked on a Caribbean cruise ship. They originally settled in New Zealand and moved to Canada eight years ago. They moved with their two sons Vaughan, 15and Emerson, 12, to Bridgenorth from Whitby two years ago and she immersed herself in the local pickle ball community.
She plays regularly at the Knights of Columbus Park courts, the Peterborough Sport and Wellness Centre, Trent Athletic Centre and anywhere else she could get on a court. She and Vaughan won the mixed doubles event at the Kawartha Open at Bonnerworth Park earlier this year.
“I play in a lot of different tournaments in Ontario and I usually medal in all of them. Ihave a lot of different partners,” said Aubie, who works at Park Place Financial.
She had no real background in racquet sports other than as a child she used to hit a tennis ball against the wall of her home but she never competed in the sport. her athletic background was in endurance running many years ago.
“It’s one of those games you can get very good at in a short amount of time if you playa lot and you really dedicate yourself to playing it the right way,” she said.
This is her first foray into international competition.
“It might even be my last,” she said. “I am 47 so if I don’t do anything else in pickle ball this might be it and is pretty cool.”
She didn’t know about this event until she got a call out of the blue from Pickleball Ontario inviting her to join Team Ontario.
“My first reaction was, do you know how old I am?” she said, with a laugh. “My second reaction was, of course I want to go to California for a free trip. I don’t know all the people who were picked but I’m familiar with most of them and I was pretty happy. I thought it would be a good team.”
By
Mike Davies
Examiner Sports Director
Dec 13, 2023