Past Directors

Since its incorporation as a non-profit society in 2014 the Sunshine Coast Pickleball Association has flourished largely as a result of the many contributions of the members who stepped forward to serve as directors. The SCPA sincerely thanks these past directors for their dedication and service.

John Bell - 2014 - 2016

I was an original Director of SCPA when incorporated, serving as Vice-Chair, Ratings Chair, Tournament Director and Director of Player Development until stepping down in 2019. During my term I enjoyed leading several SCPA activities that included tournaments, “Super Skills” competitions and “Dinks & Drinks” social events. In 2019 I led the board in creating a Strategic Action Plan which highlighted the necessity and desire to facilitate and develop a quality indoor facility on the Sunshine Coast.

JoAnne Bentley 2017-2025

My brother, Ted Bentley, introduced us to pickleball on a Palm Springs vacation. At the time I was still playing competitive tennis in Ontario and thought pickleball would be just a goofy holiday diversion. How wrong I was! My husband and I caught the bug immediately and quickly found an indoor club near our home on Georgian Bay where we had moved after my retirement from the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. There we developed some skills and on our “snowbird” trips to the desert we enjoyed playing in both leagues and tournaments. When we moved to the Coast in 2015, we quickly became involved in SCPA and I joined the Board in 2018. As Director of Communications and Community Outreach until 2025 I wrote articles for the Coast Reporter and Pickleball B.C., created a quarterly Newsletter, hosted our Facebook page, organized a couple of Festive Dinners and several Canada Day siyaya celebrations. I enjoyed being part of the first group of SCPA teachers to work within the school system helping students develop skills at Kinnikinnick Elementary and later at Chatelech Secondary. Finally putting my professional career as an opera singer to good use (cue wry chuckle) I began, in 2020, to write and perform lighthearted pickleball carols on topics germane to issues arising in our local “pickleverse”. Three favourites have been “God Rest Ye Merry Picklers” (during Covid), “Pickleball is Coming to Town” (when we thought we were getting close to a deal with the DOS) and “I’m Dreaming of our own Venue” (when we thought we were getting close to an alliance with the Sunshine Coast Golf Course). As SCPA grew, my duties expanded to overseeing the production of a new logo and colour palette which is now on all our advertising and “merch”. I designed our bumper sticker, post it notes, business cards and tote bags as publicity tools to help up our profile on the Coast. My happiest SCPA memory was organizing our entry into the Canada Day Parade, July 1, 2019. Our float included picklers playing across a net on a decorated flatbed truck while scores of SCPA members marched behind—batting pickleballs and spreading good cheer. It has been a joy to serve on the SCPA Board and I plan to continue playing pickleball ’til I drop.

Lin Buckler - 2014-2020

Lin has enjoyed many years (since 2014) of being a director and a founding member of Sunshine Coast Pickleball Association. Best memories are playing competitive pickleball, helping put on fantastic SCPA tournaments, teaching at pickleball clinics, organizing and nurturing our level play program, so players could enjoy the growth of their own skills in the very cool game of pickleball. It was fun playing the tournament circuit in BC and in the US with our only Canadian pickleball company - Manta World Sports, as sponsor and as well, wearing that famous SCPA pickle logo! Being on the SCPA board was a blast!

Jacques Carrier - 2023

Jacques moved to the Sunshine Coast in 2020 from Toronto and discovered pickleball. He has been on numerous boards and brought years of experience in running clubs, property development, facility development and operations. As a board member he contributed to the players development program, local school evening program and, planning the new facility. Jacques obtained his Level 1 Pickleball Coach certification and is always available to play, no matter your skills level. He also provides generic or bespoke classes. Always promoting the sport. Always having fun on the court.

Andre Casaubon - 2015-2018

Andre Casaubon joined the Sunshine Coast Pickleball Association as a Director in its first year. Over the next 4 years he managed the Membership and the social events. During this time he also was instrumental in organizing the arena program and spent lots of time introducing pickleball to many new players as a beginner instructor.

Frank Cloutier - 2014

I was a member at large for the SCPA board for three years shortly after it established itself as an entity separate from the Senior’s Centre (now called the Sechelt Senior’s Activity Centre). While on the board, I enjoyed both coaching and being coached and participated in tournaments and fun events like “Dinks & Drinks”.

Linda Dawson - 2015

Rick Guiton - 2016

Richard Hoath - 2024

Richard served on the 2024 board with a focus on player development. He and his family discovered pickleball after attending one of the association’s learn-to-play series during open gym play in 2022. He continues to support the growth of the sport on the coast as a coach with a passion for helping new players develop their skills in a fun, safe, and social setting.

Terry Karleen - 2018-2020

I had never heard of Pickleball until 2015 when the local Community Association started an introduction to the sport at the Elementary School in Halfmoon Bay. I had been a tennis player in my earlier years and was quite taken by the game and soon had a desire to improve my skill level. An article in the local paper mentioned that the Sunshine Coast Pickleball Association invited all player levels to join them at the Sechelt Arena for weekly play. I was immediately struck by the friendly and fun atmosphere and knew I had found my new game. In 2016 I gladly accepted an invitation to join the Pickleball Association as a Director at Large. This led to my serving on the Board for 4 years. During that time I worked closely with Jurgen Kowalewski in sharing the Tournament Director position for the 2019 Arena Bowl Tournament. I also assisted Ian Overend in developing a presentation to the SCRD to maintain our share of the Arena for summer dry floor users. I continue to support the work of the Board in promoting Pickleball and its growth on the Sunshine Coast.

Jurgen Kowalewski - 2016-2022

I began to play pickleball in 2014 when
we formed the SCPA, and was Treasurer
for many years. To this day I remember
the excitement of playing in the
BC Senior Games, in our annual
tournaments, or the many winters of
playing competitively in Mesa, AZ. My
true enjoyment came from the community
of people we play with and my passion
for coaching others.

Dianne Lamb - 2022-2024

I was warmly welcomed to pickleball by Carol Mollerup and Ted Bentley in 2019, with some terrific coaching from Ian Overend. It wasn’t a hard decision to join the board and work with these wonderful people for a couple of years. As Board Secretary I worked with Brian Chipman to develop the Policy Manual. And I had a lot of fun creating short videos from the Spring Tournaments and the Canada Day dunk tank. The Sunshine
Coast Pickleball Association is lucky to have a bunch of people so dedicated to making pickleball a fun and enduring sport in our community.

Rhona Law - 2023-2024

Shelley Lawrence - 2014-2015

Ian Overend - 2018-2021

I was invited to join the SCPA Board in late summer of 2018 and was happy to volunteer. In 2019 I presented a submission to the SCRD Corporate and Administrative Services Committee, co-authored by former board member Terry Karleen, in support of fair and equitable sharing of the arenas for dry floor users and in opposition to "summer ice”. During 2019 and early 2020, before Covid shut down the arena, I organized the "Super Skills" events (originally developed by former board member John Bell) to test our members' abilities in pickleball drills in several fun competitions. I represented the intermediate level players and coordinated their play at Kinnikinnick Elementary School during the winter months, as part of a school gym rental program set up by longtime board member Carol Mollerup. When Tom Pinfold resigned from the chair position on the board, I filled in temporarily as vice-chair until Ross Miller was elected as the new chairperson. I reluctantly resigned from the board in March of 2021 due to health issues.

Pauline Owen - 2014-2015

My pickleball “career” started a few years ago, watching some people playing on a tennis court, with the lines taped for pickleball. I was not dressed for it but they put a paddle in my hand and explained the rules, and from then on I was hooked. I have since played in numerous tournaments in Canada, the United States and Spain, and met lots of interesting people all with the same goal, to have fun and get some exercise at the same time. Age has no barriers in this exciting sport. I joined the SCPA board in the “early days” and it was a positive and fulfilling experience for me. I’m delighted the group has been going from strength to strength in the following years.

Yvonne Paulson - 2014-2015

I joined Pickleball to get some exercise and meet new people. I had no idea how great the game was and fell in love with it straight away. The people I met were amazing. It’s a wonderful community of people who are only too happy to help you with your game to improve and move to the next level. Not to mention amazing matches!

Tom Pinfold -2014-2020

One of the early adopters of pickleball on the Sunshine Coast, Tom quickly developed a passion for the game that continues to grow to this day. Be it drills, playing for fun, tournament play or coaching, he loves it all. When he travels, his paddle goes with him and playing venues are carefully researched. Recently, he acquired a pickleball net to deal with the few places lacking facilities. When SCPA was created in 2014, Tom joined the Board and served as the Board Chair/President until 2020. He is now focused on improving his game and becoming a better coach.

Russ Proudman - 2019-2022

Jim Pye - 2017-2019

We moved to Gibson’s in mid-2014 but only started to play pickleball as snowbirds in California in winter 2014. Upon my return to Gibson’s in Spring 2015 I was delighted to find the Sunshine Coast had a very well organized Pickleball Club which I immediately joined. I was elected as a Board Member in Fall 2017 and was a director until we moved from the Coast in spring 2020. Part of my focus as a board member was growing SCPA membership in Gibson’s and area through training lessons, increasing the frequency of arena play in Gibson’s and running mixed level round robins in that venue weekly. Very much enjoyed my time on the Board with our emphasis on continuous improvement of player skills, and the social and competitive aspects of the game. Working with the group to create a vision for the future (the indoor facility) and start to concretely move down the path towards that was also one of the most fulfilling things I participated in during my time on the Board. Even though we moved from the Coast, I continue as a member of the SCPA, hoping one day to play in our own dedicated indoor pickleball facility.

Karen Renfrew - 2014 - 2020

Karen was introduced to pickleball while vacationing in Palm Springs in 2009, became addicted to the game and introduced it to the Sunshine Coast. With pickleball her new passion, she called 35 friends to play; bought all the paddles, nets and balls and the Sunshine Coast Pickleball Group (fondly called the “headpickle” ) was born. In 2010, she took the group to the Senior Center and 2 courts were made. Next she created a SCPA logo and had 100 Tee shirts made with “Pickleball Passion…Gotta Play!” on the back. These were a big hit and fostered a feeling of community. SCPA was incorporated in 2014 (see About Us section on website). Karen was a director from 2014 to 2020. She coined the term “level play” and grew the level play program. As BC Senior Games Zone 4 Coordinator, she got support BC wide for level play pickleball at the BC Senior Games. Karen met with SCRD to take pickleball into the arenas - 9 courts in each arena and has worked since 2015 on developing further indoor opportunities on the coast. Karen has loved playing in tournaments, helping to put on SCPA tournaments, teaching at clinics under John Bell’s leadership and being part of a rating team, so players could develop and improve their skills.

Karen is still passionate about pickleball and hopes one day we will have a dedicated indoor facility. She has great memories of working with SCPA board members, friends in the pickleball community and is proud of the many accomplishments over the years.

Dennis Regnier - 2014 - 2023

I was introduced to Pickleball in the winter of 2008 - 09 in Yuma, Arizona. Back home in Gibsons, I discovered that Karen Renfrew and Lin Buckler were making headway in establishing a place to play at the Sechelt Senior Centre. They asked me to join them in the effort and shortly thereafter we had 50 registered members making it able for the Sunshine Coast Pickleball Association to get recognition the Pickleball Canada Organization. The 3 of us, led by Karen, continued to develop play in Sechelt and increase membership rapidly. I remained involved for about 5 years, moved away for awhile and upon another return to the Coast, I once again joined the SCPA in the capacity of a Board Director and finally leaving the Coast in 2023.

Rick Semel - 2023-2025

Doug Smith - 2014

Doug was instrumental in the development of pickleball on the Sunshine Coast. In his brief tenure with the SCPA, Doug served as the first SCPA President and President of the Seniors Center at the same time resulting in him stepping down from the SCPA. Doug was liked by all and was an avid pickleball enthusiast winning a number of medals in the BC Seniors Games. Doug will be missed by many, including the SCPA and pickleball community.

Kira Sufulko- 2018-2025

Val Swanson 2014-2016

Val was part of a volunteer pickleball coaching team at the Senior Activity Centre for a few years, then continued coaching at the arenas when pickleball was introduced there. The majority of her students were at the intermediate level. People's games and lives were greatly impacted by her style of coaching, her humour, and her dedication to the basics of pickleball while having fun at it. Val joined the Sunshine Coast Pickleball Association board right at the beginning . She was the treasurer and bookkeeper for the association and also was a pickleball goodwill ambassador around the Coast. She is still missed by many.