At first, I wonder how the Helliwell cottage on Balsam Lake, in central Ontario’s Kawarthas, could even have a pickleball court at all. The property is by no means a sprawling estate, and it feels smaller under its dense canopy of oaks and maples. On this still morning in late August, I try to imagine the scene Bob Helliwell describes as he shows me along a winding path through the woods: the hollow pong of a ball striking a racket, the soft scud of a line drive skipping off asphalt; vintage calypso music by The Merrymen or Harry Belafonte in the background; and above it all, breathless yelps and groans announcing that a point has been won or lost.
“When it’s really bumping, we’ll stop the game for a dance break,” says Bob. Just then, a weathered asphalt court surrounded by a chain-link fence materializes in a gap in the trees. Bob sweeps his arm as he describes grandchildren and grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins, all flailing to the beat on a fenced court littered with dropped rackets. “We don’t have rivalries,” he says. “We just have fun.”
It’s this attitude that makes Uncle Bob the centre of the action on busy weekends at Balsam Lake. He’s got a lanky, athletic frame and the cool swagger of a
surfer, and he often wears colourful Hawaiian shirts. Bob and his wife, Tracey, discovered pickleball four years ago, and they play seriously year-round at home in Oshawa. At the cottage, however, Bob usually teams up with the least-experienced for doubles play. His passion for the sport is a big reason why the family
cottage’s neglected tennis court was converted to pickleball in 2022.
Crudely chalked lines were deemed close enough to official measurements. “Then it would rain, and we’d have to do it again,” recalls Bob. “We did that on and off for a year and finally got smart enough to paint them on.” The old tennis net, acquired by a Balsam Lake neighbour decades ago from the Badminton and Racquet Club of Toronto, was allowed to sag a few inches lower, to pickleball standards. “They were upgrading and we got the throwaway,” says Bob. “The net is
the best part of our facility.”
In case you haven’t heard, pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in North America. A 2023 survey suggests more than 1.3 million Canadians play pickleball at least once per month, and the number is growing fast. The sport, which dates back to 1965 when three dads in Washington state made do with a smattering of equipment to invent a family-friendly activity, is described as a hybrid of Ping Pong, badminton, and tennis. It’s played on a 44-by-20-foot court (a little less than half the size of a tennis court) and usually, but not exclusively, in teams of two. Pickleball is so popular because it requires less skill than tennis and is far more social, with easy underhand serves, basic rules, and a compact playing surface that allows for conversation.
Competitive tournaments, dedicated resorts, and even hopes for a place in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles have all been part of the pickleball explosion. Its rapid rise in popularity has also made it tough for enthusiasts to get playing time at community courts. More and more private courts are being built by those with the space and the budget; Court Contractors, one of several Ontario companies specializing in outdoor sport courts, constructed more private pickleball courts—ranging in price from $55,000 to $100,000—on cottage properties in 2024 than they did in 2023.
Looking to add a sport court at your cottage? Here’s what you need to know
The Helliwell court serves as a quaint antidote to custom courts, just like the family’s modest, well-loved cottage and mature trees stand in stark contrast to the massive and shiny new builds and immaculate lawns elsewhere on Balsam Lake. Most serious players would abhor the way the property’s towering trees litter the court with debris and cast tapestries of shade and blinding sunbeams on the playing surface. Bob warns me to watch for rogue patches of poison ivy around the court’s perimeter as we rally back and forth. “We don’t take things seriously,” he says. “If the ball hits an acorn, you have to play it, if it hits a branch you have to play it, but if you have to stop to swat a fly, it’s a let. We only play to five to rotate people through more quickly, and we don’t get distracted if there’s a soccer or basketball game going on the side.”
A nostalgic feeling of Field of Dreams runs deep at the Helliwell cottage. The family is committed to maintaining the vibe set by Bob’s parents, the late Grant and Ruth, who were among the first cottagers on Balsam Lake’s West Bay. In the 1950s and early ’60s, the couple spent time at Ruth’s sister’s cottage on Long Point, an aptly named peninsula that lends an amoeboid shape to Balsam—the highest point on the Trent-Severn Waterway. But they really coveted a place of their own. “Dad heard chainsaws and went out exploring in the canoe,” says Cindy Bartle, Bob’s sister and the co-owner of the Helliwell cottage. “The developer was just putting in the road. Dad was lucky and picked the deepest lot, the one that Mom always said had the nicest trees.”
That was 1963. “My first memory of the place is Dad taking me out of school and bringing me up here when he cleared the lot for the cottage,” says Bob. “I must have been in kindergarten.” Soon there was a Pan- Abode, and Grant, who maintained streetlights for municipalities around southern Ontario, set about illuminating the property with various castoff lamp posts—a few of which remain functional today. Ruth always made sure the trees weren’t harmed by her husband’s endless projects. Cindy’s husband, Geoff, who describes himself as a “more pragmatic” handyman in his inherited role of maintaining the property, still uncovers Grant’s sketchy improvisations with electrician’s tape, wire, and reclaimed parts. “He just loved to build anything,” says Geoff.
The family eventually purchased two neighbouring properties for an additional 300 feet of water frontage, sheltered from the prevailing winds and facing the sunrise. Grant built the tennis court—complete with streetlights—in 1979. “There was a natural clearing, and they needed a place to hold my sister’s wedding,” says Bob. “It just happened to be tennis-court size.” All three Helliwell girls had their wedding receptions on the fine cinder aggregate court, including Cindy to Geoff, in 1982. The original playing surface was “as hard as bedrock,” says Geoff, when it was finally paved for a family reunion in the 1990s. The tennis lines faded over time. “We’ve all sent our kids up there to get tired,” says Bob. “It’s been used for soccer, skateboarding, ball hockey, basketball, and now pickleball, everything but tennis…tennis was our parents’ generation.”
Cindy and Bob get wistful when they see the heights of three generations of children marked on the walls near the cottage’s front door. With both Grant and Ruth having recently passed away, the siblings reflect on the ways the cottage keeps bringing their families together. “It’s the one constant thing that doesn’t change,” says Cindy. “It keeps you rooted.”
“We’d never play pickleball with our kids and grandkids in the city,” says Bob. “But up here, it’s multi-generational. I love that grandmother and grandson versus uncle and daughter type of game. You don’t see that anywhere else.”
Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.-based writer Conor Mihell prefers canoe and kayak paddles to pickleball racquets, though his competitive streak encourages him to pick one up from time to time.
Is pickleball right for me?
Imagine that tennis had a baby with Ping Pong, with a heavy contribution of badminton DNA added to the mix. That’s pickleball—more or less. Pickleball is played on a badminton- sized court, using Ping-Pong-like paddles to hit a lightweight, perforated ball over a net that’s just slightly lower than the net on a tennis court. Singles or doubles can play the game. Either way, the object is to be the first player (or team) to reach 11 points. One major difference between pickleball and similar sports is the court’s “Non-Volley Zone” (NVZ), which is sometimes called the “kitchen,” a seven-by-40-foot marked area of the court.—Jackie Davis
When serving the ball, a player can’t touch the NVZ line or hit the ball into the NVZ. To learn the official rules, visit pickleballcanada.org.
Okay…but one question remains: why didn’t pickleball’s inventors call it badpongnis? Or tenpington? Or three-in-one-ball? Or, well, almost anything else?
This story originally appeared in our May ’25 issue.
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