Pickleball Finland in brief
Pickleball Finland is the 1st and Original Ambassador of Pickleball in Finland since Jan. 2014. Our goal is to professionally and relentlessly grow the awareness of pickleball and bring more people to this great sport from all around Finland, as well as to activate the Finns to exercise more, live a healthier life and make them feel better. We serve people with a huge heart and undeniable passion for pickleball!
Pickleball Finland organizes demo sessions, personal coaching for beginners, events, as well as national and international tournaments for players on all levels. Pickleball Finland also organizes weekly training sessions in Espoo for players on all levels and teaches the basic skills to new players. If you're visiting Finland and already play pickleball, you are warmly welcome to have fun and hit the ball with us!
Pickleball Finland collaborates widely with international top pros and ordinary pickleball players, associations and organizations as well as international equipment manufacturers and retailers. We follow closely what’s happening in the Pickleball scene both in Finland and internationally, and spread information to pickleball players through our website and social media channels.
We are also the 1st and only supplier of pickleball equipment and offer them to Finnish players at reasonable price. Pickleball Finland is the sole distributor for Paddletek, Selkirk and TMPR Sports, the industry leading brands and pickleball paddle manufacturers. We also import and retail other pickleball equipment and accessories. We have tested all the paddles we supply so we are familiar with their features and extremely high quality. If you are interested in ordering equipment, use the contact form to send in your order or inquiry.
Pickleball in Finland
Pickleball landed in Finland in January 2014, when Ray Schiltz from U.S. moved to his wife’s home country with some paddles and balls in his luggage and started to look for a partner to play the game he loved. Before that Pickleball was not known in Finland at all. At first Ray and his friend Tuomo Antikainen, the founder and prime mover and shaker of Pickleball Finland, played together but eventually started to find more and more people to join their game sessions at two different venues in Espoo, close to Helsinki.
Pickleball Finland was founded in 2014. We opened our website, Facebook page and Twitter account for communications and networking purposes. We can also be found on Instagram and YouTube.
In a very short period of time Pickleball Finland has spread the sport all around the country. Currently pickelball is already being played in over 100 cities and towns; e.g. in gyms, sports institutes and leisure centers, olympic training centers, schools, municipalities, rehabilitation centers and of course all over the country by individuals who want to play this great sport in their own hometown.
In November 2015 Pickleball Finland arranged the 1st ever Pickleball Tournament in the country. The 1st Finnish Open Pickleball Championships took place in Espoo, near Helsinki with Finnish and International players competing in singles, doubles and mixed doubles categories. Read more about our tournaments.
Ray started to play pickleball in the US in 2011. He and Tuomo Antikainen, the founder of Pickleball Finland have learned the secrects of pickleball from some the best players in the world (i.e. Jennifer Lucore, Gigi LeMaster, Kyle Yates, Brian Ashworth, Cookie Drake, Marcin Rozpedski, Daniel Moore, Oliver Strecker, Lucy Kitcher, etc.) and offer now their experience and knowledge to all pickleball players in Finland.
