In the summer of 2016 two strangers met playing shuffleboard in Innisfail Alberta. These two fellows were Pat Wilson and Charlie Loiselle. On one of their commutes to a tournament Pat Wilson uttered the words - "we should have a shuffleboard club in Edmonton".
Apparently Charlie was listening and a seed was planted. During the balance of the week Charlie and Pat got some names of people who might be interested in helping with this project. Grace Lintz was one of these names. Charlie contacted Grace and found out she had once tried to get a club started in Edmonton. Grace had many names and phone numbers still in her possession from that project and volunteered to contact them.
From there, while Charlie was running around the greater Edmonton area looking for a possible home for this shuffleboard club, he inadvertently stopped by to visit his accountant, Tim Donnelly. Upon hearing Charlie's story about starting a shuffleboard club, Tim suggested Charlie talk to one of his other clients, "The Ottewell Curling Club".
A meeting between Charlie and Rick Kravontka, the Manager of the curling club, was quickly arranged and in no time they had an agreement in principle to play court shuffleboard out of the Ottewell Curling Club.
We needed to test the venue so on August 16, 2016 Rob Robinson was contacted and asked to bring one of his courts down to the Ottewell Curling Club for a test run. It was the perfect venue for the about to be new club in town!
The Greater Edmonton Shuffleboard Association (GESA) is a non-profit organization that promotes the game of floor shuffleboard with the goals of fun, social interaction, the challenge of competition, and wellness through exercise, for individuals of all ages and abilities.
⚫ To promote interest and play in the game of court shuffleboard for the greater enjoyment of the game.
⚫ To provide a social atmosphere and facility for the members to gather and enjoy the game of shuffleboard.
⚫ To provide the facility, equipment, supplies, schedules to play shuffleboard.
⚫ To cooperate with the Canadian National Shuffleboard Association where possible, to promote, teach, advertise shuffleboard and to host or participate in tournaments.
⚫ To play the game of shuffleboard under Arizona rules.
⚫ The policy of Greater Edmonton Shuffleboard Association shall be non-profit, non-sectarian and non-political.