Seven committed members of Dubbo’s Western Stars Pickleball Club will be striving for recognition and achievement when they travel to Tasmania this weekend, February 6–8 to test their skills against their hosts and other contestants from around Australia at the Tasmanian Pickleball Championships.

Leading the charge will be Pickleball tournament first-timers, Dion Oldridge and Shaleen Shah who, along with their little Cheer Squad (and Australia’s youngest coach) Ameena, will be competing in the over 35s section in singles, double, and mixed doubles divisions.

Both players have shown dramatic improvement over the past few weeks, as they have challenged themselves against the best Dubbo has to offer.

Next in line is the husband-and-wife pairing of Chris and Bernie Ward, who have already competed in several tournaments over the past couple of years, with their best result a Gold Medal performance at the 2025 Australian Masters in Canberra in the Mixed Doubles 60-plus division.

The experience Chris and Bernie have gained over the past two years, combined with the confidence gained from the Masters, will definitely hold them in good stead and they will give a good account of themselves across the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles formats.

Merrilyn Craig is next to raise her hand to have a crack at the competition and is quietly confident she too can do Dubbo proud as she does battle in the 65-plus events in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. Merrilyn is one of Dubbo’s most-experienced players and has collected medals at the past two Pan Pacific games in both doubles and singles

Finally, Don Easter and Greg King will round out the representatives travelling from Dubbo to Tasmania where they will compete in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, across the three days of competition.

Don has been relishing getting a chance to compete in the 70-plus grade whilst Greg is probably the most experienced from the Dubbo Region — ahh, the joy of retirement and a love for pickleball!

Overall, Dubbo is really excited about having players travelling such a distance and very confident that this mob will be fantastic ambassadors for the western NSW.