Roland’s Mona Burnett is a pioneer in the growing sport of pickleball and recently found herself as a 2023 inductee of the Pickleball Hall of Fame.
Burnett grew up on a farm in Roland. She had an older sister, a younger brother, and parents who always ensured that there were as many opportunities as possible to explore any sport of interest, as sporting activities were the foundation of her family life.
As a young girl, ice skating and hockey were the preferred winter sports, and softball was the summer activity when she wasn’t riding her horse. Once in high school, volleyball and fastball were her primary focus, and she was very involved in the Athletic Council at Carman Collegiate.
While living in Jakarta, Indonesia, and working as a teacher in the 1990s, Burnett was first introduced to ppickleball. A group of teachers would get together after school and play ppickleball with a whiffle ball in the elementary school gymnasium.
It wasn’t until Mona lived in Arizona in 2007 that ppickleball would re-appear on her sporting radar. She signed up for an introductory lesson and bought her first paddle; the rest is history. She never put her paddle down and grew with the sport.
“I lived in Arizona for ten years, so I began playing pickleball recreationally every day, which then progressed into tournament play and then to professional tournament play,” said Mona Burnett. “I basically grew with the sport.”
During her ten years of living in Arizona, Burnett became one of the top female pickleball players in the United States.
In 2015, Burnett had her best event when she won five gold medals (in every event she entered) at the USAPA National Pickleball Tournament. Throughout her career, Burnett medalled 150 times at major tournaments, 75 of which were gold medals. She had also played and medaled with nine of the 17 current Pickleball Hall of Famers.
In 2018, Mona moved back to Canada permanently to be closer to her ever-growing family. She now lives in Diamond Valley, Alberta, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. She has put her competitive pickleball paddle down and has once again picked up her golf clubs.
Burnett was very pleased to hear that she was inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame as a member of its recent 2023 class.
“I am humbled by the experience of being inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame,” said Burnett. “I stand beside many of the greats in the sport and will always cherish this honour. Pickleball has become an extremely popular sport and is now drawing very talented players. It is very different now than when I played. I will maintain that I was a player during the very best of times. We all had so much fun, and we all looked forward to getting together at tournaments and competing to see who won the $2.50 medal and bragging rights. It’s very different now.”
Burnett still has family in the Carman area, but her immediate family is in the Calgary area, so she doesn’t get to come home as often as she would like to these days.
“I don’t get back to Carman too often, but I have very fond memories of my childhood, school days and extracurricular sporting events. I am not involved as much in pickleball now as I am an outdoor player, and obviously, pickleball is more of an indoor sport in Canada. It is very difficult to find facilities to play, and then to gather three other players is a monumental task. I have returned to the golf course to see if I can conquer that game.”
Standard Photo by Mona Burnett
Roland’s Mona Burnett is a long-time Pickleball phenom that was recently inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame as part of its 2023 class for her illustrious career on the court.
