Over the last two summers, a sport has swept the nation, but 10 years ago, you probably had to ask, "What’s pickleball?” 

In 2014, Mark Renneson had his eye on this sport before much of the world caught on. But a typical Canadian winter had him questioning his sanity—the kind of harsh conditions that leave your car buried and your willpower tested. Mark had rented a school gym in Meaford, determined to introduce the community to a sport most had never heard of. He drove through the storm, set up the court, and waited.

No one showed up.

It was one of many moments where quitting seemed like the logical choice. The sport was niche. The business was new. And his wife, Laura—who was also in the thick of starting her own chiropractic clinic while they juggled life with a newborn—had already made her stance clear. “You’re supposed to be the stable one,” she joked, as Mark had begun his career as a teacher. 

But Mark wasn’t just drawn to pickleball. In fact, he barely played it. What he loved was teaching. He grew up in a family of educators, spent years coaching tennis, and even went to teacher’s college before becoming an elementary school teacher. Coaching wasn’t just a job; it was how he connected with people. He just needed a way to make it work.

He kept at it with his wife’s support and created an internationally renowned business. 

The Persistent Entrepreneur

The first six months of his pickleball venture were bleak. When he wasn’t braving snowstorms for empty courts, he was putting countless hours into creating free content—YouTube videos, forum discussions, social media posts—anything to get the word out. Then, out of the blue, an email arrived: “Hey, my club would love to have you come. Would you travel to San Antonio, Texas?”

It was the first real sign that maybe, just maybe, this could work.

Over time, the trickle became a flood. More invitations came in. More people wanted to learn from him. His original business, Third Shot Sports, was built around coaching players in person, running clinics, and hosting training camps. But the bigger idea—the one that would change everything—came a few years later: an online training system for pickleball coaches. That would become Pickleball Coaching International (PCI), a game-changer in an industry where certification programs were expensive, time-consuming, and inaccessible to many aspiring coaches.

The Pivots That Made It Work

Mark’s path wasn’t without setbacks. Just as PCI was about to launch with training and a certification program, a major competitor in the U.S. beat him to market, backed by big-name players and substantial funding.

“I can’t compete with these guys,” Mark thought. But instead of scrapping the business, he pivoted. He let competitors fight it out over certification programs and positioned PCI as the go-to resource for actual coaching skills.

His message? “If you need a certificate, go to them. But if you want to become a great coach, come to us.”

It worked. PCI took off, growing internationally—especially in places where pickleball was still emerging, like Australia, South Africa, and the UK. Because PCI’s model was entirely online, it was accessible to people who couldn’t afford to travel for certification or were juggling responsibilities at home. Soon, Mark was not only training players—he was shaping the future of pickleball coaching.

Seven Hours for Seven Days - The Accelerated Training Schedule

One day, another email landed in Mark’s inbox—this time from the CFO of USA Pickleball. Pickleball was exploding in China, and they needed someone to train coaches who could, in turn, train new coaches.

“You’re the guy to do this,” the email read.

A few months later, Mark found himself in China, coaching 15 instructors-to-be who didn’t speak English, putting them through seven-hour training sessions for seven days. It was exhausting but transformational, with the help of a translator from Singapore. Training these coaches felt like starting with a blank slate. Over an intense week, he watched them develop confidence, structure, and enthusiasm. During this trip, he was humbled by the cultural reverence for teachers—doors were held open for him, bags were carried, and toasts were made in his honour. He didn’t expect to go from an empty gym in a small town to this. 

The business kept growing, and so did the demands. After years of going it alone, Mark realized he had taken PCI as far as he could with his small team. Enter Selkirk Sport, a major equipment manufacturer that had been quietly watching PCI’s rise. They had worked with Mark in the past under the Third Shot Sports affiliation but were interested in his work with coaches. Starting out as a partner who funded projects and provided equipment, they approached him multiple times about an investment. He wasn’t ready. Finally, something nudged him to say yes.

“I felt like we had come pretty close to how much we could do as a very small company—just myself and one full-time employee,” Mark says. “To have these good, trusted partners… it was like a supercharge.”

He sold PCI but stayed on as the President of the new division to run it under the Selkirk umbrella, now with resources behind him to push the business even further.

From a Small Town to an International Following

Mark thought he’d be teaching pickleball in Collingwood and maybe Barrie. He never expected it would take him to Texas, China, Australia, or Germany. He never imagined he’d be the president of a division for Selkirk Sport. He didn’t expect to be the head of Pickleball Coach Education for Tennis Canada, another hat that he still wears today. And he certainly never expected that his biggest success would come not from playing the game but from making others better at teaching it.

Now, as he looks to the future, Mark is excited about expanding PCI’s reach even further. He sees an opportunity to get more kids into pickleball and develop international coaching standards. And while his life is now filled with strategic meetings and global partnerships, he’s still, at heart, the guy who just loves to teach.

So maybe that empty gym wasn’t a failure after all. With his persistence and wife’s support, it was just the beginning.