Video – find out why pickleball is taking off in south Warwickshire
PICKLEBALL fever is sweeping south Warwickshire – but don’t worry you won’t need to see a doctor.
Like a less exhausting version of tennis, pickleball is a sport that also mashes up elements of badminton and table tennis.
It uses a smaller court than tennis, with a lower net. Players use paddles rather than rackets and a perforated hollow ball. It can be played with two or four players, points are scored by the serving side, and played up to 11 points.
New clubs are popping up – with one just launched at Brailes Village Hall.
The Stratford-on-Avon Pickleball club was formed by Graeme Smith a mere five months ago but already has a waiting list for members.
Graeme, 61, a retired fireman, told the Herald how he came across the sport by chance.
“I was seeing a chiropractor a year ago and she said have you heard of pickleball, it is big in the Manchester area? So I went home and looked at it on YouTube and thought it would be something that I could play with my wife Julie.
“The pickleball travels a third of the speed of a tennis ball, so it’s a lot easier on your joints. You can’t serve overhand – it’s better to play slower and calmer.
“We had had a go at tennis, but this looked a bit more doable. There were no clubs near us where we live in Tredington.”
The couple decided to start a club themselves and hunted around for a suitable venue and came across the Meon Vale Leisure Centre – which has four badminton courts.
“The team at Meon Vale are great and helped us promote it and encourage people,” explained Graeme. “Within two weeks we had 30 members.”
Now the club has been going five months, it has 60 people on the books, who age from mid-30s to early 80s.
“The beauty of pickleball is everyone can have a go,” said Graeme. “It’s easy to learn but hard to master. It’s a friendly thing with no strain on the body. Even the Herald photographer said he’d like to have a go!”
In just a few months, Graeme has become passionate about the game and is now Pickleball England’s Warwickshire representative, and he and Julie are playing in a national tournament in the summer.
The vibe of the club though has an emphasis on fun.
“It’s about people coming together and learning something new and have some fun,” said Graeme. “We do some drills and some practice. I run an internal tournament every now and again to add some spice but it is all in good nature.”
The game was actually invented in the mid-1960s by three American dads trying to keep their bored kids busy in the backyard.
Those family fun origins are still very much part of the sport. “The beauty of it is you can get a youngster playing with their grandfather,” said Graeme, who also enjoys a bit of pickleball terminology.
“The shots are called: the Dink, the Ernie, the Bert, and a Third Shot Drop,” he observed.
Graeme has no doubt the pickleball fever will continue to spread.
“I think it will explode like it did in America. There are 12,000 players at the moment in this country. The national tournament, the English Open, is held up the road in Telford in August. Within a week of registration there were 1,064 players. Last year’s tournament attracted people from 30 countries.
“As soon as someone comes and plays in the right environment they get it, and that’s how we went from nothing to 60 people in a few months.”
Where to play: Stratford-on-Avon Pickleball Club play from 1.30pm to 3.30pm on Monday, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at Meon Vale Leisure Centre – although they are at capacity you can find out more on the club’s Facebook page. The sessions in Brailes take place in the village hall on Tuesdays 11.30am to 1.30pm organised by the Stour Valley Health and Wellbeing Partnership, contact Rowena Webb on 07967 479375 or email admin@ shwp.org.uk. There are also clubs in Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth and Rugby.
