Can any club in the UK boast greater longevity than this?
The 1st New Forest Pickleball Club have recently celebrated their tenth anniversary – marking the occasion with a fun competition.
25 members took part in the event, with short matches of 11 minutes with different pairings, mixed up regardless of age or ability. Each individual got three points for a win, two points for a draw and one point if they lost but scored 50 per cent or more of the winners’ score. Organiser Sarah then worked out the individual man and woman who had the most points.
Current club chairman Gary Hawke has been a club member for seven years, and presented a bottle of ten-year-old whisky to founder Doug Gemmell as part of the celebrations.
The club currently has 45 members, although they would love to increase numbers if they had more suitable venues for sessions. They currently play on Tuesday and Thursday evenings as well as Monday mornings, and as Gary notes: “Lack of suitable venues is, I suspect, a general problem as demand has grown so rapidly!”
Selmeston & Alciston Village Hall has had a pickleball club since 2011, so celebrate 14 years this year. Margaret & Michael Weller saw the game being played whilst on holiday in Florida. They had to import a net, paddles and balls from the USA to get started.