Jess Wilson is the only new captain for season two of the Franklin Premier Pickleball League – an honour she earned after achieving stunning results in European and domestic competitions.
The Norwich-based player was women’s doubles champion at the recent Dutch Open and women’s singles champion at the Italian Open, having won women’s doubles bronze at last year’s English Nationals alongside Natalia Novikova.
In last season’s inaugural Franklin PPL, she was one of the only non-captains to win a Player of the Weekend award and lifted the Championship trophy as vice-captain to James Chaudry.
Jess told Pickleball52: “I am excited and honoured to have been selected as captain but this is a huge step up from last year. Most importantly I want my team [yet to be drafted] to enjoy their experience in the league and improve their pickleball by playing against the best players in the UK. We will see what season two brings.”
Jess first took up pickleball in April 2022 and very quickly got involved in big tournaments and events, entering her first tournament in June 2022 the English Open. later that year, she won bronze medals in women’s singles and women’s doubles with her partner Jessie Danger at the English Nationals.
“Right from the start I loved the community feel of pickleball and the encouragement from those around me. The support I had from fellow members at Norwich Pickleball Club was a huge influence on getting me started,” she said.
Jess and her partner Sam Anderson were invited to join the committee of Norwich Pickleball Club. They and fellow committee members helped turn it into a more beginner-friendly environment and it has since grown to almost 200 members, with segregated sessions for different abilities as well as hugely popular Friday social sessions for all members.
Jess said: “I got a huge buzz from coaching new players and seeing them progress to 3.5 and above players – and most importantly seeing them enjoy themselves and having the confidence to enter tournaments themselves! As we grew, we added more and more sessions a week.”
Whilst running the club in 2023, Jess entered her first international tournament in Rota, Spain followed by the Belgium Open and the Spanish Open in Salamanca – bringing home a selection of bronze, silver and gold medals. Then came bronze at the Nationals and selection as vice-captain for Team RAQT in the inaugural Franklin PPL season.
She said: “The first Premier Pickleball League season was amazing to be a part of and the highlight of my pickleball career so far was hitting the winning ball in the final to bring home the Evelina Trophy alongside my team and Captain of team RAQT James Chaudry.”
Jess and partner Sam have now launched Outlaws Pickleball, an enterprise to run large events for all levels of players. April 2024 saw our first event ‘Diadem Doubles Dash’ at Easton Tennis centre (pictured above), where a phenomenal 144 players attended for a day of gender doubles from 3.0 to 4.0+.
“It sounds cheesy to say, but pickleball has changed my life,” says Jess. “I have met so many incredible people who I can now call my friends and travelled to places I never would have and been given opportunities I could never have dreamed of. I never expected to be playing a sport at this higher level – but most importantly loving every second of it!”
