Locals and holidaymakers in Weymouth can now play pickleball by the sea after new courts were opened for the summer at a stunning location in the Dorset town.
Pickleball England’s Dorset coordinator David Bates and fellow player Stuart Stevens have set up two courts at The Jurassic Rocks Café on the Weymouth seafront.
Court bookings are made through the café and David is offering introductory and higher-level coaching sessions.
David has been an instrumental figure in establishing pickleball in the Weymouth and West Dorset area.
Introducing the sport in early 2022, David quickly established a membership of 140 players and together with Stuart, established a well-funded club in Weymouth with equipment, ample court bookings and significant funding.
David said: “It was a fantastic journey to take the club from zero to 100s and it is great to see that others have now decided to take on the challenges!”
Since starting the Weymouth group, David also supported the introduction of pickleball in Dorchester at St Osmond’s School and with the Dorchester University of the 3rd Age (u3a). (Read more about pickleball and the u3a here)
The u3a continue to thrive and St Osmond’s has now invested in equipment and outdoor courts and boast a 50+ membership. David also worked with the local council to establish outdoor pickleball courts as part of their developments in Weymouth and have introduced the sport to Weymouth U3A.
Currently, David and Stuart are also supporting development in Wareham, Dorset, and have already established 20+ regular players.
“Clearly, developing pickleball in England isn’t simply about starting and running a group. Development needs many hours of negotiations with facilities, hours of coaching, equipment management and storage.” David said.
With both indoor and outdoor facilities growing across the county, players are getting used to adapting their game to the different conditions, with wind, rain, sunlight and different balls all coming into play in the ‘al fresco’ version of the sport.
Though as David summarises: “Both indoors and outdoors are great fun to play.”
