Chris Mitchell coaches a local young player .
Many wanted to play all the games , which were organized into mini tournaments . We introduced pickleball to 10 new players that day . Later in the evening , we couldn ’ t get six of the guests to stop playing — they were hooked ! They want to come back to learn more and master the basics before they join the club near them in Brighton .
Another day , we hosted six people from BLAGSS , a sports and social group with about 450 lesbian , gay , bisexual and transgender members from across Brighton & Hove , Sussex . Their aim is to encourage LGBT people to play sports as part of a health and fitness lifestyle .
The members are all different shapes , sizes , ages and abilities , and participate in sports as varied as badminton , tennis , squash , golf , table tennis , running , tenpin bowling , football and cycling .
Some of the BLAGSS committee came to our court to try pickleball , with the hope of offering some taster sessions to their members and , if enough interest , form a pickleball club within the group . They loved the game . To be fair , the laughter the game induces and the sunshine is a pretty intoxicating combination ! One of the visitors is also on the Gay Games Committee and she thought the sport would be ideal for the Games , so we hope to build on that contact , too .
Our home court with a graffiti wall has only been fully finished since May 29 , and already we have taught 26 people the game — five under the age of 16 , 17 between the ages of 16 and 40 , and four over the age of 40 . We also have had 48 existing players , bringing our total visitors to 74 . Not bad for a private court in our back garden in the middle of nowhere . Looking forward to many happy years playing on it and introducing many more players to the game . •
JULY / AUGUST 2021 | MAGAZINE 55