A free taster session attracted over 30 people to Bexhill Leisure Centre on 10.10.21 .
our wonderfully inclusive sport . Ian and his players welcomed over 50 adults and children at their World Pickleball Day event . Already the Gosport Pickleball Club has increased its membership by 35 , and 23 of those players have registered with PickleballEngland .
Talking of Richard Thoms , he has been helping three David Lloyd Club branches in the Southampton area to introduce pickleball and he held several World Pickleball Day sessions at two of those clubs on Oct . 10 and 16 . The initiative included a taster session followed by a fun tournament . Richard has reported that many of the players have come back to play at regular sessions . There are around 20 David Lloyd venues offering pickleball now , following HQ confirming that clubs with badminton courts could offer pickleball as an additional sport for members . We hope that eventually all 60 of the clubs with badminton courts will roll out pickleball .
Our NW Regional Director , Elaine Shallcross , participated in three different events celebrating World Pickleball Day :
1 . On Oct . 8 , Leigh Pickleball celebrated World Pickleball Day by members dressing up to
represent different countries of the world .
2 . On Oct . 9 , Elaine and several players from the NW Region went up Blackpool Tower . Blackpool Tower looks a bit like the Eiffel Tower , which is featured on the World Pickleball Day logo . They talked about pickleball to the staff and visitors and got some amazing pictures .
3 . On Oct . 10 , Elaine held a NW Doubles League event in Clitheroe , Lancashire , for existing players and held a taster session for new players . The youngest attendee of that taster session was 6½ years old !
PickleballEngland featured a list of places providing taster sessions for World Pickleball Day on our website and Facebook page . We are hopeful that this year ’ s success will incentivise more clubs to leverage World Pickleball Day in 2022 . •
Chris Mitchell formed part of the David Lloyd World Pickleball Day promotion !
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2021 | MAGAZINE 65