PickleballENGLAND
WORLD PICKLEBALL DAY , 10.10.2021
The inaugural World Pickleball Day in 2020 was announced by the World Pickleball Federation just before COVID-19 became a pandemic . With many countries in lockdown or with social distancing rules that precluded the opening of doors for taster sessions , the day was still recognized by 16 countries .
In England , we had just three clubs able to participate with booked slots so that the “ rule of six ” [ pandemic gathering limit ] was not broken . Around 40 people were introduced to the game on the day .
Fast-forward 12 months and the pandemic is still prevalent , with complex travel rules and restrictions in place , and some of the countries that were able to celebrate last year were able to again this year , plus some others — bringing the total participating countries to 22 : Aruba , Australia , Bahamas , Brazil , Canada , China , England , Finland , Hong Kong , Hungary , India , Indonesia , Ireland , Isle of Man , Italy , Philippines , Scotland , Spain , Sweden , Turkey , Wales and the USA .
In England , we were fortunate to be able do so much more this year . We had 17 clubs opening their doors for taster sessions over 10 days in October . There were also clubs in Wales and Isle of Man opening their doors . We estimate 350 people were introduced to the sport . The great
By Karen Mitchell
NATIONAL DIRECTOR , PICKLEBALLENGLAND
news is that many of them loved it so much they have already been back to regular club sessions to play .
One club that did an amazing job of promoting the day was Gosport Pickleball Club , in our SW Region . Ian Kingsbury and his wife , Pauline , created a Facebook page a few weeks before the day , and reached out to the local BBC sports reporter , who came down and recorded a segment for that evening ’ s local news bulletin . Ian invited his local County representative Richard Thoms , together with myself and my husband Chris , to the session so that we could promote Pickleball England as well as World Pickleball Day .
We are so glad that we drove the 2.5 hours to visit the club , not just because of the BBC opportunity but to meet the friendliest pickleball players at Gosport . They were fantastic and they were all committed to help Ian and Pauline spread the positivity about
Leigh Pickleball celebrates World Pickleball Day with Elaine Shallcross , PBE ’ s NW Regional Director .