PickleballENGLAND
THE ENGLISH OPEN IS BACK , BIGGER AND BETTER !
The first English OPEN in 2019 was blessed with alchemy — everything working together to make something magical happen . The COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the 2020 and 2021 events , but June 29-July 3 saw the magic return .
By Karen Mitchell
DIRECTOR , PICKLEBALLENGLAND
Nearly 500 players , six USA pro players and 50 volunteers converged for five days for the 2022 English OPEN tournament at the David Lloyd Southampton venue . There were 1,512 matches played plus a Pro-Am tournament and MLP English Style Event .
Sam Basford , my co-tournament director , and I collaborated with the APP and DUPR to bring the pro players to England for the event and to give Europe ’ s finest players some stiff competition . Lee Whitwell assembled a great group of players : Michelle Esquivel , Rob Cassidy , Daniel Roditi , KaSandra Gehrke , and Irina Tereschenko as well as Lee herself . Louise Stephens organized the airport pick-up and dropoff logistics on top of her t-shirt printing and production line for the tournament as well as lots of other behind-the-scenes tasks .
Months of planning and intense work was required to ensure that the tournament was a success . In the later stages , we were joined by Chris Mitchell and Frank Arico to ready the Pickleball England Tournament Software ( PETS ) for the tournament .
Salli Griffith developed all the graphics that looked so great at the venue , including court dividers , medal backdrop , banners , and souvenir program . The professional look of the graphics is integral to leveraging the tournament as our shop window for future sponsorships and partnerships .
Our technology partner , Scan , provided a PA system and screens for our welcome desk and the scrolling screens that told players who was playing on which court at any given time . Players could also get this information on their phones .
Chris Mitchell , 64 , is the most medaled senior player in Europe .