just with the Franklin indoor and outdoor ball but all balls . By this time , we had set our hearts on the Telford International Centre , knowing it would be a great venue for the tournament . So now we had to look at securing 40 rollout pickleball courts to ensure a perfect ball bounce for the Franklin X-40 , the official ball of the English Open . Just imagine … perfect courts without additional lines for players and our livestream , and no need to ask volunteers to tape out courts ! Once we have secured the courts , we then need to switch attention to logistics for laying them down at the venue .
So now we have dates , venue , accommodation , places to socialize and pickleball courts . What else do we have to organize ? Livestreaming . This year we want to have two courts livestreamed , with sufficient raised seating for spectators . We want to improve the advertising solution by eliminating the Toblerone court dividers , which seemed to lose balls , and replacing them with steel arena dividers to ensure that the court surrounds are functional as well as providing a great advertising backdrop for our sponsors . We also want to integrate a line review system into our livestream ( following a test that we did at last year ’ s Nationals ).
With all these details , how are we going to attract players ? We hope our efficient organization of past tournaments will encourage many to return and bring friends . We don ’ t follow the double-elimination format as we believe it ’ s the reason many tournaments play late into the evening . We have round-robins to seed the players and then move into single-elimination rounds . Players are guaranteed a minimum of four games per event , and they receive a personal schedule via email ahead of the tournament . We also have
The 2022 English Open , Southampton .
scrolling screens around the venue telling players who is currently playing on every court , who is next up and who is on court the game after . This helps everything run like clockwork , but it also helps players identify other players since they can check the board or their phone to see who is currently playing on a court .
We also plan to offer prize money by securing sponsors , which should attract players hoping to earn money playing pickleball at the highest level in Europe . We also hope it will attract pro players from the U . S . Having the likes of Michelle Esquivel , Rob Cassidy , Lee Whitwell , Irina Tereschenko , KaSandra Gehrke and Daniel Roditi at last year ’ s tournament really made the tournament , giving our players an opportunity to test their skills and learn from experienced professional players , and making the games exciting to watch . Plus , all our results are updated to DUPR and Pickleball Global .
The English Open has a reputation for being friendly — down to the players and volunteers , so we will
be asking for volunteers again this year . We will also be looking to train volunteers as referees before the tournament so we can have referees for the knockout stages while also welcoming back Ron Ponder , Jeff van der Hulst and others .
We hope to welcome as many of you as possible to this year ’ s tournament . We will again display the flags of all the countries represented . Registration will open at the end of March and there will be a link from
pickleballengland . org / 2023- english-open .
Planned Events :
European Team Event Pro-Am Tournament Junior Event ( Under 19 ) Wheelchair Event ( All Ages ) Singles , Gender Doubles , Mixed Doubles : 19 + OPEN , 4.0 , 3.5 , 3.0 35 + OPEN , 4.0 , 3.5 , 3.0 50 + OPEN , 4.0 , 3.5 , 3.0 60 + OPEN , 4.0 , 3.5 , 3.0 65 + OPEN , 4.0 , 3.5 , 3.0 70 + All Skills •
MARCH / APRIL 2023 | MAGAZINE 67