22 teams in the Women ’ s OPEN , split into four brackets .
Heavy rain started outside and we found that Telford International Centre had a few roof leaks , which meant there were a few courts that couldn ’ t be used at times , plus we also discovered some courts had not been taped down . We also underestimated the time it would take players to get to their courts — the venue was huge ! Brackets were assigned to courts but when there was time between games , players still had to move through the venue filled with people to get to their assigned court . Despite these challenges , we miraculously managed to get out of the venue by 10 p . m ., just 30 minutes later than the schedule !
Megan Fudge and Susannah Barr won gold in the Women ’ s OPEN and Rob Nunnery and Jack Munroe won gold in the Men ’ s OPEN .
Sunday was another big day with 740 + players and several huge events , including the Mixed OPEN , which had 40 teams . There were 1,006 matches played on the day , including a wheelchair event , four Men Without Partner brackets and four Junior events : Advanced Juniors , Junior Girls , Junior Boys and Young Juniors under 10 years . Some of the play was exceptional ,
Championship Court with Ron Ponder as referee . Photo by Joshua Bratt .
all of it mirroring the adult smiles and paddle taps at the net . Again , we managed to get out of the venue just before the shutters went down . Susannah Barr and Nick Petterson
Wow , wow , wow ! You didn ’ t just raise the bar , you put a rocket under it .”
— David & Pam Stoten sealed the three-game thriller for gold in the Mixed OPEN .
We had a record number of sponsors for the English OPEN this year , demonstrating that brands recognize that pickleball is taking off in our country . Their feedback was very positive . Jared Franklin told me that the event was like an expo . With so many countries represented , he was able to make some great connections . We had a networking reception for those in the pickleball ecosystem to meet and discuss how to grow pickleball . We had Sky Sports news and ITV doing interviews as well as our homegrown podcasters , EBTKD . All of this plus four days of highquality livestreaming , photography , videography , social media postings — so many moving parts all coming together to maximize impact .
Chris , Frank , James , Salli and I worked hard in the run-up to the event , but it was the volunteers who ensured the success of the event . A heartfelt thanks to them all , with shout-outs to Dean , Trevor , Mal , Sue , Jeremy , Jackie , Mo , Lynn , Simon , Sam , Rob , Ron and Christina , to name a few . •
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2023 | MAGAZINE 73