Pickleball

Pickleball was invented in the 1960s in the US and combines elements of badminton, tennis, and table tennis – hugely popular in the States, it has a growing fanbase further afield including in this country.   In December 2024 it was officially recognised by Sport England with Pickleball England as its National Governing Body.

It is played either indoors or outdoors on a badminton-sized court (but different line markings), across a net similar to tennis but lower, with paddles that are most similar to table tennis bats.  It uses a unique ball made out of hard plastic, hollow with holes in (with indoor balls having fewer but larger holes than outdoor balls).  It can be played as doubles or singles on the same sized court.

If you’re not sure what a game of Pickleball even looks like then YouTube is your friend – check out this Intro to Pickleball & a Beginner’s Guide for how to play for starters, then maybe move on to watching tennis Legends playing pickleball (Agassi & Roddick vs McEnroe & Chang).

Pickleball sessions have been running at Lansdown on Sunday afternoons at 2pm since our first successful taster sessions in October 2023, and continue to prove that virtually anyone can pick it up and have a fun game after only 5 minutes whilst also providing plenty of scope for mastery of skills and tactics for more experienced players too!  All members are welcome – see the Pickleball Clubplay page for more information.  Members keen to play regularly or get involved in future developments are encouraged to join the Pickleball WhatsApp group (invite link in Useful Links on our members website) – this is used to coordinate Sunday attendance and can also be used to arrange social play at other times (Rackets members only / under guest arrangements).