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 (2 v 2 teams) or singles (1 v 1) 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 taster sessions have been running at Lansdown on Sunday afternoons 2 – 4pm 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 the old hands too!  Whilst primarily provided for our adult Rackets members, non-Rackets members (Croquet/Social) are also welcome with no fee payable, as are members aged under 18 (where accompanied by a supervising parent/carer club member and capable of joining in with mixed play).  Guests can attend with a club member (free of charge if spare court capacity*) – other non-members interested in playing Pickleball at the club should contact reception to arrange attending one trial session with a view to purchasing Social Membership for ongoing Sunday play.  Non-Rackets members can only play outside of Sunday afternoon sessions as a Racket member’s guest.

* Where there are more attendees than space available (i.e. more than 4 players per available Pickleball court), club members and paying guests will be prioritised for play although a member can choose to sit out instead of their free guest.  For anything more than casual occasional play, purchase of a minimum of Social membership is advised.  For an agreed free trial session a non-member will be treated on an equal basis with club members (i.e. will be prioritised for play rather than sit out) therefore free trial offers may be limited by number/date according to capacity to accommodate.

There is a members only Pickleball WhatsApp group which can be joined via the invite link in Useful Links on our App/members website – this is used to coordinate Sunday attendance and can also be used to arrange social play at other times.