Henfield Leisure Centre has launched a Pickleball drop-in session on Wednesday evenings from 8-10pm. The first two taster sessions were a huge success with around 40 players each week and they plan to continue the sessions charging just charging just £5 per player. They’re also hoping to launch a daytime drop-in session soon too on Thursday mornings.
Pickleball is an indoor paddle sport which is a mix between tennis and table tennis. Players use special paddles and a wiffle ball to play on a badminton size court with a tennis-height net. It’s the easiest of all racket sports to learn and play and because the paddle and ball are so light, it can be played by young children right through to adults into their 80’s. Whilst it can be played as a singles game, it’s usually played as a doubles game. It’s played on an adapted badminton court and Henfield has the perfect surface for Pickleball.
Pickleball is one of the world’s fastest growing sports with statistics showing over 35 million players in the US alone. At the recent English Pickleball Open in Telford there were over a 1,000 players using 42 ‘pop-up’ courts. While Pickleball ball is fairly new to the UK, East Sussex has had a strong influence on the UK game, with many UK and even European champions hailing from the Eastbourne area.
Simon Thompson the manager at Henfield said: “It's fantastic to be able to bring a new exciting sport to the village, that all ages and abilities can come and try. We’ve been very lucky that local coach Wayne has been giving up his time to help us set-up Pickleball at the Leisure Centre. As well as running a couple of drop-in sessions a week, people can also book courts to play throughout the week and on weekends. You can borrow all the equipment from the centre, so why not come along and give it a go!”
Please contact the Henfield Leisure Centre if you want to find out more information about the sessions on 01273 494984.
Wayne Jones