Why Pickleball is the New Sport to Know
Move over padel, pickleball is the new sport to know, and Yorkshire's new pickleball court is where to go
Gill was a keen tennis player, and played abroad for years but was suffering with arthritis in her knees when she moved to York. ‘As you get older, things hurt a bit more and your ability changes, and the opportunities to play tennis are a bit different here – obviously the weather doesn’t help,’ she laughs. ‘So I was looking for something else to do and one day something popped up on my phone about pickleball.’
Some of Gill’s friends had already mentioned the sport to her. ‘I thought, well, I’m going to give it a go. From that moment onwards I was hooked, which is what happens. It’s a sport that is easy to start. It’s quite easy to get into it and instantly have fun. In tennis you need to have a certain skill level, same with squash or badminton, whereas with pickleball, it’s all inclusive. You can have a really good rally easily. To master it becomes harder, as with any sport, in terms of positioning and technique, strategy and tactics, but to have a really good game quite quickly is achievable, which is one of the main benefits of pickleball.’
'We’ve had players over 80 on the court and we’ve had seven-year-olds on the court too. It’s a very social sport and in terms of getting people active, it’s brilliant'
Before they knew it, Gill and her family were doing three sessions a week. ‘It’s very social. It’s a doubles-based game mostly (if you’re very good, you play singles). We played on badminton courts or any old court in a village hall, which obviously wasn’t actually a pickleball court,’ she says. ‘We all said “wouldn’t it be great to play on a proper pickleball court?” There are very few in the country that are bespoke pickleball courts. But we decided to look out for a building that would cope with pickleball. We went down to the English Open in Telford and managed to speak to some of the people there who run the sessions and sat next to some chaps who supplied the flooring to David Lloyd centres and the US Open for tennis, and they have the most magnificent surface applicable. We went to see one industrial unit that was available and it seemed absolutely perfect for pickleball – for five courts! The road seemed to open up in front of us. It was like destiny!’
Gill and her husband, Alan, met their fellow investors, Sally Bell-Syer, Malcolm Lightbody and Sue Jones, and The Pickleball Shed now hosts open play sessions, coaching programmes, tournaments and leagues on cushioned, acrylic courts. ‘As of just a few weeks ago, we were the only bespoke pickleball centre with these cushioned acrylic floors,’ Gill says. ‘People have come here from all over the country to have a look at the court surface and to play on it. It’s the floor that’s at competition level so it doesn’t hurt your joints so much so you can play for longer and the ball bounces true. You can see what’s in and what’s out because it’s only got a pickleball court layout. We have the recommended runoff behind the court and between the courts so you can play the game properly. You can get the short angles.’
Gill says fans of the sport are loving the facilities, as well as the café which encourages the social aspect of the game. ‘In the next phase, we hope to have a viewing area above that, but at the moment we’ve got rows of chairs at the back of the court so people can come along and see it,’ she says. ‘We’ve had absolutely fantastic feedback and support. We recently launched the North Yorkshire League, and we’ve had teams from Newcastle, Amber Valley, Sheffield, Bradford, Barnsley, from all over the north, come to play in this league which I think is testament to the fact that the courts are just fantastic.’
Pickleball England came up and ran a leadership course too and head coach, Rob Williams was seriously impressed. ‘The courts speak for themselves because they are just magnificent,’ says Gill. ‘To play on a proper pickleball court, on a proper pickleball surface, with lighting and heating, is such a rare opportunity. The whole of pickleball in the country has to suffer from a lack of facilities, from being combined with other sporting activities, so there are very few bespoke pickleball venues. Everybody loves it!’
Pickleball continues to grow in popularity globally. ‘Padel has seen a huge growth recently in terms of the number of facilities in the country. Padel is more like squash – it’s a bit more physical, it’s a bit harder to master and obviously the profile is younger. Pickleball is something that’s more inclusive, so it’s easier to take up,’ explains Gill.
‘The curve in the US in terms of the age profile, which obviously we’re following, is starting off with older players. It encourages people who have come from other sports, perhaps with injuries but still want to be competitive, to play if they want to remain active. As it is in the States, the popularity is increasing and the age of players is reducing, so we’re now seeing younger players get into it. We’ve had players over 80 on the court and we’ve had seven-year-olds on the court too. It’s a very social sport and in terms of getting people active, it’s brilliant. It encourages everyone to come and have fun. That’s why people love it.‘
Gill sees 2026 as a year of growth for The Pickleball Shed. ‘We’re trying to take pickleball out to schools to encourage children to become more active again, and we’re reaching out into the u3as to make sure that we have some older people who come and try a taster session too,’ says Gill. ‘We’re trying to harness all of that in providing a hub where people can come along. We’re looking to get pickleball out there, into the community and have more and more people come and try it.’
