Pickleball England holds a few major events in the year. The English Open being one of them! Having spent the last few days there from Thursday through to Sunday, I thought I’d write up a little mini review of the event, so when it comes to the nationals in October, we’ll have some Grid Pickleball representation there!
Where was the English Open?
The International Centre in Telford holds nearly 2000 participants across 40+ courts. There were people from 43 countries, across all the days and age brackets from 18+ up to 55+.
Pros often play on the impressive center court, which is also livestreamed throughout the day. You can go and sit there to watch whenever you like. Additionally, it has been upgraded with electronic displays along the side.
With walkways throughout, and a large shop area at the front, with stands for Skechers and Franklin, who were the main sponsors, as well as paddle brands like Gamma and Diadem and all-encompassing pickleball shops like Pickleball Complete.
Who was there?
There were a few famous professionals there, the famous British players being Louis Laville, James Chaudry, Thaddea Lock and Freddie Powell. Louis being the UK number 1 man and Thaddea being the UK number 1 woman.
There was also an impressive American contingent including Megan Fudge, Erik Lange, Ryler Deheart and William Sobek.
Finally, there was also the ‘next gen’ American players who are up and coming including Spencer Lanier, Riley Bohnert, and Jack Munro who is famous for playing with both hands and his social media presence.
What events are at the English Open?
There are many events at the English Open, here is a break down of each day.
What was on Thursday?
On the Thursday was social play and the battle of the paddles. Battle of the paddles is where you sign up with a paddle brand, play with their paddle for a day as their representative. Without naming names, I spent a lot of time at a few stands for the battle of the paddles. Unfortunately, they had absolutely no idea what they were doing. After some attempts to get involved, I ended up playing socially and meeting ‘tournament friends’. People who I’ve talked to at these events and never talk to again until the next tournament. Later in the day, some friends from the clubs I used to play at in Kent were up as well so I got around to playing with them.
What was on Friday?
On the Friday was the singles tournament. I personally entered the 4.0, winning 1 and losing 3. Frankly, I’m not surprised because I don’t train in singles at all. I basically play it only during the tournaments. Tennis players commonly do very well in singles, and I think I encountered a few of them. So, in the end, I didn’t get out the group stage. I also won’t take it to heart too much because Forbes has now found that pickleball singles is apparently the most energy consuming of racket sports that you can do.
What was on Saturday?
On the Saturday was the gender doubles tournament. Again playing 4.0, my new partner from Canterbury and I did well for people who’d only met for the first time 20 minutes before playing. We got ourselves through to the quarter finals, scalping some good players and a few players who were… interesting characters let’s say.
What was on Sunday?
On Sunday, mixed doubles were more difficult. We played well but sadly there were players in our 4.0 group that were 4.5 and even 5.0. Sadly, a common event leading to a hollow victory for them. We did manage to scrape one win though, but sadly against some good friends which was a tad awkward.
The big problem at the British Open.
Throughout the event, I’ll discuss a variety of stands and people. However, the first thing that needs to be addressed is the elephant in the room. The floors. While impressive looking on photo, the floors were a mess. Dead spots in nearly every court, trenches on the floor leading to whole dead strips or funny bounces amongst other things. Almost everyone was sitting around wondering if it was this bad last year, and the answer is… it was worse this year. There were courts that became famous for being absolutely full of them, namely court 4. On the mixed doubles day, the floor caused the shutdown of Court 29.
What are some interesting paddles I found?
However, some interesting paddles that I found:
Impact Paddles
A set of new paddles from a UK company, Pickleball Complete have been fantastically helpful to Grid Pickleball already and their new Impact paddles are fantastic. Don’t just take my word for it, I saw people playing with them in the tournaments in recreational play, but also they’ve already got so many orders in that there’s a waiting list! They’re fantastically priced, carbon faced with a great mix of control and speed through the air. Yet to come on the market, but coming very soon. Definitely worth a look, and I’m sure we’ll get some at Grid soon! Links coming soon…
Convert Paddles
From a ‘tournament friend’ who has also created a club. He has created a set of high-quality performance paddles called ‘Convert Paddles’. I tried out the Kevlar paddle and found it impressive due to the pop and control it offered. With talk of a few paddles coming our way to try soon, perhaps you’ll give them a go! Links coming soon…
Owl Paddles
From the US, this brand became a mini fascination for me over the days. If we’re being brutal, we saw it as a questionable paddle in the battle of the paddles, when the Americans were playing with them. After trialling them out… I’m sold!
In America, there is a problem developing. Obviously over there, the courts are outdoors, and often repurposed tennis courts. The houses around the courts were fine with the noise levels of tennis, but the bang of a pickleball paddle is too much. So, with so many courts being shut down due to noise, Owl Paddles are offering a solution, quietened paddles. And they’re seriously quieter! The control, power and spin they have to offer sold me on the paddle. You best believe I will be playing with one in the not-too-distant future.
(Side note, after bringing the best part of 5 or 6 people to the stall, and I think to possibly get rid of me, the Marketing Officer there was nice enough to give me his details and offered some merch for any charity events that we run! Which will hopefully be very soon.)
When’s the next event?
The next one which I hope we will get some good representation from Grid for is at Bolton, the English Nationals from the 31st October to the 3rd November. I know some have registered an interest with me in going, so let me know if you want to go! In the mean time, get training at our sessions on Wednesday Evening or Saturday Morning!
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