Pickleball champ 'didn't think it was real sport'

A national pickleball champion said he did not know it was a "real sport" until he picked up a paddle.

Richard Love, 51, from Norwich, along with three other players from Norfolk took gold at the English National Singles Championships in Loughborough earlier this month.

Love, a former tennis coach, said he first got into the sport after hearing a "horrible noise" coming from a sports hall.

"Pickleball is mainly about the people. It is so much more social and I have met the best people through it," he said.

Pickleball is a sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis.

It is played on a badminton-sized court with a tennis-style net, which players use paddles to hit a lightweight, perforated plastic ball over.

Love grew up playing and coaching tennis before he began managing Dereham Leisure Centre.

"On my first day there, I heard a horrible noise coming from our sports hall and went to have a look and there was about 30 people in there, all hitting plastic balls around with a plastic paddle," he said.

He said ever since getting dragged on to the court, he been "absolutely hooked" on pickleball.

"It's a funny sport. I must admit, when I first saw it I didn't think it was a real sport," he said.

"Since then, I have given up my job - my proper, real-life job - to become a pickleball player and coach."

According to Pickleball England, about 45,000 people are currently playing the sport nationwide and with participation growing.

Love says the sport has "skyrocketed" in recent years, and this year's English Open in August will feature about 2,000 players.

"There's tens of thousands of people all over the country playing, and fairly soon, in September or October we'll see the first proper full-size pickleball venue opening just on the other side of London. When that happens, I think it will skyrocket again."

Also finding the sport addictive is 17-year-old Ellie Tomkinson who took gold in the English Nationals Women's Singles Open Championship weeks before her A-level exams.

She said: "I played tennis since I was about four... I stopped tennis a year ago to do this full-time and it is the most addicting thing I could have picked."

Other Norfolk winners were Anna Linton who took gold 50+ Women's Singles Open Championship and Kevin Jay, who took gold in the 50+ Men's Singles 4.0 Championship.

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