The 4th Annual Hertfordshire Pickleball Festival
This fun festival took place Saturday March 9th 2024. Registration sold out within hours with over 120 players. No medals, no pressure just fun fun fun!!
Hertfordshire Mixed Doubles Tournament – September 16
English Open medallists
19 players from BaD and Hoddesdon attended Telford International Centre for the 4th annual English Open 2023. Bringing home an astonishing 15 medals.
The exhibition venue was turned into 40 pickleball courts for a 4-day extravaganza! The lined courts were constructed like a jigsaw puzzle with each section of the court identified, laid like a carpet and cold welded together to form a lined pickleball court.
This year’s event attracted over 1,000 players, 100% up from last year. It was the largest pickleball tournament to be held outside North America. A great time was had by all, renewing old acquaintances and making new friends.
Throughout the 4-day competition different age groups ranged from 19 to 70+ playing at various skill levels. This is the second year Pickleball England put on a wheelchair event and for the first time we had a well-attended junior event. There were opportunities to ‘Play with the Pros’, attend ‘Clinics with the Pros’ and then indulge in pickleball retail therapy.
- Nick Pomery Gold
- Murray Allan Bronze
- Nigel Darcy – Silver
- Yvonne Stredder 70+ Gold
- Christine Neyndorff 70+ Silver
- Linda Shanley 70+ Bronze
- Ceri Why 65+ 3.5 Gold
- Amanda Smart and Pippa Bull 50+ 3.5 Bronze
- David Stoten 70+ 3.5 Gold
- David Horsey and Nick Antoniou 65+ 3.0 Bronze
- Nigel Darcy 60+ 3.0 Gold
Mixed Doubles:
- Mike Varney and Yvonne Stredder 70+ Silver
- Helen Hills: 3.5 50+ Gold
- Karyn Duggan: 3.5 60+ Gold
- Amanda Smart and Nick Pomery: 3.5 50+ Bronze
Showing girls how to play the game
On Wednesday, 22nd March 2023, Wodson Park Leisure Centre, Ware, hosted an event for the Hertfordshire School Games Programme under the banner of Sport England’s “This Girl Can” campaign.
Year 7 girls from six schools across the county visited for the day to participate in a number of sports they were unlikely to have encountered before. Volunteers from Braughing and District Pickleball Club provided instruction on the basic skills of pickleball and were very pleased to see the girls engaging in the sport.
The accessibility of pickleball enabled them to have some fun in a very short space of time. It was a lovely day and it is hoped that the girls and supervisors (some of whom took part and were very enthusiastic) will spread the word.
Christmas Fun Day
Members got together on December 10 to play some fun games with refreshments after to raise funds for two charities – Essex and Herts Air Ambulance and Helping Herts. There was a lot of festive spirit and laughter
Friendly v Norfolk
A fun and frantic match against a very strong team from the east! Bad put up a good fight but we were rather humbled by some excellent play from our visitors. Final score Bad 14 Norfolk 47.
Pickleball England English Nationals
13 players went to the English Nationals in Bolton. It was great fun and we managed to come back with quite a few medals. Whilst getting medals is not the main purpose, participating is, and it was good fun to be able to celebrate achievements from players who hadn’t played in such a tournament before.
Results
Amanda and Pippa got gold in the 50+, skill level 3.5
Pam got a silver medal (with Elaine) in the 50+, 4.0 skill level
Mike and Yvonne got gold in the 65+, 3.5 skill level
Kath and Christine got silver in the 65/70+, 3.0 skill level
Kath and Murray got silver in the 65+ , 3.0 skill level
Steph and David R got through to the quarter finals (50+, 3.0 level)
Nick got bronze in 60+65+ 3.5 singlesDavid R and David M got gold in 60+65+ 3.0 men’s doubles
Murray got through to 3.0 singles quarters.
David R and David Mills got gold in the 60/65+ 3.0 level
Below are some of the winners and their medals. Well done team members!
Cambridge Summer Tournament
The Cambridge Pickleball club International Summer Tournament 2022 came to Wodson park in August with over 135 players and helpers. Again, we had combined BaD and HTC players. Each team was made up 2x males and 2x females. We had a semi-final from both clubs competing for a gold medal final place. Team ‘The Paddle Beaters’ went through – congratulations to Paul, Nigel, Claire, and Trish, who won gold medals.
Open champions
Twelve club members descended on the English Pickleball Open, 2022, at David Lloyds in Southampton. There were 19 courts and 485 participants from 24 countries. HTC Hoddesdon and BaD came home with 9 medal winners. Congratulations to Mike, Ceri, Yvonne, Christine, Dee, Paul, Nick, David and Pam. You are officially winners !!
Party time
A belated but much enjoyed post-Christmas get-together for club members and their families. Delicious food, fun quiz, great company and entertainment from the Ware Ukulele band.
American tournament January 2022
Twenty-four pickleballers took over Wodson Park for another successful American tournament, followed by pizza and a quiz. The winners were, from left, Nick (men’s winner) Karen (women’s winner) Nigel and Clare (runners-up). Well done to all those who took part and especially to Pam and David for organising
Charity Fun Event December 2021
Members of the club got together on 11th December 2021 to enjoy some fun pickleball and skills games followed by a quiz and refreshments. Much fun was had by all and £360 was raised in aid of the Herts Disability Sports Foundation
Hertfordshire Mixed Doubles Tournament
We are very grateful for the many positive messages we have received regarding the tournament at Hatfield, and are glad that so many had an enjoyable day. Although the format was changed in response to lower than anticipated numbers it did seem to work and offered something a bit different.
Here is a list of the medal winners:
Division 1
Gold: Pamela Stoten & David Stoten
Silver: Wendy Marks & Andre Strachan
Bronze: Gillian Collinson & Stuart Stimson
Division 2
Gold: Emma Robins & Richard Basford
Silver: Sandra Ashcroft & Silvano Squizzato
Bronze: Yvonne Stredder & Gary Lovell
Division 3
Gold: Kathryn Burgess & Murray Allan
Silver: Carol Perry & Nigel English
Bronze: Linda Shandley & Miles Knapman
BaD/Hoddesdon inter-club friendly
Seventeen Runnymede Royals players descended on the Wodson Park Leisure Centre in Ware on Saturday August 15 for an inter-club friendly match against a combined team from Braughing and District (BaD) and Hoddesdon Tennis Club Pickleball Club (HTC).
The teams consisted of 4 men and 4 women in the A team and 4 men and 4 women in the B team. Sixteen rounds of timed games were played meaning 64 games in total were completed. One point was allocated to each team for a win and no points for a draw.
The event was masterminded by David and Pam Stoten, and team captains Nicky Pomery (BaD) and Alan Speller (RRPC) were on hand to motivate and lead their respective teams.
When the results were counted, the scoreline of 44 to 14 with 6 draws in BaD’s favour led Steve Harris, the captain of RRPC, to say: “It has been a fantastic day, but clearly we need to go back to the drawing board.”
He added: “It was a pleasure to come to Ware and we have been treated to incredible hospitality from the team here. Huge congratulations on your win! We look forward to getting some revenge when you come to visit us in Berkshire later this year”.
All in all, a very good time was had by everyone.
Sue Harris
2020 Herts Pickleball Festival
BaD organised the 2020 Herts Pickleball Festival on March 14 and faced a tricky decision whether to cancel or proceed in view of the developing coronavirus situation at the time. The event was a big success, enjoyed by all attendees and turned out to be the last big UK Pickleball event of 2020.
The American way
Club members gathered at the end of November 2019 for some friendly competition in an “American” Tournament. This consisted of 5 rounds of mixed doubles and 5 rounds of gender doubles.
The random nature of the format produced some “interesting” pairings and lots of exciting play, enjoyed by all participants. Although fun was the primary aim, trophies were presented to the players who amassed the most points across the rounds.
BaD players shine at the English Open
A team of 22 players from the club attended this fantastic event in Nottingham in 2019 – and came away with a clutch of medals, including golds!
The three-day event consisted of men’s and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
The winners included:
Nick Pomery Silver in the mens singles 50 to 60 age group
Diane Derrick and Pam Stoten Gold in the ladies doubles, 60 to 70 age group
Pam and David Stoten Gold in the mixed doubles, 60 to 65 age group
Christine Neyndorff and Ceri Why Bronze in the Ladies doubles, 60 to 70 age
John and Linda Shanley Gold in the mixed doubles, 65 to 70 age group
Christine Neyndorff and Rick Kirby Bronze in the mixed doubles, 65 to 70 age group
Tina Hughes Nickel medal for the highest scoring pair playing in the age group below (she played in the 19 –59 age group and is 59 !)
Mike Varney and Liz Batty Nickel medal for the highest scoring pair playing in a lower age group. (they played in the 65 – 70 age group instead of the 70 to 75 age group)
John Shanley Silver in the men’s doubles in the 65 to 70 age group
CONGRATULATIONS to all those who took part
Sport England grant
We are excited that Sport England have given us a grant award to develop pickleball in Hertfordshire. We are looking forward to implementing the award and believe we are the first successful pickleball related grant award from Sport England.