By Mohamed Hamza in Bolton
Faye Plummer has gone from trying a new sport after a night out to the 2024 Skechers English National Championships.
The Epsom native was invited to have a go at one of England’s growing sports, pickleball, by a friend eight years ago.
It was love at first hit and that chance encounter has led her to compete in the women’s and mixed doubles at the national championships in Bolton.
“Eight years ago, one of my best friends had put a post on Facebook saying they were going to go and play a stupidly-named sport called ‘pickleball’,” she said.
“And I had been out to a football match the evening before to a football match and had had one too many lemonades, let’s put it that way!
“So I got up in the morning, liked the post and straight away she rung me up.
“My nickname is Chucky, she said Chuck, ‘You have got five minutes, I’ll pick you up’.
“She came to pick me up, I had flip flops on, I looked like a child that didn’t want to go out and compete in anything.
“But, I picked up the paddle, hit the ball and that was it. It was addiction from that point onwards.”
Pickleball gets its name from its American founders, with the family game created in 1865 named after their pet dog Pickle.
The game has surged in popularity in recent years, with over 30,000 people now playing it in England.
It is a racket sport which sees players compete using paddles and a perforated plastic ball and can be played both indoors and outdoors by all ages and abilities.
The inclusive nature of the sport has seen a record 1,111 players descend on Bolton Arena for the 2024 Skechers English Nationals for four days of high-level competition.
The 45-year-old added: “It is the most important thing ever. The inclusivity is phenomenal, you come along to somewhere like this and you’ve got eight-year-olds playing, all the way up to someone who is 84.
“We’ve got the wheelchair events too. It is a sport that is accessible to anyone.
“The fact we can play on badminton courts makes it a lot cheaper to hire out than a tennis court.
“You need four paddles, a ball and a net and you are good to go. So a sport like this is so important.
Pickleball England has announced a record number of over 1,000 players competing at the 2024 Skechers English Nationals. The tournament takes place from the 31st October – 3rd November at Bolton Arena and is the second largest national pickleball event. For more information, visit www.pickleballengland.org
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