East Kilbride Pickleball Club has put America’s fastest-growing sport on the map winning a hat-trick of gold medals in the Scottish Open.
Despite the club being only two years old, it was well represented in the record-breaking 2024 Sketchers Pickleball Open competition held at the National Badminton Centre at Glasgow Club Scotstoun last week (October 3-6).
The competition attracted 380 competitors from 14 countries, with over 900 matches played. Celebrities attending the event included one of the sport’s biggest advocates, Judy Murray OBE, and top English pro player Louis Laville.
And East Kilbride took gold in not one but three events.
In the 50+ Mens Doubles L2.5/3.0 Donald Cameron and Steven Mitchell won 15-9 in the final.
For the Mens Doubles Open L2.5/3.0 Ryan Gormley and Gordon Littlejohn won a closely contested final 15-14.
And in the Mixed Doubles Open L2.5/3.0 Gordon Littlejohn and his daughter Matilda Littlejohn, who has been dubbed a “future star” by the club coach, won the final 15-5.
One of the fastest growing sports in the US and England with celebrity fans like Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney driving its global rise, pickleball is a paddle sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton, and table tennis.
It involves using a paddle and plastic ball with holes and is played on a badminton court with a lower net. It is a game that is appropriate for players of all ages and skill levels.
EK Pickleball Club Coach Mike Duncan said: “This was the first competition that the club had taken part in since its formation and a fun time was had by all.
“Better still the club achieved gold medals in three events and managed to get wheelchair user Thomas McCaffrey in to compete against the top pickleball wheelchair players in the UK.
“I’m particularly pleased about the last win. Pickleball was originally invented for whole families from kids to grandparents to play together so it was a dream come true for Gordon to play with his daughter and play in the final.”
Founded in 2022, EK Pickleball club started with just six players who had ambitions of growing the sport in South Lanarkshire.
Today the club boasts 130 members who play in the John Wrights Sports Centre and Alistair McCoist Complex in East Kilbride, in Strathaven Leisure Centre and Stonelaw High School in Rutherglen.
The club is open to all and aims to be as inclusive as possible.
Members recently held a raffle and raised over £2000 to fund a sports wheelchair for the not so able bodies amongst its members.
Increasing their number of wheelchair participants is something the club feels very strongly about with the East Kilbride Pickleball Community hosting hybrid doubles sessions to encourage wheelchair users to take up the sport.
This allowed the EK pickleball community a chance to try some doubles matches with one standing player and one wheelchair player in each team.
The hybrid wheelchair session came about following a chance encounter between EK club coach Mike Duncan and the Scottish Masters Champion Terry Smith in Tenerife last year.
The pair have since worked together to promote wheelchair pickleball by holding sessions at the spinal rehabilitation unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and have supported various disability groups.
Mike added: “We get new people virtually every week coming along and asking to try the sport. We’ve kind of taken over in South Lanarkshire and now want to try and introduce it into the schools. I never thought it would be this popular this quickly, it’s just taken off.
“People who think their sporting days might be over – we’re teaching them how to play pickleball and putting a smile on their face. It’s good for them and for us to see them enjoying themselves. If you come along and have fun that’s me done my job.”
Pickleball participation in Scotland has surged by more than 10,000 per cent since 2018, growing from 50 players to over 5,200, reaching schools, retirement communities, wheelchair users, and even prisons.
Anne Smillie, British sport’s longest serving CEO, predicts pickleball will overtake tennis as Scotland’s most popular racket sport by 2030, with the right funding and support.
Speaking at the Scottish Open, Judy Murray believes pickleball can help Scotland be more active, calling it a “perfect fit” for the country’s indoor spaces and unpredictable weather.
Scottish tennis coach and Andy Murray’s mum, Judy, first played pickleball in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, while at a tennis conference in 2019.
Since seeing the courts full of picklers and trying it for herself, she’s become one of the sport’s biggest advocates, helping to raise its profile in Scotland and beyond. A pickleball court has been installed at Cromlix, the hotel owned by Kim and Andy Murray.
She said: “It’s just fun and engaging, and it’s incredibly inclusive. And for Scotland, it’s a perfect fit for us. We have terrible weather, we have badminton courts everywhere — in every community centre and sports centre. Even church halls have badminton courts. So, in terms of setting up quickly, wherever you are, I think it’s a perfect fit for getting more people more active, more often in Scotland.
“It’s a perfect transfer out of tennis into something that will keep me in a similar game, but at the other end of the scale, I could also see how it’s a great introduction to any kind of racket sport because it’s so doable.”
Anyone interested in playing should get in touch by email at [email protected]
*Don’t miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
And did you know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook? Head on over and give us a like and share!