Pickleball comes to Burnholme Sports Centre
GLL, the charitable social enterprise that operates Better leisure centres across the UK, has recently entered a new partnership with Pickleball England which will see Pickleball introduced at Burnholme Sports Centre.
Fast becoming one of the most popular racket sports in the world, pickleball brings together some of the best elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis and is a fun, exciting game for people of all ages and abilities. It is played on a court the same size as a badminton court, using a shorter tennis-style net. Players use paddles to hit a plastic ball between one another across a net.
Loved by celebrities from Leonardo DiCaprio to Bill Gates and Kim Kardashian, pickleball is America’s fastest growing sport* 2023 with 36.5M Americans having played Pickleball during the past year **that’s 14% of the population. The fastest growing age bracket for participants is the 18yrs – 24yrs group.
Commenting on the new partnership, Andrew Clark, Head of Sport at GLL said: “Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Its popularity stems from the fact it is easy to master, fun and sociable to play and suited to all ages and levels of fitness. We’re delighted to be working with Pickleball England to bring this fantastic game to more people across the country and expect to see its popularity grow rapidly within the UK as it has done in other countries.”
Karen Mitchell, Chair & Co-founding Director of pickleball England added: ‘We’re thrilled to announce our new partnership with GLL. Pickleball is a fun, accessible sport for any age and ability and the rapid growth we’ve seen in our sport to date is testament to that. GLL is the perfect partner to further increase pickleball participation across the UK, and we want to encourage as many people as possible to get involved with the sport by coming along to one of the upcoming sessions at their local Better leisure centre.’
For further information about the racquet sports on offer at Burnholme Sports Centre or to book a court please visit: https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/york/burnholme/racquets