By Harris Sports Centre Staff
At the end of last year, a group of visitors paid a visit to The Harris Sports Centre and introduced us to one of the world’s fastest growing sports: Pickleball. One of the group was ex-pat Harris lass Pippa Gardner, daughter of Irene Gardner, Scott Road.
She explained the sport was a combination of tennis and table tennis played on a badminton court. By coincidence another ex-pat lad Neily Martin, son of Rachel Martin Bunabhainneadar was back home, at the beginning of this year and contacted The Sports Centre with a proposition to introduce this activity here.
On Friday 12th January Neil came along with his daughter Eilish and ran a Pickleball session as part of an after school activity run by Steve Munro and The Sport and Health Team. Neilly, an ambassador for pickleball Scotland, explained “I started playing when I was on holiday in Los Angeles. It is the fastest growing sport in the world and is basically a combination of tennis, badminton and table tennis, played on a badminton court with a low net and paddles. 4 players and games up to 11.
“I came home to find no clubs in the Borders, so set up a club in Galashiels. Now there are 50 members playing 6 hours a week. Both Pippa and Neilly have offered to liaise with pickleball Scotland to support and grow the sport on the island if there is a demand.
The Harris Sports Centre hopes to promote this sport as part of the activities on offer at the centre over the next few months.
Comments