Pickleball player hopes to open new venue for city

A pickleball player, who grew his hobby into a club attended by more than 500 people, hopes to develop a venue in Stoke-on-Trent which he says will be one of the UK's largest dedicated to the sport.

Rob Taylor said the site will be one of the UK's largest dedicated to the sport.

The director started his Pickleball People company through running play and coaching sessions at leisure centres in Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire and now plans to convert a warehouse and offices at Festival Park into a nine court site.

Pickleball is a mix of tennis, badminton and ping-pong and can be played by singles or in pairs, indoors or outdoors. Courts are smaller than tennis ones and the net is lower.

Taylor said he got into pickleball while playing tennis with his now business partner, Nicola, in Market Drayton, after she tried it on holiday and came back raving about the sport.

It eventually led to them forming a group of sixteen and hiring the sports centre at Keele University on a Saturday to play.

"It just sort of went from there, we grew it and grew it..we've got a club of more than 500 people and we run sessions everyday, except Friday, and it's just a joy," he said.

The new pickleball centre in Stoke-on-Trent is set to open in early 2027, and will have two full-time coaches.

The game was invented in 1965 by US Congressman Joel Pritchard and his friends Bill Bell and Barney McCallum during a summer family holiday in Washington.

The name is thought to have come from Joan Pritchard, wife of Joel, who said the mix of sports reminded her of a 'pickle boat' in rowing, where a crew is made up of different oarsmen.

"You traditionally might think of it as a game for older people, but that has changed dramatically in the last few years," said Taylor, describing the increasing number of young players competing in tournaments as "wonderful".

Having got involved in the pickleball business around five years ago, Taylor, who has a background in retail, said there was no grand plan other than taking opportunities.

He added that it was "quite frightening but also enormously exciting" to have now purchased and be developing their own venue.

Pickleball People currently run sessions at five venues across north Staffordshire, south Cheshire and north Shropshire, and all except the Market Drayton one will move to the new site.

There are also plans to stage the Premier Pickleball League finals in Stoke-on-Trent in March.

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.