Location:

The tournament will take place in Southampton rather than Nottingham.  Returning to Nottingham was cost prohibitive – we would have had to increase the cost of registration and events to be able to return and we didn’t want to do that.  Instead, we have reached agreement to the exclusive hire of the non member Tennis Centre at David Lloyd, Frogmore Lane, Southampton.  We have 7 acrylic tennis courts that we will covert to 19 pickleball courts, including a Championship Court with seating for players/spectators to watch the top players compete. 

There is a players lounge with bar and cafe with a view of the Championship Court and there is a gantry to be able to view games from above all the courts.  We do have a maximum capacity to manage to on a daily basis.There is no hotel just across the road from the venue like in Nottingham and Bolton but there are plenty of hotels, b&b and camping options around.  You could save money by booking with Ultimate Travel Club – click here to find out more.

Registration:

We are managing registration via Pickleball Global (PG). PG provide free registration software to pickleball associations and tournament directors worldwide.  They also have a global ranking within the system.  As more tournament results are contained within the system, it gives everyone visibility into the ranking of players.  You can find out more about PG’s Ranking here and clicking on FAQ.

If you don’t have a Pickleball Profile already, you will be prompted to create one when you click to register for the tournament.  

The results of the 2021 English Nationals and the Texas Open English Style are already in the system, so you can claim your results once you have a profile.  

Capacity Planning

We are managing to a maximum capacity of around 350 with volunteers.  This means that we have to manage the numbers particularly at the weekend.  We think the fairest way of doing this is by having the younger age events at the weekend and the older age events during the week as the majority of the over 60’s will be retired.  Recognising that some over 60’s play with someone under 60, they can register for a weekend event if this is the case but not to play with someone over 60.  You cannot register for the events during the week and the weekend as that would mean that others might be denied the opportunity to register and we want to give as many people as possible the opportunity to play at the English OPEN.

Tournament Dinner

We did plan to have a tournament dinner on the Saturday night but the venue we were working with got a better offer and dropped us.  We couldn’t find a venue that would still trying deliver a quality evening without the price being too high.  We will share some suggestions for areas to go to so that players can car share to go out for the evening.