2024 Skechers English Nationals - Frequently Asked Questions
Safeguarding Statement
PickleballEngland and everyone working on behalf of the organisation aims to protect children and young people and all its players from harm whilst enjoying pickleball.
We believe that children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind. We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people to keep them safe. If you have any concerns, please seek out one of our Safeguarding officers, listed right.
You can find our Safeguarding Policies and procedures at https://www.pickleballengland.org/policies/
Who To Report Concerns To
Safeguarding Lead Officer: Stuart Traylor
Safeguarding Officers: Elaine Brown and Amanda Adams
PbE Board Safeguarding Lead: Karen Mitchell
If you don’t know who they are, please ask for someone at the Welcome Desk to find one of them for you.
The Franklin X40 is the official ball of the English OPEN
The Franklin X40 is perfect on the acrylic courts at Bolton. Player feedback is that they love the ball on the surface – it plays so well.
If this is your first time with the ball or the surface, we suggest you get some practice play in beforehand at the venue. Courts will be available after 6pm on Wednesday and every evening.
For your Convenience
We are happy to confirm that we will have a sports therapy service at the English Nationals. Michael and team that did such a great job at the English OPEN will be in Bolton. You can find them located on the gantry on the first floor (as noted on the venue map in the programme).
We also have a dedicated First Aid service with two medics floating around the Arena. If you don’t see them ask at the Welcome Desk and we will get them to you. They have a defibrillator with them should the need arise.
Remember to keep hydrated.
If you feel like you need an energy hit, go see our friends from Knotty’s – their peanut butter sachet will give you that instant boost. Located next to Knotty’s is a supply of bananas.
Remember to do some stretches before playing and after play to avoid injuries
REGISTRATION RELATED
Q What is the registration deadline?
You need to register and process full payment by 23:59 on 8th October, 2024.
Q I have received a payment request, do I have to pay?
- If you wish to play in the tournament, you need to pay. If the request relates to an event added after initial registration, you may not be able to play the event if you don’t pay.
- If you entered but changed your mind, please email us (nationals@pickleballengland.org) to let us know and we will delete your details and you will receive no further payment requests.
Q How do I add a partner?
- You need to register and process payment for your own entry first.
Once you have successfully registered and paid, you will receive a confirmation email.
(If you do not receive a confirmation email – please check your spam folder). - If you have entered for either a Doubles or a Mixed Doubles event, you will find a link to the ‘Find a Doubles Partner Service’ at the bottom of your confirmation email.
- Click on the link and follow the instructions on the page.
- You will see a list of all other players who has registered and paid and do not yet have a confirmed partner. Players with Partner Agreed by their name have already got a partner, just waiting for the partner to enter. Please don’t send a partner request to these players unless you are the partner they are waiting for!
- You can send a partner request or contact request email to anyone on the list
- If they accept your partner request, both your registrations will be automatically updated.
- Players wishing to partner with players with a different age or rating should note that the system will automatically put them into the event with lowest age and/or highest rating.
Q How do I change my registration after I have registered?
- Once you have successfully registered and paid, you will receive a confirmation email.
(If you do not receive a confirmation email – please check your spam folder) - At the bottom of the email you will see a link which enables you to:
- Add / Change / Delete Events
- Process any additional Payment Due
- Process a Refund (subject to the Refund Policy in the Ts and Cs of the event)
- Remove a partner (delete event; email automatically sent to partner when you click ok to remove partner; then add event back.
- For all changes ensure you press verify and update.
Q I have registered for the Open tournament playing +50 ladies doubles in the 4.0. I have been asked to play with someone in the +35 mixed doubles but at 3.5 rating. Unfortunately, it is not letting me register, please could you advise me how to do this?
- If you have entered your skill rating as 4.0 then you will not be able to enter a 3.5 rated event.
- If you are in fact 3.5 rating entering a 4.0 event, you will need to email us to change your skill rating to 3.5. You can play up in rating but not down.
- Please note that if you have a DUPR that is 4.0 or higher, we will not change your self assessed rating down.
Q I may need to withdraw from the tournament – how do I do this / Will I get a refund?
- When you registered you should have received a registration confirmation email.
- At the bottom of the email there is a link to edit your registration – you can withdraw using that link and process a refund.
- Please note that per our T&C’s, all fees are refundable up until the registration close date except the registration fee itself which is non-refundable.
Q I have entered an event and now want to enter the mixed doubles but I can’t seem to take the registration fee off so keeps coming out at £55.00.
- It sounds like you are going back to register using a new registration form, so the system thinks you are a new player.
- When you first registered, you received a confirmation email with a link at the bottom which takes you to your registration so that you can edit your original registration.
Q1 Can I enter more than one event in the same day?
Unfortunately not, as the events are on the same day, scheduling of matches would be too difficult when we are anticipating up to 2000 registrations.
Q1 I have registered but I have not received a confirmation email?
If you don’t receive an email that you are expecting from the registration system, PLEASE check your junk/spam folder as this seems to happen occasionally. If you still don’t find it, please contact us. It could be that you made a typo with your email address.
Q I have a DUPR profile but can’t find my Id to put onto my registration form.
If you sign into DUPR, go to edit profile and your DUPR id will show there.
Q I don’t have a DUPR id or can’t find my DUPR id, can I add it later?
- Yes, you can go back into your registration by using the first link on the confirmation email and add the id.
- Remember to Update at the bottom of the form and then click on Register-Pay to submit the change. No Payment will be required, it is just the name of the button.
Q I have completed my Registration, but there has been a typo/predictive text error with my first name, last name, email address. Can you correct it for me please?
- For first name, last name and email address, please send the details of the error and we will make the change at the back-end.
- You can go back into your registration to edit club name, t-shirt size, mobile phone number and DUPR id, just use the link at the bottom of your confirmation to edit your registration.
Q I am coming to Bolton by train. What time will the tournament start/ finish each day?
- The tournament organisers are planning for the tournament to start by 9:00am each day and ideally be finished by 6.30pm.
- The actual finish time will be dependent on the number of players registered for the events and how long it will take to play all the matches on 24 courts. Until we have closed registration, we cannot be more precise.
Q What happens if someone drops out before the tournament?
- If someone withdraws by removing themselves from an event before the registration closing date and processes a refund, the existing partner will be removed from the player and will be notified by email that their former partner has withdrawn.
- At the bottom of the email there will be a link to the Find a Partner service so that they can find a partner.
- If after closing date, the Tournament Director will match up players without partners.
Q How many games will I play per event?
The number of games you will play depends on how many teams are in your event and how well you do in the knock-out stages. There will be a minimum of 4 games, but the average is more like 5.5.
Q I am 49 at the time of the event but will be 50 one month later. Can I play in the 50+ event?
Please note that age is calculated as age at 31.12.2024. This means for example that if you are 49 at the time of the tournament but 50 at the end of the year, you can enter the 50+ event.
TOURNAMENT RELATED
Q What do I do if I see behaviour that is not in line with the Tournament Etiquette in the programme?
- If you see a safeguarding risk or concern, please seek out one of our Safeguarding Officers. Stuart Traylor is the Lead Officer, supported by Elaine Brown and Amanda Adams. If you don’t know any of them, seek out Karen Mitchell (Board member responsible for Safeguarding) who will be at the venue for the whole of the tournament.
- If the behaviour relates to behaviour, please report to one of the Tournament Committee (Karen, Frank, Chris, Trevor, Louise or Salli) or Christina Vo our Head referee.
- If it relates to disagreement on court, we suggest that you ask one of our volunteers to find a referee for you. Don’t continue playing if there is a disagreement.
Q What is the playing surface?
The surface is an acrylic tennis court and is perfect for our tournament ball.
Q What is the ball being used for the tournament?
We are proud to have the Franklin X40 as our official ball of the tournament since 2022.
Q Are there any paddle restrictions at the tournament?
- As long as your paddle is on the current USAP approved paddle list you can play with it.
- The recent Joola Gen3 delist means that this paddle cannot be used during our tournament.
- Pickleball England does not have any paddle testing capabilities which is why we adopt the USAP list.
- Should your paddle not be on the approved paddle listing there will be plenty of opportunities to try and purchase paddles at the tournament.
- We have USAP Certified referees coming along to our tournament and they will be checking paddle compliance.
Q Will games be refereed?
- Christina Vo is bringing along some referees will be supervising a team of referees and trainee referees.
- In the group stages we encourage teams within a group to watch for lines when they are not playing and the same favour will be returned.
- If there is no-one watching lines, then remember the rule, the team on the side where the ball landed has the decision of whether a ball is in or out. We encourage everyone to be generous with their line calls and if there is doubt, to call the ball in.
Q How do I know when my games are scheduled for?
- All players will receive their personal game schedule for the group stages of the tournament.
- All players can look up the schedule for the event they are entered in via Pickleball England’s Tournament System (PETS).
- At the event, we will have the scrolling screens showing which games are playing and which games are next for each court.