2026 English OPEN - Frequently Asked Questions

The English OPEN has a new home - we will be taking over 3 halls at NEC Birmingham

Pickleball has arrived at NEC Birmingham!

Why the NEC?

With great air, rail and road links, the NEC Birmingham is really accessible from within the UK but also overseas.

The NEC has its own campus with hotels, restaurants, lake, walking trails and much more.  

We will have 60 courts in 2026 and our contract allows us to grow in future years.

The NEC has a great ‘Getting to the NEC’ page which provides information on road, rail, air, taxis, bike hire and much more.  Here is a quick link to that page.

We encourage players to come by rail if they can because the price of parking is £18.50 per day.  This can be reduced by £5 to £13.50 per day by booking on line in advance.  The link to book in advance for parking is here.

We will have an allocation of parking spaces for volunteers.

 

Easy Hotel Booking Service

NEC partners BCD have a centralised booking system set up for the English OPEN with hotel room rates for all budgets.  You can select your search criteria to closest the venue, or lowest rate to highest rate, Trip Advisor rating as well as other options.  

Take a look and see for yourself by clicking on this link.

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 still the Official Ball of the English OPEN.  Player feedback is that they love the ball and so do we!

For your Convenience

We are happy to confirm that we will have a sports therapy service at the English OPEN. Michael and team will be joining us at the NEC in Birmingham.  They will be located in a room that will be signposted at the event and shown on the official programme.

We also have a dedicated First Aid service with two medics located next down to Sports Therapy.  If you need to raise the alarm, let one of our team know 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 23:55 on 24th July, 2026.

Q Do I have to be registered on PbE PickleBook?

We need to validate your email on PbE PickleBook.  If you are already registered on PickleBook, you will not have to enter the information we already have within PickleBook which will simplify registration.

If you are not currently on PickleBook, you need to validate your email and link your DUPR account to PickleBook.  You can do this step prior to registration for the English OPEN or you can do it when you register for the tournament, it will just make your first registration on PickleBook a slightly longer process the first time. Once you have done this, you will not have to do this step again.

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 2026englishopen@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?

  • There are two ways to add a partner. 1) if you know the email address your partner uses for DUPR/English OPEN, you can secure a place for them and they will have 36 hours to accept the partnership and register for the English OPEN.  2) register and process payment for your own entry first.
    Once you have successfully registered and paid, you will receive a confirmation email* with a direct link to your booking.  You will also have a link from the Home tab on PbE PickleBook. When you go back into your booking at the event level you will see that it states No Partner and a Search link. If you click on Search you will see the names of others entered into the event without a partner.  Beside the name you will see the player’s DUPR rating and self assessed rating. You can either reach out to message them clicking on contact or you can click on invite, to send an invitation to them. If the recipient accepts your invitation your booking will be automatically updated.  The recipient could obviously reject the invitation and if this is the case you will receive an email.  You could also receive a rejection if it turns out that the recipient is not eligible for the event (e.g. too old or too young or not the right rating).  If this is the case you are able to start the process again.
    (*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.
  • 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 button “My Booking” 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)
    • Add/Remove a partner 
    • For all changes ensure you Proceed to Payment and then Continue to Payment.  When payment has been processed you will have either have processed payment for additional events/items or processed a refund for cancelled events.

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.  Names of the officers that will be at the venue will be added in advance of the tournament.
  • If the behaviour relates to behaviour, please report to our Head referee who will be names in the tournament programme.
  • 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 a composite wooden base painted with Proflex acrylic surface.  The court solution was tested and approved by James Chaudry & Thaddea Lock following a ball bounce test on the solution at the venue.

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.
  • Pickleball England hopes to have paddle testing capabilities at the tournament again this year.  There will be sign posting to the paddle testing office.
  • 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 and EPF Certified referees coming along to our tournament and they will also be checking paddle compliance.

Q Will games be refereed?

  • We will be a minimum of 30 referees plus a Head Ref for the OPEN division and a Head Ref for the amateur events.
  • Kelly Dawson is our Head Referee Co-ordinator and she will be supported by a couple of other Co-ordinators.
  • We will prioritise knockout and medal matches if we don’t have sufficient referees to cover all matches.
  • 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.

Q The NEC is vast, how will we know how to find the event when we get there?

We will make sure that every player has a map showing them where to access the tournament if coming by rail, road or air.  Once you are inside the NEC, there will be signposting for the Halls we are occupying. 

Q Are there special rates for players at hotels near the NEC?

There is an English OPEN special hotel website where they offer the best available rates for hotels on campus and at the nearby airport (90 seconds by train from airport to NEC) and in surrounding area.  They have rates for all budgets.

Q Can I park my camper van at the NEC?  

You can park at the NEC during the day but they do not allow overnight parking of camper vans.  We will update this page when we have the details of nearest overnight sites.

 

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 or your DUPR is over 4.0 then you will not be able to enter a 3.5 rated event.
  • 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 “Your Booking” – you can withdraw using that link and process a refund. You can also access your booking from the home page of PickleBook.
  • 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.

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 log into PickleBook initially to see if you can see your booking on the Home page. If you don’t see it there either, please email us on 2026englishopen@pickleballengland.org and we will take a look.

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?

  • You can log into PickleBook and make those changes yourself.
  • If you can’t update something please let us know, it may be that you are trying to change something that is constrained by something else.  E.g if you are trying to change your self assessed rating and it is much lower than your actual DUPR rating.

Q I am coming to NEC by train. What time will the tournament start/ finish each day?

  • The tournament organisers are planning for the tournament to start by 8:00am 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 60 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.
  • You can look for another partner and update your registration up to the closing date for registration.
  • 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 What is the format of the games?

All games will be traditional scoring (on serve) to 11 or 15 win by 1 or 2 as stated on the score sheet.  Further details will be provided in the event programme.

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 31.12.2026. 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.

Q I am 54 at the time of the event but can’t get time off work to enter during the week.  Can I play in the 35+ event?

Yes, we will accept registrations from players up to 59 years old in the 35+ event.  We hope that most 50+ players will try to enter their own event but we recognise that some people will not be able to make it to the NEC during the week.

Q I am 54 at the time of the event Can I play in the 35+ event and the 50+ event?  

Initially you can play in just one or the other.  If we have spaces left nearer tournament registration closing date, we may relax that rule, especially if we are short of women for the mixed doubles event.

Quick Tip

For easy access to PbE PickleBook, add the icon below to your phone’s Home Screen.  Easy to follow instructions for Android and iPhone.

When you have added the icon to your phone you will have easy access to your upcoming bookings.  We also intend to add a quick link to your playing schedule once the scheduling has been completed.