Pickleball Scotland organised a fantastic Scottish Open tournament

We knew the Scottish team were professionals and had a lot of sporting event experience so our expectations were high.  They did not disappoint.  We arrived Wednesday night and checked into the official hotel.  We knew it was the official hotel because there were Pickleball Scotland and Scottish Open banners in reception.  Waiting in our room was a lovely box of handmade chocolates in a box with a Scottish Open wrapper.  Lovely chocolates, lovely touch!  We went down to dinner that evening and met some other early arrivals in the bar.  That is one of the nicest aspects of a tournament – the people.  A diverse group of individuals from different places and with different backgrounds, bound by a common love of the game.

Thursday was practice day.  In all honesty, sometimes our favourite day of a tournament.  Why?  Because you can get some excellent pick up games playing with people you might not ordinarily get a chance to play with.  My first match of the day was with Jon Moore – a professional player that is also co-owner of Pickleball Trips.  I want to give a special shout out to Jon, he is travelling around Europe this summer attending the Irish Open, the Scottish Open, the Bainbridge Cup & German Open and the English OPEN.  We all really support this support, especially when it is your first major tournament.  My favourite pick up game was a fantastic ladies doubles with Elaine Shallcross – a legend on the courts and for her tireless work promoting pickleball.

We played for too long on Thursday, rushing for a shower to get to dinner with some pickleball friends all staying at the same hotel.  I say too long because in hindsight, we have learned that my husband, Chris doesn’t sleep very well when he has played a lot of pickleball.  He played consistently for about 6 hours.   He doesn’t feel tired but clearly that amount of play does something to his body which makes it difficult to get to sleep.  If anyone has any suggestions on what to do to help him get to sleep, we would love to hear from you.  The reality is I won’t be able to persuade him to play less on practise day, so I am better off trying to find a solution to help him sleep.

Friday was men’s Singles Day and Ladies Doubles Day.  This is when I realised how organised the Scottish team were.  They had court organisers with timetables and players details and they managed those courts really effectively.  Everything ran like clockwork. The tournament committee were walking around interacting with players checking everyone was having a good time or answering questions.  The army of helpers all helped to make a fabulous atmosphere.  There was a viewing balcony that you could get a great view of the courts from.  (I wish there had been seating after standing for several hours but that is more venue related.)

The Men’s final between Louis Laville and Ed Hares was fabulous and had lots of twists and turns so you really didn’t know who was going to win.  There was a live stream of the match and Chris had his first attempt at commentating the match – thoroughly enjoying the experience.  The Ladies Doubles finals was also live streamed and equally thrilling.  If you missed the matches – you can view both matches by clicking on the video below.