Ruth Hall of Ashburton has returned from overseas with two silver medals, won during the Pickleball English Open Championship in England.
The accolades were no mean feat, as the 63-year-old has been playing for only two years.
Hall was first introduced to the concept of the sport during a phone call to her son living in Houston, Texas.
‘‘He rang me one day and said ‘Mum I’ve found a sport you would love’.’’
She was surprised to find pickleball was already in Ashburton, having started three years earlier. “I didn’t even know it existed.’’ She instantly took a liking to the sport. It challenged her, while using skills she had acquired in other sports. She had played B-grade squash, Gala Cup tennis, badminton and ping pong for fun. “I played all these ball sports, and this I absolutely adore, because if you have any skill you can use all your skills.” “What is there not to like about it?” Hall said.
“It’s got this funky plastic ball with about 36 holes. When you go into a hall and there’s pickleball you hear this sound,” she said, demonstrating the ‘clonk clonk’ sound as paddle hit ball.
Hall is a level 4.0 player on the DUPR rating. She won the medals in aged 60+ singles (4.0 DUPR rating) and mixed doubles events.
The DUPR rating is a worldwide rating. It starts from 3.0 and lower, and at 5.0 is close to professional level.
Open for players aged eight to 80 years, from novice to professional, the week-long English Open was held at the Telford International Centre, in Shropshire, England.
Inside a huge stadium with 40 courts, it was open to the first 2000 people and saw players from 42 nations competing. Ruth Hall played in three events in as many days at the Pickleball English Open. They were the singles, women’s doubles with former South African Wendy Randall of England, and then mixed doubles with Englishman Tim Gill.
‘‘I fell over on the concrete before my first doubles game, so the first aid patched up my knee, (it was a) silly thing to do,’’ she said.
‘‘On the second day for the mixed doubles, I felt awful and dizzy in the morning and had to vomit. Wasn’t sure if I was up to playing but didn’t want to let my partner down,’’ Hall said.
‘‘It wasn’t all straight forward but a very rewarding experience.
Hall was encouraged to enter by music teacher, and fellow pickleball enthusiast, Lyn Epps of England, who had visited Hall’s music farm At Violinos at Winchmore.
They bonded over music and pickleball. Epps not only helped Hall enter, but offered her a place to stay, and organised playing partners and practices. She also gave Hall a lovely gift, a T-shirt saying ‘‘Pickleball, wine, chocolate… repeat”.
“It’s amazing the people you meet,” Hall said. Hall had the choice of playing for her birth country of Switzerland, or her home country of today, New Zealand.
“I chose New Zealand because there were hardly any other entries from New Zealand.”
She said she got ‘‘absolutely thrashed’’ in the singles final. But it had been a learning opportunity against a much more experienced player, vying to win the best of three games, each to 11 points. She had lost 4-11 and 3-11.
“She was just a cut above us,” she said of winner Bee Kilgore, her 73-year-old competitor, now considered a good friend.
“She had such good control, she’s played for eight years, this is my second year. “Her rating was a 5.0 DUPR and it showed. She could place any ball on an angle.”
