Hope you are all well and we are looking forward to seeing many of you during the 2026 Open, in Meadowbank, at the end of next month. A huge thanks to Louise Harrison for all her very hard voluntary work as Tournament Director. A big thanks to all of you who have volunteered to help over the five days. We are excited to have some new retailers. Our equipment partner HEAD will be there with a stand as will PSO Travel and Pickleball Escapes. Even if you are not playing, please come along, as there is plenty of room for spectators. Hope to see you there!
Best wishes,
Mhairi Adam
Chair
Funding
Pickleball Scotland are working hard for investment and applying for grant monies towards the development of the game in Scotland.
If your Club or Organisation is interested in applying for funding, take a look at the Funding Scotland website which is regularly updated with details of organisations to whom you may be eligible to apply.
If you’re new to grant applications, it would be worth checking out the SCVO funding pages which provide advice on finding and applying for grants.
Scotland Squad
This year we’re aiming to get a Scotland squad together and are looking for support around the Team Manager and Selector roles. If interested, please email secretary@pickleballscotland.org to discuss further.
*NEW* We are excited to announce that a shop selling a range of Head equipment will be opening soon on our website - keep a look out on our social media for further announcements.
*REMINDER* if you haven’t already done so, please log onto the new Pickleball Scotland website and update your details. You’ll need to create a new password when you first log in. Any issues or questions email membership@pickleballscotland.org
Qeltic Games
We are pleased to be working in partnership with LEAP Sports on the upcoming Qeltic Games, an LGBTQI+ multi sport event which will be held in Glasgow on 2-3 May 2026.
The pickleball event features a two hour festival followed by a competition on 2 May. You can apply for one or both of these events. See the website for more details.
European Open
Registration for the inaugural European Open Pickleball Tournament is open.
The event takes place 3-8 November 2026 at Ali Bey Club, Manavgat, Antalya Region, Türkiye.
Age UK ‘Act Now, Age Better’ campaign
Following the success of our involvement with Age Scotland's Health and Wellbeing programme, we are excited to be an official partner for the national Age UK 'Act Now, Age Better' campaign which runs from now until September.
This month we’re focusing on the positive benefits for our volunteer workforce, including our Ambassadors and Coaches, who access our Education Pathways as part of their involvement with pickleball.
For anyone in their mid-life, regular physical activity is a powerful health and wellbeing tool. When combined with mid-life learning, there are obvious benefits including a new sense of purpose, social engagement and increased opportunities for volunteering or career shifts.
The Pickleball Scotland approach to education and learning recognises that it is important to offer some mid-life members a transition point for continuous professional learning, upskilling and career advancement. Engaging with mid-life learning has many benefits, including economic and health-related factors.
Our education pathways starts with the Ambassador programme which blends self-directed e-learning, interactive classroom discussion with a community of peers, practical on-court workshop tasks and structured reflective thinking.
There are several further levels of learning and development for those who join the Club Coach programme, as well as short CPD courses available for all workforce. These cover topics such as safeguarding, inclusive practice, wellbeing, first aid and junior coaching. For more information see Education Pathways.
See below for more on the ‘Age Now, Age Better’ campaign:
World Pickleball Magazine
The April issue of World Pickleball Magazine, available as a free download, captures the moment the global game stops expanding quietly and starts defining what it will become, focusing on pressure - between tours, between regions and between structure and freedom.
Top Tips for improving your pickleball skills and playing experience
Over the coming months we will feature 12 top tips written by Nanette Mutrie, our coach and education lead and Mhairi Adam, our Chair, to help people not only improve their game but also improve their playing experience. Nanette is a British Psychological Society Chartered sport and exercise psychologist.
Our first tip is to apply the pickleball Scotland values when you play and endorse them in your club
We created these values to help the sport develop in ways that were inclusive and make enjoyment a key part of the experience.
The first is be safe - this means warming up to prevent injury, check you have the correct indoor footwear (especially if you are playing on an indoor tennis surface) and if you are in charge of a session or club know where the first aid is located.
The second is have fun – this means ensuring sessions are full of laughter and conducted in a lighthearted atmosphere.
The third is be generous – this means calling the ball in when in doubt, appreciating opponent’s good shots and tapping paddles to thank each other for the game.
The fourth is game on – this means learning by playing the game, perhaps getting feedback from a coach or knowledgeable player, or by using restricted or conditioned games to focus on particular parts of the game.
The fifth is ‘efforts are successes’ – this means that we should each focus on our progress in the game rather than whether or not we have won a game. Psychologists call this ‘task motivation’ while only focusing on winning is called ‘ego motivation’. Ego motivation is associated with winning at all costs, cheating and drop out over time. So we encourage playing with improvement as the top motivation rather than winning as the top motivation.
