Pickleball at All Saints School - What a SMASHING Day!
Today, eight children from Southill were swept up by a minibus and transported over to All Saints School for an action-packed day of Pickleball!
Pickleball has become incredibly popular over the past few years and the children were excited to get to grips with this fast-paced racket sport. For nearly all of our Southill squad, this was their very first experience of Pickleball, so paddles at the ready!
The day began with the brilliant sports leaders from All Saints putting the three schools in attendance through their paces. The children took part in a variety of skills and drills focusing on serving, rallies and positioning on the court. It wasn't long before balls were whizzing over nets and rallies were getting longer and longer!
After plenty of practice, the children refuelled their engines with lunch before heading back onto court for a friendly afternoon tournament. The children were split into pairs and pitted their newly acquired skills against not only their Southill teammates but pairs from the other schools too.
The competition was fierce and the quality of Pickleball just kept getting better and better. Some matches were absolute nail-biters. In fact, by the end of the afternoon, I didn't have any nails left!
Once the final points had been counted, recounted and presumably checked by VAR, Wyke Regis were crowned champions in both the boys' and girls' competitions. Southill certainly gave them a run for their money though, with our two highest-placed teams both securing a fantastic 3rd place!
Considering nearly all of our children had never picked up a Pickleball paddle before today, competing at such a high level was a brilliant achievement. They learned quickly, worked superbly with their partners and represented Southill with determination and enthusiasm throughout the day.
A huge thank you to Mrs Dewey and the fantastic All Saints sports leaders for organising such an enjoyable, energetic and action-packed day of Pickleball.
We arrived as Pickleball rookies. We left as Pickleball fanatics!
Pickleball Competition
