About the Club
Formed in 2022, and with over 100 members, the West Herts Wizards Pickleball Club is a great place to make new friends, discover the fun of pickleball and keep yourself fit.
A great club, great people and great fun
West Herts Wizards is a friendly and sociable pickleball club running sessions throughout the week at Berkhamsted Leisure Centre.
Formed in February 2022, the club has attracted over 100 members of all ages and all abilities. We welcome new members, both beginners and more experienced players. Whether you are new to the sport, or you want to play recreational pickleball or you are an experienced player wishing to compete in the Hertfordshire Pickleball League or regional and national tournaments, we can deliver what you need.
If you have never played before, we will ensure that one of our Pickleball Leaders is present at your first session to provide an introduction to the game.
In addition to our regular club sessions, we enter two teams in the newly formed Hertfordshire Pickleball League. In 2023, our A team topped the new league, and our B team came third. We also encourage our members to enter tournaments at a local, regional and national level. In August 2023, 17 club members competed at the 2023 English Open, held at the Telford International Centre bringing home a haul of 10 medals including 6 golds and 2 silvers.
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Not just pickleball!
Pickleball is a great way to make new friends and expand your social circle. We organise club meet ups at local cafes and at the pub where you can get to know your club members better. Why not join the club and join in the fun?
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We are now open to new members. from April 2024.
Non members are welcome to join in the Everyone Active sessions at Berkhamsted Leisure Centre, run by the Wizards.. A Wizards Pickleball Leader provides an introduction to the game for beginners at the Wednesday session 5pm-7pm.
Our team
West Herts Wizards is run by an enthusiastic team of volunteers who oversee the club’s activities and organise and supervise the club sessions.
Our Committee
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John Wilson, Chair
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Simon Beddall, Vice Chair
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Brian Harrison, Treasurer
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Lyn Epps, Secretary
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Julie Hoskins, Membership Secretary
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Glenn Beadle, Fixtures Secretary
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Helene Shields, Health + Safety / Policies
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Anne Smith, Social Secretary
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Andy Tallyn, Coaching
Our Pickleball Leaders
Our Pickleball Leaders have all completed the Pickleball Leaders Certification which provides the skills, knowledge and confidence to introduce the game to new players. One of our Leaders is present at every session to organise games and ensure that the session runs smoothly. Our Pickleball Leaders are:
John Wilson, Brian Harrison, Lyn Epps, Glenn Beadle, Keith Pollard, Helene Shields, Tony Bingham, Moira Batterby, Roy Eastwood, Steve Getraer.
Our Pickleball Coaches
Our Pickleball Coaches have completed the international coaching qualification IPTPA (Level 1) and can offer one to one and group coaching. Our Pickleball Our coaches are:
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Andy Tallyn
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Simon Beddall
In addition, also with IPTPA (Level 1) Darren Smith, Glenn Beadle, Stuart Foster, Lyn Epps and John Wilson.
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Our
Story
From small beginnings
Back in 2022, three founder members, John, Brian and Lyn started playing pickleball at Berkhamsted Leisure Centre, where there was an opportunity to set up a proper club, to expand and play competitively and there was support from Everyone Active. West Herts Wizards was registered as a club with Pickleball England on February 22nd, 2022. At the time, we only had about 10-15 players. We now have 150 members, 9 on the Committee, 15 club members with Pickleball Leaders Certification, 2 with former GB Level 1, and 8 have competed the IPTPA Level 1.
We began by running a one-hour evening session for Everyone Active on Wednesday nights and at the same time had our own club session on a Monday afternoon, starting off with two courts only, for two hours. The Wednesday night session fed players into the club session. We ran taster days every bank holiday and gradually the numbers grew.
From the tasters and word of mouth, numbers grew, so we increased the number of courts we used and began another session on Thursdays. We applied for a Dacorum Borough Council Grant and were successful in starting a year-long project in Sept 2022. The main objectives were to increase the numbers in the community who could access pickleball, start a Saturday session, go into schools, purchase equipment such as nets and paddles for the club, paddles to take into schools to use during sessions, but also to leave a starter pack with some schools. Basically, the objective was to improve health, fitness, well-being of members of the community and provide opportunities for people to meet socially. We’ve been doing all that, and more…
In order to have the club run efficiently, we have encouraged several members to do the Pickleball Leaders Course so they are confident about running sessions. We have 15 with the PLC. Sessions are very structured with a range of ways they are organised from planned scheduled games, the use of a board and names on magnetic tiles, to American doubles etc. We do a drill at the beginning of these sessions.
We are now running sessions every day of the week, except Sunday!