Pickleball pioneer Terry Smith forecasts a bright future for the sport after its inclusion in the 2027 Invictus Games was announced.

Annan man Smith, 61, was among the first wheelchair users to play pickleball in Scotland, having discovered the sport almost by accident just before the Covid-19 lockdown.

Smith featured in the wheelchair event at the 2024 Skechers English Open, with a record number of people taking to the courts in Telford, and believes the sport’s popularity will only continue to soar.

“I’d played wheelchair tennis for quite a long time and the club in Carlisle, which is only 16 miles away from me, had an open day where they wanted me to showcase wheelchair tennis,” said Smith.

“While I was there I saw this strange looking game being played so curiosity got the better of me and I met a guy called Richard Wise and I asked him what this sport was and he explained it was pickleball. I asked to join in and he said absolutely.

“The first question I asked was if I got two bounces like in tennis and Richard shrugged his shoulders because he’d never seen a wheelchair player before.

“Within 10 minutes of playing, I knew what a fantastic wheelchair sport I had discovered and I was totally hooked.”

Smith was speaking at the 2024 English OPEN, the largest pickleball event taking place outside of North America, with a record number of almost 2,000 players from 43 countries participating.

Although Smith still plays tennis, he says there are some advantages to pickleball which could accelerate its emergence in the UK in the years ahead.

“One of the things I realised straight away was how accessible it could be to a wider group of people,” said Smith.

“The reason I say that is because a tennis court is a wider, bigger area to get around and wheelchair basketball is very, very physical.

“So for people who have thought about getting into wheelchair sport and think it’s too intimidating, wheelchair pickleball, which is normally doubles, takes place in a vastly reduced area, so that makes it far more accessible.

“The other good thing is if you can play a hybrid game where a wheelchair player competes alongside a standard player.

“It’s great for inclusivity that everybody is welcome.”

A hybrid of tennis, badminton & table tennis, the sport’s popularity has been attributed to its accessibility.

Easy to pick up and fun to play, the sport’s accessibility transcends demographics, providing it with universal appeal and it has been announced that the sport will be on the programme at the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham.

“The inclusion in the Invictus Games is a really important thing because the next thing after that hopefully is the Paralympic Games,” added Smith.

“That’s what we really want and it would be a fantastic Paralympic sport.”

Pickleball England has announced a record number of players competing at this year’s English OPEN from the 8th-14th August at the Telford International Centre in the largest pickleball event taking place outside of the USA EVER – visit pickleballengland.org