Cambridge Pickleball Club are closing in on their seventh anniversary – and before then they’ll be hosting another sensational fundraising tournament.
Throughout the club’s history, they have staged team tournaments – adapted from a badminton format that founder Denis Willing and Karyn Duggan played and organised, with random selection of doubles pairings throughout the day with timed games.
Initially they were looking to raise funds for the club and to buy equipment.
Now, they’re raising huge amounts of money for charities.
In the last 20 months Cambridge Pickleball has made donations totalling £3,400 to 24 different charities.
Their first donations were to Papworth Hospital and the British Heart Foundation in memory of a club member who collapsed and died on court.
“When I went to the funeral and spoke to his family, I said we were going to do a tournament in his name, and would they like to nominate a charity,” explains Karyn.
Since then, founder Denis has also passed away, and donations have been made in his honour too.
“We arranged to have a leaf put on the remembrance tree at Papworth, and we donate to that one every year and will continue to do so, just so that he’s remembered as our founder,” she says.
And from August 2023, gold medallists have been asked to nominate a charity they would like to benefit from their donation.
Karyn has even travelled much further afield, introducing pickleball to Nepal, and forging links with the Support Nepal UK Fund, paying for a child’s education in the Annapurna region.
Next up is a tournament in December – with three more tournaments already booked in for 2026, along with a Masters team tournament in July.
“Because I go abroad and play in different places, our reach is getting better, so we have two teams from Paris this time round – they came over last time. We also have a gentleman from Belgium, a lady from Spain, a Polish pair that came over just for the tournament, so it’s growing – from very small seeds when we just wanted to get some nets, it’s grown!”
