Thomas Eyre is the newly-crowned junior singles champion and one half of the junior boys’ doubles champions at the UK Young Persons’ Championship – but his mum Wendy can hardly watch when he’s on court.
“As a parent spectator, I can confirm I am rubbish, my nerves are shot all the time when Thomas is playing and sometimes I can hardly look,” she tells Pickleball 52. She is there to cheer her son on, alongside her husband plus their daughter Jess. “My husband is a much better spectator than me, he ensures to take in everything that Thomas does whilst playing to provide Thomas with positive and constructive feedback after his matches; this is just what Thomas needs.”
Thomas, on the other hand, revelled in the entire weekend in Telford.
“I loved the event as I was able to play with people my own age and make new friends,” he says. “I found the matches quite tough but I was extremely happy to have come out with two gold medals!”
Thomas started playing pickleball 18 months ago, at Leigh Pickleball Club, where he now trains three times a week. Most of his pickleball and training takes place alongside adults, which Wendy says has helped him develop – but they would love to see him play alongside other youngsters in future.
“I often play with adults but I really would like to play with people my own age but there are not many opportunities to do this, other than the main competitions,” says Thomas. “I would love it if there were more junior clubs available in the north-west.”
Next stop for him will be the English Open next month, where he will be competing in the Junior 11-12 year old category. Beyond that, he has big ambitions.
“Firstly, I would love to continue to play pickleball for the rest of my life!” he enthuses. “I would love the opportunity to get a pickleball scholarship to become a pro. I love the idea of travelling the world to play pickleball and meeting new people. I would love to help promote pickleball across the world and I want to see the sport growing within the north-west and worldwide!”
Sounds like Thomas is a future pickleball Ambassador! 👏👏👏