Baypoint Aces are the first ever English Pickleball League champions, winning gold at the John Charles Centre in Leeds on Saturday 12th July.
Southampton Sharks took silver, while Pickleball Central picked up bronze.
The Aces squad – Doug Neve, Laura Yeomans, Heidi Pile, Kirsty Robertson and Scott Tift – triumphed in a field of 16 club teams who had made it through regional qualifications to compete in Yorkshire for the inaugural crown.
“It was a bit of a shock!” admits Scott. “We knew we were all right, but when you look at some of those teams and their players, who are in the PPL Challenger series, you think, ‘Wow, let’s just see what we can do!'”
He points to the Aces’ consistent pairings over the course of the competition and their team spirit as key to their triumph.
“Lots of teams had very good individual players, but we had established pairings that play week in, week out together, and do major tournaments together, and I think that really worked. We are a close-knit group. It showed.”
It was also helpful that they went in without big expectations or pressure; he describes the team vibe the day before as “Let’s play our pickleball and see what happens.”
That’s not to say there weren’t nerves.
“The nerves increased as we went through the day, looking at how our results were going and where we were heading, and the semi-final [against AFPC Scorpions] was nervy, we started slower than we normally do because we were like, ‘OK, this is top four in the country we’re playing for’, but the final, everything just clicked.”
With the English Open coming up and requiring plenty of prep, there’s no immediate party planned for the new champions – the celebrations are on ice until the end of August, when the club chair will be hosting a well-deserved barbecue.
“It was a brilliant day – we’re very proud of everybody,” says Scott.
