Discovering pickleball, one of the fastest growing sports in the world, has allowed Martin Herbert to become active again after recovering from a stroke suffered four years ago.

Herbert, 57, is a semi-retired IT professional who played badminton before his health scare and now plays at three different clubs around Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

He has just enjoyed playing in the English Open at the Telford International Centre alongside doubles partner Rex Ellis in what was the best-attended event in its history.

Herbert and Ellis eventually won two of their group-stage matches of the men’s 4.0 over-45s competition in Telford, where the openness in terms of ability and age range were on display during seven days of high-level competition.

Flitwick’s Herbert said: “My stroke affected my movement because it was in my cerebellum – initially it was diagnosed as vertigo, but after a few days when I still couldn’t walk properly and was on a Zimmer frame, they diagnosed it as I’d had a stroke.

“As part of my rehabilitation they said I need to get more exercise and do more activities.

“So, I went along to an over-50s club at the local leisure centre and someone there said: ‘have you ever tried pickleball’ and, like most people, I’d never heard of it before.

“I went along to a pickleball session about three years ago and I’ve been playing ever since.

“I come from a badminton background and the demands of that on the body means you play once and need four days’ rest, whereas I can play pickleball almost every day.”

The 2024 English Open was the largest pickleball event taking place outside of North America, with a record number of almost 2,000 players from 42 countries set to participate.

Over 30,000 people around the United Kingdom now play the sport and there are over 700 places in which to play, with pickleball displaying an exponential growth in recent years.

Pickleball England, meanwhile, have reported a 41 per cent increase in member registrations since the end of 2023.

Herbert said: “My brother is playing now, I play at Dunstable Hunters and I’m also a member at North Herts and recently I joined West Herts Wizards as well.

“The clubs cater for varying standards, so you can do a lot of recreational play and if you want to get a bit more competitive, you can do that as well.

“For me, coming here is the longest trip we’ve done so far – we did an event in Oxford two weeks ago as a warm-up, me and Rex got a bronze medal which was nice.

“It’s just phenomenal here, with the number of courts, and there’s been a real buzz.”

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