A Wandsworth entrepreneur is accelerating pickleball’s rapid emergence in the UK with the sport’s very own equivalent of ASOS.
Freddie Gratton, 26, and dad Jack, 62, took over the UK Pickleball Shop two-and-a-half years ago, the sport’s first online one stop shop.
The England Pickleball Association was only founded a year before Gratton started his marketing and management degree at the University of Newcastle but he is already a key cog in its development in the UK.
“We think of ourselves as the ASOS of pickleball almost, we sell all the brands and build those relationships, we don’t really sell our own brand stuff,” said Gratton.
“Our next-door neighbour spends a lot of time in America and he came back three years ago and said you have to play this sport so we started playing and once you start you never stop.
“On the retail side, we were looking to buy some equipment and there was only one provider at the time and so we got chatting with them, they were looking to sell and about two-and-a-half years ago and the rest is history.”
A hybrid of tennis and table tennis, the pickleball craze which took off in the US is quickly sweeping across the globe, with nearly 2,000 players from 43 different countries taking part in the Skechers Pickleball English Open in Telford – the largest pickleball event taking place outside of North America.
Gratton worked at Sainsbury’s as a marketing associate prior to taking on the role of managing director in his early 20s but was not fazed by the prospect of picking up a small business.
“I’ve always been entrepreneurial, always loved sport, so I think when the opportunity came up it was a match made in heaven and we’ve never looked back. We’ve had some hard days but it’s been worth it,” he said.
“I enjoy the business side of it. To run your own business is so exciting. If you work for a big company you can be the best employee in the world and you’re not going to make a massive difference to the overall company figures, whereas with this, we see the results of the work we put in and also the pickleball community is so friendly.
“We really feel part of the family now and events like the Open are great because you get to meet your customers.”
Pickleball looks set to establish a stronghold in south-west London in the coming years, with former Fulham FC managing director Neil Rodford leading a campaign to convert a warehouse into a spectacular 10-court facility in Kingston upon Thames.
Based just a stone’s throw from the prospective club, Gratton is well placed to capitalise on the pickleball’s seemingly inevitable rise to household status.
“We’ve got lots of plans,” added Gratton.
“One of the issues with the sport is finding places to play so there are new centres popping up all over the place and going forward we’d like to do our own centre, get new people playing.
“Events are a big thing, they’re happening across the country most weekends so a bit more involvement in those will be nice.
“In such a fast-growing sport, you can’t look too far ahead. The sport is growing rapidly and it’s exciting.”
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
