Bordon may serve up a county first as a club is positioned to develop become a hub for two rapidly expanding racquet sports. For the time being, traditional tennis at the BOSC is play-by-play as the two courts are being repurposed.
The two floodlit pickleball and padel tennis courts at the Bolley Avenue location will replace the current all-weather surface. The latter is the sport with the fastest rate of growth in the globe and is compared to a smaller, fenced tennis court and squash.
Tennis and pickleball are quite similar, with the exception that pickleball uses a hard plastic ball and the rackets are essentially larger table tennis paddles. Annie Wakefield and Jasper Allen are the brains behind the makeover, and EHDC recently accepted a temporary change of use application. The two thought that Whitehill & Bordon’s sports scene could take off and that the underutilized courts were ready for conversion. Additionally, they assert that the two-sport court configuration may be the first in the county or district.
Annie commented: “We had to give a detailed breakdown of how little the court was used to the Lawn Tennis Association to support our application and they agreed.
There is a growing young population here and we didn’t want to do this in Haslemere or anywhere exclusive. We wanted it to be inclusive and I’m really keen to promote this with the local community and schools.
I think it’s going to be a real boost for the community,” said Mr Allen, head coach at Grayshott Tennis Club.
It’s quite difficult to find the ideal place to put up padel courts but this site is perfect.”
