By Milly McEvoy
David Gee’s debut at the 2025 Knotty’s English Nationals pickleball tournament was about more than just medals.
The 52-year-old from Stroud only took up pickleball 10 months ago but stormed to 50+ 3.5 mixed doubles gold alongside Charlotte Ellam.
He did so wearing a shirt with a special message, raising both money and awareness for breast cancer charity ILoveBoobies.
“We play in pink and the shirts have been bought from a company called ILoveBoobies,” the Newcastle native said.
“Their primary mission is to provide free breast examinations to South African women who are unable to access medical services due to financial, locational or social challenges.
“At the same time, they want to create awareness and support. Some of these women are single parents, they can’t not work, so every single shirt that I Love Boobies sells provides breast screening that goes into workplaces, so we wanted to have pink shirts from ILoveBoobies.
“Chanel Lowe, the wife of my men’s doubles partner Richard, is an ambassador for ILoveBoobies, that is how we got involved with it.
“We started a little Wednesday league, and our team is Pickleball 4 Change. People love the shirts, and there are other teams in the area that have bought their kit from there and are supporting it.”
Gee was one of over 1300 competitors taking part across 57 age and skill categories in the fifth year of the prestigious competition.
Thursday and Friday saw the over 50s in action in the mixed, men’s and women’s doubles, before the open age categories take centre stage at the Bolton Arena on Saturday and Sunday.
Pickleball developed as a backyard game in Washington, and is named after the pickle boat in rowing, which sees spare rowers from different teams form a crew.
The name reflects the sport, which has borrowed from other racket sports, as it is played on a badminton doubles-sized court and features playing styles seen in tennis and table tennis.
The game is played with a solid paddle and a perforated plastic ball, while players can only score points on their serve.
Rising in popularity in the US for the past few decades, interest has exploded across the world, with Pickleball England now boasting over 15,000 registered members.
Gee added: “My wife Nicola Gee, she is chair of Chalford Tennis and Pickleball Club, I was dragged kicking and screaming, didn’t want to play.
“I ended up playing against my doubles partner, Rich. He asked me to start playing, and that was 10 months ago.
“I absolutely love it, I wish I had found it years ago. Apparently, it started in 1967, where have I been?
“I like the fact that everyone is really friendly, I like the pace of the game, the vibe of the game. Honestly, I wish I had found it earlier.”
PLEASE LEAVE IN FINAL PAR – Pickleball England had a record number of players at the 2025 Knotty’s English Nationals. The tournament took place from 30 October to 2 November at Bolton Arena. For more information: https://www.pickleballengland.org/
