Pickleball Needs to Pack Up and Leave the Tennis Courts

As popular as pickleball is, the sport needs to pack up their paddles and leave the tennis courts. Instead of having tennis courts as the sole courts for pickleball, the city should allocate pickleball courts to pickleball players. 

By giving pickleball their own courts for players to play on, it will remove the time constraints that many cities imposed on the tennis courts. In many cities, tennis courts have specific time frames for when either sports, tennis or pickleball, have priority on the tennis courts. For example, at Barnes Park, the pickleball players have priority to play on the weekends, meaning tennis players would have to remove themselves after they finish their games if there is someone waiting to play pickleball. While pickleball players have priority on the weekends, tennis players have priority on the weekdays. If the city gives pickleball players their own courts, no one would have to escort themselves off the courts for another sport. In addition, people can play more games without having to worry about someone else waiting for them to finish. 

Giving pickleball its own courts frees up the tennis courts for tennis players. Pickleball became a popular sport that ultimately ate up the available space on tennis courts. As a result, tennis players were gradually deprived of their courts, limiting their chances of playing tennis. The limited availability of courts for playing tennis created a jam for tennis players.  It forced many tennis players to leave their nearby parks for farther parks to play tennis. If those tennis courts were already full, they would look to go to another park, and if those courts are full, the cycle of constant searching continues. This need to search for available tennis courts defeats the whole purpose of community recreation and nearby parks.

Those who oppose giving pickleball, their own courts might argue that it is costly. It would be if they were building a whole facility, but a good attribute of pickleball is that it is portable and convenient. If one looks at the current pickleball being played at the tennis courts, one would notice that people bring their own nets. The only thing that the city provides are the courts’ dimensions. Even when they are not provided, people bring chalk to draw it themselves. In other words, if the city were to give pickleball their own courts, all they would need to provide is flat concrete land, the court’s dimensions drawn, and possibly some nets, although people bring their own. 

Pickleball is one of those sports growing rapidly in popularity. In order to protect its longevity, it is important to provide the sport with its own courts. In turn, it will help remove the time constraint imposed on both the sport and those affected by it. Not only that, but it will also help give back the tennis courts that are being used for pickleball to the tennis players.