Local cities, parks quick to serve up pickleball courts as game grows rapidly

“We’ve been pickleball crazy here for a few years now, so we’re happy to see the rest of the region hop aboard the pickleball bandwagon,” said Vandalia city spokesman Rich Hopkins.

Vandalia has eight pickleball courts at Helke Park (established from three former tennis courts in 2017), and three indoor courts at the Vandalia Recreation Center, established a year later.

“Pickleball is wildly popular in Vandalia, so turning the seldom-used (tennis) courts into pickleball courts was not a difficult decision for the city,” Hopkins said. “Both the outdoor courts at Helke and the indoor courts at the VRC have players waiting their turn to get on the courts on most days and evenings.”

Given the popularity, Vandalia is already considering the addition of more courts at Robinette Park.

What is pickleball?

Pickleball is roughly a mix of tennis and ping-pong, played on a court not quite half the size of a tennis court. Players use plastic/composite paddles to hit a plastic Wiffle-type ball with holes back and forth across a net.

Games can be either singles or doubles, with players scoring points in the same manner as tennis, by hitting “winners” that the other team is unable to return, or when the other team hits the ball into the net or out of bounds.

According to the USA Pickleball association, the sport was invented in 1965 by a trio of dads on Bainbridge Island, Washington, who were looking for a new way to entertain their kids.

A recent report released by the trade group Sports & Fitness Industry Association shows that pickleball participation in the U.S. nearly doubled in 2022, and increased by 158.6% over a three-year period.

Some cities embrace game

Many cities are finding that making space for pickleball can be as easy as painting the court boundaries onto already-existing sport spaces, like basketball and tennis courts. Others are spending money to create new courts.

The city of Troy’s first pickleball courts were multi-use courts, striped around 15 years ago for both tennis and pickleball. The city now has 12 courts, all located at Duke Park.

“We started pickleball as an experiment based on requests from several senior citizens. The demand quickly grew and we went from 2 to 6 to 12 (courts),” said Troy Service and Safety Director Patrick Titterington. “In the past couple of years, we’ve seen growth among younger players who have organized in the weekday evenings.

On any given weekday morning, Titterington estimated around 50 to 60 pickleball players take to the courts as part of organized leagues and tournaments.

The city of Kettering also has 12 courts, six of which were converted from tennis courts in 2016. Six more courts were added just a few weeks ago.

“The old converted tennis courts were actually property of Kettering City Schools,” said Gary Schussler, parks superintendent for Kettering Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department. “The city agreed to renovate them to create the first six pickle courts and agreed to maintain them.”

The recent court expansions were funded via the Kettering Parks Foundation. Over $100,000 was privately raised to assist the city with the renovation and expansion of the courts at Kennedy Park, Schussler said.

The city of Huber Heights last month approved a resolution to fund the repair and refurbishment of its pickleball courts, at a total not to exceed $191,000. The courts are located at Community Park.

Some cities take baby steps

Based on demand, West Carrollton converted one tennis court into two pickleball courts in 2022, while keeping some other courts for tennis, according to Christian Mattingly, city director of parks and recreation.

“The pickleball court never got used when it was tennis, so it seemed to be a natural switch,” he said. “The courts are used daily and we were fortunate to have the space and ability to respond to the community.”

Last year, Oakwood converted one of its two Orchardly Park tennis courts that had existed for nearly 80 years into two pickleball courts, at a cost of $31,582, Oakwood Leisure Service Director Carol Collins said.

Four years ago, the city of Lebanon striped pickleball court markings onto three existing tennis courts after a parks master plan survey identified pickleball as one of the top recreational amenities requested by residents, said City Manager Scott Brunka.

Franklin added three courts to Community Park this spring, by putting pickleball striping on existing tennis courts. Franklin City Schools uses the public courts regularly.

“It has been fun watching their students take over the courts and hearing the pop of the balls as they play,” said City Manager Jonathan Westendorf. “We have seen a substantial increase in use by folks of all ages playing pickleball.”

Growth in courts, leagues continues

The city of Springboro has two pickleball-marked courts on tennis courts at North Park and is in the process of adding five pickleball-only courts there.

The city of Fairborn resurfaced an old, rarely used Fairfield Park basketball court into four pickleball courts in 2018. City officials said there are plans to build another court at Community Park in 2024. City spokeswoman Meghan Howard said the city also is working to establish a pickleball league as part of its recreational programming.

Miamisburg created two pickleball courts on existing basketball court space at Community Park, so city spokesman Gary Giles said either sport can still be played there. Giles said the city plans to add six new pickle ball courts at Sycamore Trails Park, possibly breaking ground by the end of this year.

Washington Twp. has had pickleball courts in the RecPlex since 2019, but township officials said the game was gaining popularity in the community before then.

“We have had patrons using our courts to formally play pickleball games since 2015, however, patrons were casually playing on their own long before that,” said township spokeswoman Kate Trangenstein.

The township offers open play on Sunday afternoons and Thursday mornings in the fall, winter, and spring. And recent changes are showing the sport is not just for older players.

“This year, we introduced youth pickleball classes and those have been successful,” she said. “We had nine enrolled in our first youth class and we also offered a half-day pickleball summer camp this year.”

Reporters Nick Blizzard, Ed Richter, Eric Schwartzberg and Nancy Bowman contributed to this report.