Community Pickleball Courts Across the U.S.

A peek into what's happening around pickleball courts around the country.

Much of pickleball is the same everywhere—the paddle tapping, the court lingo, laughing over mistakes, and obviously the way the game is played. But court dynamics definitely have their own nuances, city by city and even court by court. It’s fun and sometimes “fun,” and part of all of us finding our way with this exploding sport.

Here’s a sample of experiences from around the United States, based on my current experiences getting into pickleball as I’ve traveled. Many more to come!

Wilmington, NC 

A YMCA Healthy Kids Day was a perfect re-entry to a sport I’d only dabbled in over the preceding several years. Helping kids “get it” and watching families experience this sport together expanded my own sense of possibility for this sport.

That sense of possibility lit a fire in me in a big way and I signed up for open play that same afternoon. An indoor facility touted freedom from heat, humidity, and bugs, and open play by level. Multiple players wanted to take breaks for the sake of their knees, so I was able to play a solid two hours of pickleball. Had an existential crisis deciding whether a ball was in or out, and realized my game needed serious work.

Next up, I played at a community court with a very friendly paddle-up system and vibe. This early weekday group couldn’t have been more friendly to this advanced novice each time I played. I’d done my Facebook research to know this was the court recommended for newer players and it did not disappoint. 

Looking for additional playtime, I ventured the following week to another community court across town. The play here was a little more intense and a little less friendly, but the paddle system nonetheless worked pretty well there even for an out-of-town newcomer. An older, skilled guy gave me unsolicited coaching about not looking so stiff, even though in my humble opinion he stood there stiffly himself.

Raleigh, NC

Once again, I did my Facebook research to know which courts were beginner-friendly and showed up at a community court early on a Saturday morning. There was already quite a group there, and a nice group of people let me jump in with them. As the courts filled up, we all went to the paddle system.

Because their courts didn’t have dividers, they do a cool thing where when a game finishes up, players shuffle their game after they finish playing out the point. This leaves the court by the paddle rack open for the next bunch. I played multiple times at this court, always grateful I was able to jump in on play before they got too crazy. It wasn’t uncommon after 5:00 p.m. to see the paddle racks all or nearly full.

Another nuance of this court: they have an informal, of-the-people decision that one side (3 courts) is for more advanced players, while the other side (also of 3 courts) is for more beginner-intermediate players.

Pleasant Grove, UT

Once again, I did my Facebook research to find places to play. The May day was windy and brisk so play on the community outdoor courts had been moved inside the rec center. They also used a paddle up system which worked pretty well. Play is a little different when you’re doing it on a gym floor taped for all the sports, with temporary nets, etc. But it was still pickleball and it was still fun.

St. George, UT:

I had arranged to meet a family member at a public pickleball court on a weekday morning where we had no problem getting a court. There were a couple other occupied courts, leaving multiple open. There was no paddle system evident, and I noted people driving by to see if there were games to try and get into.

Colorado Springs, CO:

This was the first place where people extensively use an app (Playtime Scheduler in this case) to coordinate play at community courts. While a different scene than the paddle systems I’d experienced before, it worked great to know you’d have people of similar skill level to play with. It does make it harder for people just showing up to the community courts to find random people to play with.

I experienced this when I just showed up at a busy court one Saturday morning in to see how the paddle system worked. Fair-to-middlin’ is my assessment. As a solo player, it felt a bit like the Wild West. Another solo player showed up and that gave us a little bit of strength in numbers, but since most people had coordinated with a group, it was harder to “break in” or play with comparable players.

I went on accident to another, less trafficked community park, thinking I was meeting a group there but got my parks mixed up. The courts were occupied by the friendliest group of strangers, proactively including me and making sure everyone got a chance to rotate in and play with various combinations of people.

At this same park, I signed up to attend a large group, and had a totally differently experience. Just like the friendly morning group, they obviously play together often—lots of inside jokes, and knowledge of each other and each other’s games. Had I not arrived prior to the bulk of their group, I’m not sure how it would’ve looked to get on to the courts since there isn’t really a paddle up system here. 

Another court I visited has just a few courts that are usually occupied with players waiting. Their paddle system is on the outside of wind/noise protected fencing; this makes it harder to observe play while waiting, and harder for the players on the courts to see paddles up. 

A for-profit pickleball facility had open play by level. It was a welcome change to play out of the wind, and the people were reasonably friendly. There were more players than availability on the court, and the rotating in worked reasonably well. Some players were more considerate than others about who had been waiting longer for a game, but this will be true everyone and in any sport/court.

Note: At this court, winners stayed on the court and split, and losers rotated out.  Visitors from out of town reported seeing this happen at most of the community courts they played at, and were surprised by the unspoken rule at community courts that all 4 players come off, and a new foursome rotates in.

The final court I’ll highlight is a semi-private court near a housing development, technically part of it but it’s loosely become a community court. This court didn’t have a paddle system, more of a first-come, first-serve approach. Tons of families with kids of all ages were on the courts, some playing games and keeping score, others just hitting and having fun. I imagine this is what pickleball looked like a couple years ago—more carefree and less structured.

What’s pickleball like in your community?

As this awesome game continues to grow there’s no question there’ll be a lot of figuring out how to play together. It’s a sport with opportunities and challenges like no other I can think of; we’ve got people of almost all ages and abilities and bossiness levels wanting access to the same public resources.

Most of it is super friendly and each court/community is figuring out what works for them; but I wonder if we’ll see some standardization as this sport continues its wild growth trajectory. What do you think?

And what’s it like where you play? What challenges have you faced finding places to play and do you have a genius idea for solving some of these challenges? We’re all ears—share away.