Pickleball Vs.Tennis Controversy: Do Extra Lines on a Tennis Court Ruin the Game?

In December of 2009, I wrote an article about a relatively new sport called pickleball. (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2450372/pickle_ball_what_it_is_and_how_to_play_pg2.html?cat=11) I had just begun to play the game and have since become a big fan. It is a fast paced, easy game to learn and very similar to tennis, yet easier on older joints. As a matter of fact it can be played on a tennis court with a few minor conversions.

Converting a Tennis Court to Accommodate Pickleball

At the time that I began playing pickleball, we were playing on a former basketball court badly in need of resurfacing. The surface is cement and full of cracks. When it rains, water gathers in puddles in several areas of the court, making the surface slippery and therefore dangerous. For the next two months we noticed that of the four tennis courts near where we were playing, only two of them were being used. As the number of interested pickleball players grew, we thought it would be a great improvement to convert one of the unused tennis courts to a pickleball court. Living in a development that has an association, we wrote up a proposal and took it to the association board for approval. The only adjustment that would have to be made to the tennis court was painting additional boundary lines on the tennis court. Pickleball is played with a baseball-sized whiffle-ball and the size of the court is smaller. The association board gave its approval and the maintenance crew painted blue lines on the tennis court. This is commonly done where both pickleball and tennis are played. There is even a website showing how to do it, which you can see here along with a picture of a converted court. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.usapa.org/images/tennis_conv_bella_vista.jpg&imgrefurl=http:

Some People Never Grow Up

We are very pleased with our new court. Not only is the surface easier on our joints, it is drained well and water does not pool when it rains. Unfortunately, my story does not end here. The reaction of a small number of tennis players reminds me of grammar school kids fighting over playground territorial rights. The tennis players claim that they were unaware that a meeting was held to give approval for the painting of the lines and were unable to voice their objections. Another meeting was held, objections were raised and the board ruled that the lines would remain for at least a year until the courts were resurfaced. At that time, the battle would resume.

It's Not Wimbledon

Objecting to the lines on the court, the tennis players stated that there is no professional court with blue lines painted on it. True, but this is not Wimbledon. One of the tennis players wrote a letter to the editor saying that the court is needed when the snowbirds are in town. We played December through February on the old court and never once saw anyone playing on two of the four tennis courts. The letter write also said it was confusing to have the extra lines painted on the tennis courts. Well, the extra lines for tennis don't confuse us when we play pickleball.

Before all this controversy, some of the tennis players expressed an interest in pickleball and were invited to join us. I even considered resurrecting my tennis game and joining them for a game. We would gladly welcome new players but there is a chill in the air at the courts now even though the temperature is in the 80's.