A new sport called "pickleball" is spreading like wildfire across the county, but it may be perceived as a rival for space on traditional tennis courts in the Snyderville Basin.
A group of about 15 Pickleball devotees visited the Summit County Council during Public Comment Wednesday.
County Council member Roger Armstrong said Pickleball is becoming a popular sport.
"I’ve had friends, I’ve had family members that have tried it and from the first moment fell in love with it. It’s something that’s sweeping the nation. They have pickleball courts at some of the second home communities up here. These folks play it on a very regular basis. There was a woman there who is apparently a professional pickleball player. I guess it only takes so long before any sport can have professional athletes involved with it, so she’s an ambassador and professional player and a very strong advocate. This group is obviously very dedicated to the sport, they point out that it’s a very social sport. When you have limited space for them to both gather and play then it can be a very long time between games and therefore people get shut out of the process.”
He said the group is hoping to convert some tennis-court space in a park near Highway 224.
"What they’re proposing is to take two of the tennis courts at Willow Creek Park—which apparently is a great place for them to gather and play gather and play—and turn them into eight courts, maybe it was four. They want us to consider doing that, to talk to basin rec about that and they’re bringing money to the table. They provided an estimate to do that conversion at about $44,000 plus. A woman stood up and said she would be willing to contribute $40,000 of the $44,000. It seems like a group that’s very driven, we’ve seen letters to the editor from them.”
But we asked about the reported apprehension from some in the tennis community, who already feel they're short on space. Armstrong said the ball's in the court of the Snyderville Recreation District.
"I am happy to say that is so far above my paygrade in terms of trying to figure out. Basin Rec is going to have to look at the available facilities. I actually heard (KPCW) speaking this morning about Basin Rec doing that new survey to find out what the needs are in the community. I suspect that will be part of it and if we just need to add pickleball courts we should probably think about that. If we can convert tennis courts because some are not being used on a regular basis and find a balance, there then we should consider that as well.”
