Pickleball gains fans across Sonoma County

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times on the fenced-in concrete tennis courts at Finley Community Park in Santa Rosa during a recent weekday morning.

To the west of the main entrance, two traditional tennis courts sat unused and empty, practically longing for people to come by, whip out their rackets and start a good volley. To the east of the main entrance, however, six smaller courts teemed with dozens of players - men and women alike.

The players were all business, many decked out in headbands, wristbands and sweat-wicking shirts. One woman grunted every time she smashed the plastic yellow ball. Another player showered her doubles partner with compliments after every good shot.

Contests were friendly but competitive - lots of laughter, many high-fives, a smattering of light-hearted trash talk.

Their game? Pickleball.

You read that correctly: pickleball. Think of the sport as a cross between pingpong and tennis. Pickleball courts are smaller than tennis courts, about half the size. Pickleball rackets, called paddles, are plastic and a little smaller than most racquetball rackets. The pickleball itself, made of hard plastic, is slightly larger than a tennis ball and has holes that slow it down in midair, much like the holes of a whiffle ball. In case you’re wondering, there are no pickles involved whatsoever.

“No pickles, but a whole lot of fun,” said Kathy Kerst, the 71-year-old Santa Rosa resident who set up the Sonoma County Pickleball Club with her husband and has become the de facto head of the local pickleball community. “It’s almost impossible to play this game and have a bad time.”

Perhaps this explains why and how pickleball has established itself as the fastest-growing sport in America. A 2019 study by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association found there were more than 3.3 million pickleball players in the United States, an increase of nearly 10% from 2015 to 2018.

Justin Maloof, executive director of the USA Pickleball Association in Phoenix, reports similarly significant growth, noting that membership in the organization had grown to 42,000 by the end of 2019 from 4,000 in 2013.

Maloof’s organization also tracks the number of courts. At the end of 2019, there were 7,928 pickleball courts nationwide, up from 6,593 at the end of 2018. Even hotels such as The Plaza in Las Vegas and The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado, have added pickleball courts in recent years.

Local growth

Here in Sonoma County, the game has taken off, with the number of local players ballooning from a few dozen as recently as 10 years ago to more than 300 today, according to Kerst. Players hail from Healdsburg, Sonoma, Oakmont, Petaluma, Glen Ellen and elsewhere. Many are over 50, but some are younger, too.

Why is the game so popular? Local players cited several reasons, including that it’s easy to learn, the equipment is (relatively) inexpensive, and the smaller court means a fast pace but less exertion and chance of injury compared to tennis or racquetball. It’s also a great sport for camaraderie; about 80% of all contests are doubles.

Dale Hetzer, who runs a small club that plays on temporary courts in Guerneville, said the game is all about hand-eye coordination.

“It’s really an attrition game of hitting it back and forth and waiting for someone to make a mistake,” said Hetzer, 61, who works as a handyman. “The way I see it, it’s the perfect blend of exercise and mental quickness, the kind of sport that quite literally anyone can pick up a paddle and play.”

Bill Petrie, 77, agreed.

“The game gets people off the sofa and out to a place where they can interact with each other,” he said. “I can play with people my age, with my kids or with my grandkids.”

Petrie and Hetzer are two of about three dozen players who meet regularly at Finley on weekday mornings to play. The park has four permanent pickleball courts, and participants use portable nets to convert a traditional tennis court into two others, for a total of six. With four players on a court at any time, this means 24 players can play simultaneously.

Order on the court

Kerst keeps the games moving, organizing players into pairs and directing them where to go. If there are extras, she has them write their names on a dry-erase board that charts who plays next.

Generally, players write their names alongside a number that indicates their skill level - a number between 1.0 and 5.0. Most players in the Santa Rosa group rate themselves as 3.0 or 3.5. Adam MacKinnon, a pickleball pro who regularly plays with the group, recently achieved a 5.0 rating, making him one of the best players in the country.

On weekday mornings at Finley Community Park, Kerst tries to match players with similar ratings. Even when a local reporter joins the mix, play is light-hearted and jovial.

Sometimes, doubles partners become partners in life, too. Such was the case with 83-year-old Al Fiori and 82-year-old Arlene Knudsen. The Windsor residents met online back in 2017 and got to know each other over pickleball through the Santa Rosa club. Since joining forces on the court, they have played in tournaments in Utah and Italy. Last year, the two got married.

“You could say pickleball brought us together,” Knudsen joked.

Fiori, without missing a beat, added, “I’d never even heard of the game before I met her, but when she told me she played, I knew I was going to have to learn.”

Public venues lacking

Looking forward, local pickleballers, as they call themselves, are gearing up for the ninth annual Sonoma Wine Country Games Pickleball Tournament, to be held at the Finley park courts June 14-16.

Further into the future, as pickleball continues to gain popularity across the country, the biggest roadblock could be lack of facilities. The Oakmont community recently added courts, but those are members-only. Sunrise Park, in Rohnert Park, is expecting to add six new courts later this year. Currently, including indoor courts at the Callinan Center in Rohnert Park, there are fewer than 30 permanent and temporary public places to play. Sometimes, supply simply can’t meet demand.

While additional public courts have been discussed for several cities, many could take years to build. In Windsor, for instance, the Town Council voted last spring to include in the five-year capital improvement program four pickleball courts at Hiram Lewis Community Park. As of now, however, Parks and Facilities Manager Olivia Lemen said the courts are unfunded.

“For us, the first step is getting something like this in the program; from there we find the money to do it,” she explained, noting that most projects are funded with grants and private donations. “The good news is that it’s always easier when we have a group of residents committed to making it happen.”