Whether they're veterans or rookies, Bradford pickleball players have probably noticed their sport’s growing popularity.
With that growth comes increased demand for court time, an issue both the players and town have noticed and are trying to address. Some players are coming from other municipalities where they can’t find room on the court, while town staff are already planning for the future and considering options to add more courts.
Clarence Sturge estimates he’s been playing pickleball on and off in Bradford for the last 10 years, and currently visits the BWG Leisure Centre for drop-in games “as often as I can,” which usually works out to about three or four times a week.
He’s “for sure” seen the popularity of the sport growing in town, and estimates that it could be the fastest growing sport in North America.
“It’s a sport that all ages can fit in,” Sturge said as one possible reason for the surge in popularity.
Bill Peel comes from Schomberg to play at the leisure centre two to three times a week, and has been ever since fellow players in King gave him the tip about court availability in Bradford.
While golf is Peel’s passion sport, he enjoys playing pickleball to stay in shape, and sees plenty of others doing the same.
“Overall, pickleball is huge,” he said.
Bill Connery of Newmarket and Allan Roitner or Aurora shared similar sentiments, and both have been visiting Bradford as many days a week as they can to play on the outdoor courts beside the Danube Seniors Leisure Centre since the facilities opened in 2020.
They’re part of a dedicated group who even clear snow sometimes to play in the winter.
“I love outdoor. I play all year.” Connery said. “I’ve seen a lot of growth and new players coming all the time,”
While the sport tends to be particularly popular with an older crowd, Connery said he sees “a lot” of young people getting interested too, especially on weekends or over March break.
“It’s great for people who would normally sit at home. It gives you something to do. You’ve got four people, and you’re in close proximity, so the socialization is good too,” Connery said.
Roitner agreed, not just because there’s better banter in his experience, but because the number of people playing shorter games naturally leads to playing with more partners.
“You’re a little more connected,” he said.
The first year the courts opened, Connery estimated it was normal to see 12 to 16 people playing on an average day. But now, it can regularly be more than 30 by his count.
Roitner concurred, describing the growth as “explosive.”
“It’s been almost too quick of a growth and not enough courts to support it,” he said. “If your town doesn’t have extensive amounts of playing time, then you’re up the creek.”
In his experience, many recreation centres have started prioritizing giving time only to locals as well as local clubs who can book more time at facilities, but charge fees to members.
“What really drew me into pickleball at the beginning was the fact that all you needed was a paddle and a ball and away you go, but now it’s got to the point where you need to pay for memberships,” Roitner said.
Still, he understands towns can’t afford to just build new courts overnight, and while Newmarket is set to add 14 to 20 courts to George Richardson Park, both he and Connery appreciate being able to play in Bradford in the meantime.
That’s something Terry Foran, director of community services is looking to preserve.
“Our outdoor courts are quite popular because we have something that nobody around us has right now,” Foran said during the March 5 meeting of council. “We were kind of leaps ahead of other municipalities on this.”
In addition to regularly scheduled drop-in games at the leisure centre and the first-come, first-served nature of the outdoor courts, the town also ran a program this winter which saw four courts installed on the dry rink of the Bradford and District Memorial Community Centre, where even more courts could be added next winter.
This spring, Foran is also planning to line the tennis courts at Henderson Park to make them compatible with pickleball.
Looking more to the future, he said courts could be added to Bradford east park, planned to be located off Simcoe Road, north of the Danube centre, the construction of which is expected to go to tender this year and anticipated to be complete in 2025.
There’s also potential to add more courts during the planned redevelopments of the seniors centre and Bud Brown park, but Foran said a strategic plan is needed first.
“It’s going to be a lot of investment, so we need to understand how we can do it and do it affordably,” he said.
Meanwhile, Foran explained the town’s indoor facilities are at capacity and more time can’t be allocated for pickleball without taking away time from other sports such as basketball, volleyball and badminton, as well as parent and tot play, and open play for families.
“Certainly, pickleball is provided probably the most hours of court availability out of any sport at this time,” he said.
That’s thanks to players’ availability to play in “off hours” during the day when town facilities aren’t as busy, compared to the higher demand after 4 p.m. seen in other sports.
As a result, Foran estimated pickleball is allocated about 20 hours of facility space each week, with between four and six courts resulting in about 100 hours of court time per week.
He compared that to basketball which he estimated only has about 40 hours of court time, but acknowledged that comes with a higher ratio of play, since a basketball court can accommodate 10 players at once, whereas a pickleball court can only fit four players at one time.
“It’s really about balancing out what the needs are,” Foran said. “There’s great demands in all areas of what we deliver.”
