Hampton Bays, the Pickleball Capital of Long Island?

Will the pickleball destination of the Hamptons be Hampton Bays?

The answer: Sure, why not?

This past year, Hampton Bays High School embraced with open arms the re-figuring of eight hardly used badminton courts into pickleball courts. My company, Around the Post Pickleball, purchased and donated eight new portable nets, helped repaint the lines — badminton and pickleball courts are the same dimensions, 20 feet by 44 feet — so they could be used on an experimental basis.

The experiment was a rousing success, as we ran a large tournament that attracted players from all over Long Island to come out to the area for a weekend, and our weekend clinics were always full as we introduced the game to close to 250 players.

The clinics are still going, with the very mild temperatures, and John Foster, the district’s athletic director, has procured some time in the spacious middle school gym for the winter months to keep the clinics and maybe some open play time available to us and the community.

Why have he and the school district been so accommodating? As John told me, “It’s good for everybody — the school, the players, the students and the community. We want to be the leader with this fast-growing sport, not only for the area but for our students.”

When we were approached by John to give a tutorial on pickleball to the physical education teachers, we jumped at the chance to do so, and we are thrilled that Hampton Bays School District has added pickleball to its curriculum. It was quite heartwarming to see all eight courts being used by students and the teachers just the other day as I drove by.

In the coming days, we plan to contact all the area athletic directors with the hope of introducing them to pickleball and the benefits that come with the game.

Our plan for next season at the high school is to paint the lined courts into fully dedicated pickleball courts, which would mean that it would have the largest outdoor pickleball facility on eastern Long Island. We will be responsible for the court painting — and I can’t wait to make this into a showplace for our sport.

But we still need more courts.

I applaud the Town of Southampton for having added eight fully dedicated, beautiful courts in the past 18 months. The two locations — in Southampton, next to the SYS facility, and in the Hampton West Park in Westhampton — both have four courts and are used daily.

They were needed, and the town supervisor, Jay Schneiderman, who is also an avid player and proponent of the sport, answered the call of the local players. He and the Parks and Recreation Department staff should be commended. This town spends a fortune keeping all their public facilities in top shape.

But they need to spend just a little more.

The original courts that the town offered almost eight years ago at Red Creek Park in Hampton Bays, in the outdoor hockey rink, are deteriorating, and the facility needs a major upgrade.

If the town has turned its back to inline hockey then the surface should be redone to pickleball specs and six new courts could be installed. That would give Hampton Bays 14 dedicated courts within two miles of each other that no doubt would be used by the growing multitude of players, especially during the summer months. Imagine playing and not having to wait 20 minutes between games.

Hampton Bays, the Pickleball Capital of Long Island?

I see it. I hope the town does, too.