Reflections, Projections and Some New Year's Resolutions

It was a breakout year for the sport of pickleball in 2022. It reached a national awareness unparalleled in any sport that I have ever seen, since the tennis boom of the early 1970s.

Pandemic restrictions eased, and the eager active adults champing at the bit to play something with their friends, found themselves playing pickleball across America and the world.

Our local scene on the East End of the island exploded. Our major concern this past year and heading into the future is simple: Where can I play pickleball?

According to USA Pickleball, the national average age dropped again to 38.1 years. Casual players rose 22 percent to a staggering 3.5 million and the number of “core” players who play eight or more times per year rose to 1.4 million. Core players out here play more than eight times in a two week period!

The East End and the rest of Long Island has become a hotbed for this sport, and it’s not going away. There are now close to a dozen indoor facilities across Long Island. There will be a new indoor pickleball court facility along with a beer garden and other amenities opening in Riverhead in 2023.

It’s here and it’s only getting bigger.

For the East End players, more courts are being converted, built and resurfaced. Southampton Town is preparing to reconfigure half of the tennis courts at Red Creek Park in Hampton Bays and get five to six fully dedicated courts installed this year. The town has already painted some courts on existing tennis courts at Hampton West in Westhampton along with the four beautiful courts already in place. Add the four courts that the town built at North Sea Community Park next to SYS, the five indoor courts at SYS, along with the eight courts to be painted into pickleball courts this spring at Hampton Bays High School — HBHS also introduced pickleball into its physical education curriculum — and it’s very apparent that local government and civic leaders have realized that this sport is here to stay.

That’s good news for current and future players, but will it be enough? For now, it will have to do, but to see taxpayer dollars used to provide places to play and private entities taking the risk to open facilities dedicated to the sport is a very welcome sight indeed.

As every new year rolls around, we all make some kind of silly resolutions. To be a better person, lose weight, don’t drink as much, yadda yadda yadda … so to my fellow pickleballers out there, here are a few from me and maybe a few you should think about when playing in 2023.

Spend a little more time playing with players not as talented as you. Sure, we all only have so much time and want to play in the advanced level games, but those few moments with intermediate players only help them become an advanced player.

Make it a habit when playing in a large group to either set up one net or take down one net. Stop showing up when the nets are set up and leaving before they are put away. At least offer to.

It’s pickleball. There is absolutely no need for any animosity, arguing, name calling or court nonsense. It’s what separates this game from others — it’s just pickleball.

Stop going on the court with the same partner. Unless you are tuning up for a future tournament and make it known to most of the players beforehand, the beauty of the game is playing with new partners. Save your advanced challenge court games for the end of the session, and put a net away while you’re at it.

Help fellow beginners and intermediates with a helpful pointer or two. Hitting the ball or court placement advice goes a long way, but only to a degree. Not everyone wants to be a 4.5 skill level player. Some people just want to have fun and don’t need the added pressure of learning all the intricacies of the game. (One of my faults.)

And finally, have more fun. If it gets to the point you are playing and not having fun, stop playing, you missed the point about pickleball. (Another one of my faults.)

Around the Post Pickleball wishes you all the best for 2023. We’ll see you on the courts soon!