Mars Hill Recreation Park now hosts Madison County's first pickleball courts

MARS HILL - Despite pickleball's exploding popularity, it was not until recently that local residents could play for free in Madison County.

That changed last month when the town of Mars Hill repaved the four tennis courts at Mars Hill Recreation Park, adding lines to demarcate eight pickleball courts too.

Played with paddles and a hard, plastic whiffle-like ball, pickleball has more than 2,000 active users registered on a popular pickleball scheduling site in Asheville. A single tennis court can accommodate two pickleball games at once, usually with four players each.

"The courts have been repaved for both tennis and pickleball courts due to popular demand in the town," Town Manager Nathan Bennett said. "Everywhere I turn, I see an article about pickleball."

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On Sept. 28, Major League Pickleball announced that an investment group led by Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter has secured the rights to own a pro pickleball team.

According to the town manager, there are no pickleball nets, though the town plans to provide them in the coming months.

"In the meantime, those pickleball players have been coming with their own nets," Bennett said.

Weaverville resident Melinda Splain, 57, said she and her son, Cody, 28, have been riding their bikes into Mars Hill three to four days a week to play.

"We've been having roughly 12 or so people come up on Saturdays and play," Splain said, adding that about half of them are Madison County residents. Splain and her partner, Dennis, reside part-time in Arizona.

"There are about 65 people from Madison County that go to Asheville to play, so we're hoping to get more people out to Mars Hill and playing there, instead of going to Asheville. A lot of them are part-(time) residents. They come up for half the year in the summer, and they go other places for their primary home."

Splain, who has been playing pickleball for 10 years, said the new courts come at an opportune time for her, as she is getting back into the sport after an extended layoff during COVID.

"I just got (Dennis) back into playing a few months ago," she said. "I started playing again this year. It's wonderful. I've gotten six or so of my neighbors playing recently at the Mars Hill courts, because it's so close. It's the most fun sport ever. I've played softball, basketball, volleyball, everything under the sun."

In addition to the fun and exercise, pickleball has also provided Splain with an opportunity to meet new friends.

"I think pickleball is the most social (sport) I've ever played," she said. "You get to meet all kinds of people that you normally wouldn't. Most other sports, like tennis, you've got to have somebody to go meet up to play. Like softball, gosh, where you've got to have 10 people to play.

"For the most part, with pickleball it's like you just set up a time and people just come and play. We've got lots of different apps and things now, where people can sign up and know where people are playing. Before, I used to email everybody, like 60 or 70 people, and say, 'Hey. We're going to play. You want to play on Saturday?' There would be a whole bunch of us that would play at Montford Park, because that was the first one in Buncombe County."

There are 12 outdoor pickleball courts in Asheville and six indoors. None of them have permanent pickleball nets, and players must bring their own.

Splain said in her group, there are four people, including her, who take turns bringing their nets. Splain's group uses PlayTime Scheduler to coordinate play times and net duties.

Still no dedicated pickleball courts

Despite pickleball's popularity, USA Pickleball Association Ambassador for Buncombe County, Yira Pia Sanchez, said finding space to play in Asheville is always an issue. Sanchez noted pickleball is the only sport without a dedicated area in Asheville.

Asheville resident David Kelly has been playing pickleball for eight years and is a member of the USA Pickleball Association. While the addition of courts in Madison County are encouraging, Kelly said, Buncombe County pickleballers would love to see a free space in the Asheville area dedicated solely to pickleball.

"Anything helps, but we are surrounded by areas (aiming to provide areas dedicated to pickleball)," Kelly said. "Waynesville, for example, should be finishing putting in eight courts in early 2023. The population of Waynesville is about 10,000 people. We are struggling to get eight courts here with a population about 10x that much. What moves the needle is the demand that's happening at the grassroots everywhere.

"Pickleball is everywhere now, and it's not going to stop."

The construction was done by Whalen Tennis Company.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Mars Hill Rec. Park now hosts Madison County's first pickleball courts