HUNTINGTON Ƶ In the past several years, pickleball has grown in popularity Ƶ nationally and locally.
With financial help from HuntingtonƵs pickleball community, the Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District announced plans to convert two more of its tennis courts at Ritter Park into pickleball courts.
In 2021, the park district installed six pickleball courts. Since then, GHPRD Executive Director Kathy McKenna said the pickleball community has asked for more.
The additional pickleball courts are expected to be installed by the end of September.
Pickleball is a paddle sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis, played on a badminton-sized court with a slightly modified tennis net. ItƵs known for being easy to learn, social and accessible, making it AmericaƵs fastest-growing sport. The game was first played in 1965.
In 2023, the Sports & Fitness Industry Ƶsociation called pickleball the fastest-growing sport in America for the third consecutive year. SFIA estimates that about 36.5 million people have played the game at least once in the year.
McKenna said that remains true in Huntington, saying it has grown in the area exponentially.
How will it affect the tennis courts?
The installation will add six pickleball courts on two tennis courts, McKenna said.
The conversion will leave seven tennis courts at Ritter Park. The park district also has two courts at McClelland Park and one at Westmoreland Park, located on Vernon Street in West Huntington, which gives tennis players 10 courts throughout the park district.
McKenna said she believes the seven courts at Ritter Park will be adequate based on todayƵs usage.
McKenna said the park would most likely not be able to host high school tennis tournaments as it has in the past with the reduction of the two courts; however, she said she canƵt remember the last time the park hosted such an event. Some local schools have put in their own tennis courts, which has helped with tournaments.
Still, the conversion has left some tennis players upset with the decreased number of tennis courts.
Melissa Fry and her daughter Kaylee Roland, a senior varsity tennis player at Spring Valley High School, use the tennis courts at Ritter Park as their home courts whenever the school hosts matches with other teams across the state. The school uses the parkƵs courts because Spring Valley does not have its own.
Fry said she and her daughter are new to tennis but enjoy playing for sport and fun. Roland started playing tennis a year ago. She and Fry started with pickleball and still enjoy playing it.
Roland and Fry practice or play for fun at Ritter Park three to four times a month and said they feel like it has the most accessible courts in town. Roland takes lessons at the 7827 Tennis Center in Barboursville.
Fry said the options for local tennis courts are limited, and the only other accessible courts they could use would be in Barboursville, Ceredo or Ƶhland.
ƵWe also do enjoy playing pickleball, and I know that ... the amount of courts that they have at the moment are not enough,Ƶ Fry said. ƵThereƵs always people waiting.Ƶ
Fry said she and her daughterƵs concern is that the tennis center would still have enough courts reserved so the school can play its matches. The boys will have matches at the tennis courts beside the main building near the tennis courts and pickleball courts and the girls do their matches across from it.
ƵI know that a lot of times the tennis courts are not as utilized, so I get that, too, but itƵs still extremely important to us that tennis courts remain,Ƶ Fry said.
Fry said the decrease in tennis courts will mean matches take longer. The park board keeping seven courts will ensure everyone can still do their matches, she said.
Fry said she knows of other schools that use the courts for their home games also.
ƵYouƵve got three sets of doubles ... in a tennis match. So thereƵll be four girls that play singles, four boys that play singles and they each need a court. So thatƵs eight courts. So thereƵll be some additional waiting without those two, but yeah, itƵs limited,Ƶ Fry said.
McKenna said she understands the disappointment of the tennis community.
ƵI still feel that the seven courts that weƵll have over there are going to adequately support our tennis community,Ƶ McKenna said. ƵRight now pickleball is the popular thing, and, you know, our board felt like it was important that we listen to the community and do what we could to provide them what they needed for a growing sport.Ƶ
McKenna said there are multi-use courts at Westmoreland Park, and Prindle Field has two basketball courts that have lines for pickleball.
