How Seattle Parks is Keeping up With the Growth of Pickleball
“Seattle Parks has many resurfacing projects completed or underway this summer! Beacon Hill Playground was completed in mid-July, Rogers Playground, Volunteer Park and Lower Woodland will be completed in early August and Solstice Park will be completed by the end of August.”
Amy Yee Tennis Center Summer Newsletter
“In our efforts to keep up with the growth of pickleball, dual striping was maintained at Beacon Hill, and 3 courts at Solstice Park will be dual striped for tennis and pickleball.”
Let’s Tabulate
| Location | Resurfaced for Tennis only | Resurfaced for Pickleball only | Resurfaced for Both |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beacon Hill Court #1 | 1 | ||
| Beacon Hill Court #2 | 1 | ||
| Lower Woodland Court #1 | 1 | ||
| Lower Woodland Court #2 | 1 | ||
| Lower Woodland Court #3 | 1 | ||
| Lower Woodland Court #4 | 1 | ||
| Lower Woodland Court #5 | 1 | ||
| Lower Woodland Court #6 | 1 | ||
| Lower Woodland Court #7 | 1 | ||
| Lower Woodland Court #8 | 1 | ||
| Lower Woodland Court #9 | 1 | ||
| Lower Woodland Court #10 | 1 | ||
| Rogers Court #1 | 1 | ||
| Rogers Court #2 | 1 | ||
| Solstice Court #1 | 1 | ||
| Solstice Court #2 | 1 | ||
| Solstice Court #3 | 1 | ||
| Solstice Court #4 | |||
| Solstice Court #5 | |||
| Solstice Court #6 | |||
| Volunteer Park Court #1 | 1 | ||
| Volunteer Park Court #2 | 1 | ||
| Lincoln Park Court #1 | |||
| Lincoln Park Court #2 | |||
| Total | 17 | 0 | 2 |
UPDATE
Mid-September 2023, Seattle Parks announced at the last minute that it had reversed it decision to paint pickleball court lines on the Solstice Parks tennis courts. The table above shows the corresponding updates in red.
Seattle Parks said it will create six unlighted dedicated pickleball courts at Lincoln Park by end of Fall 2023 instead of adding pickleball court lines to three of the six Solstice tennis courts in summer 2023 as initially planned. See Disappearing Courts to learn why this is a rough deal for West Seattle pickleball players.
Let’s Summarize
| Location | Resurfaced for Tennis only | Resurfaced for Pickleball only | Resurfaced for Both |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 17 | 0 | 2 |
Let’s Expand
You might also be interested to know that Seattle Parks has no plan to ever have semi-permanent pickleball nets on the new Solstice Park courts.
Let’s Wonder
Is this a good way to “keep up with the growth of pickleball”? Is this fair? Is this equitable? Is this a one-time occurrence and everything will work out in the end? Or is it indicative of Seattle Parks yet again privileging tennis over pickleball?