Kokua Line: Will the city add pickleball courts?

Question: What is being done to alleviate the need for pickleball courts on Oahu? Parks & Rec did a survey in 2022 that showed the need, but I haven’t heard much since. My family loves to play, and sometimes we drive all over looking for open courts. This is something healthy that keiki and kupuna can do together, and the city should be encouraging it.

Answer: A pickleball expansion is in the works that should result in about 67 more public outdoor courts dedicated to the fast-growing sport, Honolulu’s Department of Parks and Recreation announced Thursday. Included in the plan is a 12-court complex at Ke‘ehi Lagoon Beach Park where pickleball tournaments would be played, said Nathan Serota, a spokesperson for the department.

Currently, the department maintains 173 pickleball courts at 90 Oahu parks. However, only 17 of those courts are solely for pickleball; the rest are multisport courts shared among various users, he said. And only 10 have permanent nets; at the others, pickleball players must bring their own portable nets, he said.

Under the plan announced Thursday, about 67 more courts at 17 parks would be devoted solely to pickleball, bringing to 77 islandwide the number of pickleball courts with permanent nets and court markings, he said. The increase would be accomplished by converting 20 “underutilized” courts to pickleball from other sports, such as tennis, basketball or volleyball, as well as by adding new courts or amenities, such as nets.

Pickleball courts are smaller than tennis, basketball or volleyball courts. Converting existing courts for pickleball use should be quicker than building completely new courts. At Ke‘ehi Lagoon Beach Park, for example, four tennis courts will be reconfigured to make room for 12 pickleball courts, which are expected to be available for public use this summer, the department said in a news release.

Besides Ke‘ehi Lagoon, the affected parks are ‘Ewa Mahiko District, Haha‘ione Valley Neighborhood, Ka‘ala Neighborhood, Kailua District, Kamamalu Neighborhood, Kilauea District, Maka­- kilo Neighborhood, Manoa Valley District, Maunawili Valley Neighborhood, Nu‘u­anu Community, Pacific Palisades Community, Palolo Valley District, Smith-­Beretania, Sunset Community, Waimanalo District and Waipi‘o Neighborhood, the news release said.

The timing of most work has yet to be finalized, and the exact number and locations of new dedicated pickleball courts are subject to change, Serota said. Ke‘ehi Lagoon Beach Park is first in line for the court conversions, he said.

Along with expanding access to outdoor courts, Parks and Rec staff also are working to add more pickleball classes and opportunities for free play inside 25 public gyms; more information is expected soon. The department also is moving forward to revise rules governing all outdoor courts at city parks, having heard from the public in online polls conducted in 2022.

A public hearing on proposed new rules is expected to be held this fall. According to the news release, the proposed rules “aim to balance casual recreation use of the courts with permitted lessons” run by commercial operators. The proposed rules address having specific dates and times for commercial instruction on a limited number of courts, restricting the number of courts that can be reserved for competitions and “further implementing recreational court-use time limits” for tennis and pickleball.

For the uninitiated, pickleball is a paddle sport that combines aspects of tennis, pingpong and badminton, using a plastic ball with holes in it, similar to a Wiffle ball. Pickleball is a fast-paced game for skilled players but a slower one for beginners, making it a popular introductory sport for family groups and others of various ages and skill levels, as the reader noted.

Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.