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Pickleball summit held in Northeast DC

The summit was held at the Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, which also happens to be home to the most pickleball courts in the District.

WASHINGTON — There are lots of summits in Washington, D.C., but they don't usually involve a paddle and a ball.

Wednesday night, DC Parks and Recreation held a Pickleball Summit.

"The District has over 1,500 registered pickleball users," said Thennie Freeman, the Acting Director for the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation.

She says there are even more players who aren't registered, with the number rising by the day. Freeman says she's a pickler too.

"I like it, it's fun. I'm truly competitive so I don't like to lose. Anything I can say I did and I'm good at and I'm pretty good at it," she told WUSA9.

In March, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the budget would include $750,000 for repurposing the four courts into pickleball courts. In addition to the pickleball investments, the proposed budget maintains $13.5 million in investments for Recreation for ALL, which expands the Department of Parks and Recreation's (DPR) programming.

“We are proud that Washington, D.C. has the #1 park system in the nation, and that is in part because of our investment in facilities and ensuring we have accessible places for our residents to play and exercise,” said Mayor Bowser. “It is so important to support new and emerging sports and recreational opportunities that can accommodate people of all ages—especially older residents—and that includes pickleball.” 

"So we want to hear from the pickleball players exactly it is that they want," said Freeman.

The summit included an interactive portion, where the audience was able to weigh in using their phones on different topics.

They were asked things like how often they play pickleball, where they play pickleball and what some of the greatest needs regarding pickleball in the District.

"I'm hoping they listen to the community," said Saundra Woods.

She lives in Ward 5 and recently won fourth place at the pickleball Senior Olympic Games in Pittsburgh.

"I want to get more seniors involved here," said Woods.

But, she and others say the District needs more courts so that more people can easily play pickleball.

"The fun part about pickleball is that you can include more than exclude," said Enoch Thompson.

Right now there are 58 outdoor pickleball courts spread across 17 sites and 30 indoor courts across 12 sites.

Several people stood up to ask questions about the timeline for creating more pickleball courts. 

"I can't say I'm entirely happy with the answers to the questions that we're getting so far. Particularly the moratorium that they've had against giving us any additional space pending this summit," said Ruth Ellis from Washington DC Pickleball.

"When we came to the summit... were expecting to see some actual plans. What we're seeing is a plan to make a plan. When you have hundreds of people lining up to play on any given evening. I think DPR can do better than this. Hopefully this will be the beginning of more engagement," Ellis said.

DPR says they plan to do a study. They also told WUSA9 they have a 3-prong strategy.

  1. Identify underutilized locations and convert to pickleball with upgrades to surface, lighting, seating, fencing and storm-water management
  2. Infuse pickleball into future modernizations of indoor and outdoor facilities
  3. Build stand-alone new facilities

To find the closest pickleball court, click here.

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