Court expansion a pickleball possibility

In the last five years, pickleball in the United States has grown exponentially, from 4.2 million players in 2020 and 9 million in 2022 to 19.8 million players in 2024, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association.

With a player defined as a person who plays the sport at least once in a given year, that means more than 5% of the U.S. population played the sport last year. Creston is no different from the rest of the country in this pickleball craze, with a large group meeting in the morning five days a week to play.

However, with an estimated thread of 50 people involved, between 12 to 15 on a daily basis, pickleball enthusiast Mitch Sorensen has been working with Creston Parks and Recreation to increase the number of courts at McKinley Park. At the moment, the athletic group is making do.

“When the weather’s good, we love to go to McKinley. Creston had put quite a bit of money already into McKinley Park. Right now, they have one full-time pickleball court,” Sorensen said. “There is a second court that’s painted but has no net, and then we actually taped off a third court. We then utilize pop-up nets.”

In order to increase the amount of games that can be played at the same time, Sorensen said the goal is to have two full-time courts as well as two other netless painted courts, for which the players would continue bringing pop-up tents. Sorensen said they also want to bring windscreens to the courts.

“The wind plays a big factor in pickleball, so if we can get some windscreens up, and then we’d put like our sponsors’ logos on those windscreens,” Sorensen said.

The sponsors mentioned are community investors looking to help the pickleball group. While originally looking at a grant to pay for the addition, that opportunity fell through.

“We’ve had some investors that have maybe come forth, a few groups here, a couple that just, they were like ‘Mitch, let’s talk, what kind of money do you need?’” Sorensen said.

Sorensen and Parks and Recreation Director Rusty Zimmerman are waiting to hear back from contractors on pricing. Costs to convert a sport court to pickleball courts can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000.

Once official costs are realized, the investors must still decide how much they are each willing to cover. No city money will be utilized for this project. The hope is to have the new courts added sometime this summer.

“Right now, the biggest thing is just waiting on these contractors. I’m sure these contractors are busy because they’re redoing tennis courts and pickleball courts all over the place,” Sorensen said. “I’m not sure how fast it will happen. I would love to see something by mid-July. It’s a process and it takes time just to get everything put together.”

With more pickleball courts, Sorensen said the Creston athletes may be able to start their own pickleball tournament.

“None of the surrounding communities or towns have anything more than one or two courts. If we had four we could have tournaments, which is just great for the community,” Sorensen said. “That just brings people to Creston. They’ll come and spend money here, they’ll spend money in our restaurants, our hotels. It’s just a win-win.”

In the mean time, Sorensen invites those interested to join the morning sessions, no matter how much experience they have.

“This is a social thing. We’d love to welcome people. We’d love for people to come down,” Sorensen said. “Like, ‘hey, I’ve never played in my life but I’d like to try it.’ Absolutely, come on in. We love to teach, we love to help you, we’d love to get you hooked on the sport.”