Pickleball is ‘booming’ in Bartlett
A half-dozen pickleball players traded volleys as the sounds of squeaking tennis shoes and repetitive forehands stood front and center in the Singleton Community Center gymnasium.
As the action went on around him, Rick Darling, a retired sales manager, cited pickleball facts with rapid-fire intensity.
“There’s 3 million people nationwide playing pickleball,” Darling said as the clacking of wooden rackets striking pickleballs played in the background. “It’s the largest-growing amateur sport in the United States today, and there’s 16,000 courts in the United States – both indoor and outdoor.”
Pickleball is a paddle sport akin to tennis, badminton and table tennis. Players use a wooden or composite paddle to strike a perforated polymer ball, similar to a whiffle ball, across the net toward their opponents’ side. The court has the same dimensions as a badminton court, with a net and rules more aligned with tennis.
As Darling delved into pickleball rules and strategy, laughter emanated from behind a partition.
“Oh, yeah,” Darling said as he unfurled the end of the partition to open an entrance to the other side of the gym. “Those were the advanced players, here’s everyone else.”
Close to 40 pickleball players populated the other half of the gym. Most were retirees looking to mingle and work up a sweat while doing something they enjoyed. From 90-year-old Bob Beger, known for his outstanding forehand and sharp mind, to 69-year-old Nancy Britt, who along with 84-year-old Barbara Cranston, formed a women’s support group through pickleball.
In Darling’s time as an avid pickleball player, he has built quite the pickleball following in Bartlett and the surrounding area, solidifying his recognition as a national pickleball ambassador by the USA Pickleball Association.
“I’m an ambassador of the sport, which means that I promote the game, teach the game and just love the game,” Darling said. “My concentration is, I live in Bartlett, so my concentration is Bartlett and Arlington and that area.”
Darling became enamored with pickleball when he and friend Frank Bradley observed the sport at the Senior Olympics in Birmingham, Alabama, seven years ago. At the time, Darling was on the verge of retirement and was searching for an athletic activity as a new hobby.
Bradley insisted they bring pickleball back home to Bartlett.
“They were demonstrating pickleball and we got to see a lot of them playing and I told Rick, ‘We need to bring this back,’ so we got back home and started it up,” said Bradley, a retired Memphis city firefighter.
“Anybody can play, that’s what’s so good about it.”
The growth of pickleball in Bartlett has mirrored its rise on a national level. With more than 250 pickleball participants in Bartlett over the last two years, the lack of available pickleball courts — especially outdoors — has become a conundrum for the pickleball group.
“With an indoor environment like (Singleton Community Center), we’re regulated, obviously, to when the facilities let us play,” Darling said. “We’ve got over a hundred Bartlett residents playing pickleball on a regular basis, and by that I mean twice a week. This sport is booming.”
Darling said over the last two years, he has made multiple proposals to Bartlett City Hall about resurfacing unused tennis courts at Ellendale Park. City Hall has yet to return Darling’s requests with anything concrete, frustrating Darling in the process.
“What’s not understood is there are 14 other tennis courts within 21⁄2miles of each other in Bartlett,” Darling said. “The Summerdale courts are great courts and lighted — most tennis players don’t know they exist.”
Mark Brown, chief administrative officer for the city of Bartlett, said City Hall is aware of Darling’s proposal. He said the proper procedures must be put into motion before finalizing a full resurfacing and renovation for pickleball courts.
“They’ve given Shan Criswell (Bartlett parks and recreation director) recently, I think in the last few days, a proposal for what they think it might cost and what kind of support it would take from the pickleball group,” Brown said. “But we haven’t seen that proposal in our office yet, so I guess (Shan Criswell) is evaluating that and trying to make sure everything is correct and get all the facts before bringing that proposal to us.”
Darling will be waiting for the resolution to his proposal, and in meantime, he will continue to promote the sport that has become a healthy obsession and has built lifelong friendships.
“It’s so rewarding for me to see all these people that I’ve helped train,” Darling said. “To see these people come up to me and say, ‘I really appreciate what you’re doing,’ it feels good.”