S.F.’s largest pickleball facility opens in the Sunset District

More than a dozen pickleball partisans gathered in the rain on Monday to celebrate the opening of San Francisco’s biggest dedicated pickleball complex, an eight-court facility at Larsen Playground in the Sunset District.

While the official ribbon-cutting was canceled due to the inclement weather, that didn’t stop Hans Carter and other players from gathering for a “mock ribbon-cutting.”

“Someone had an adhesive bandage, and we cut it,” said Carter, who founded the Golden Gate Pickleball Club. “There was some dinking back and forth — everyone was having a good time despite the drizzle.”

The $355,000 pickleball center, which replaced a basketball court and a tennis court, should ease crowds at the city’s other stand-alone facility, the sixcourt Louis Sutter Playground, as well as the always packed Presidio Wall Playground, which made national headlines earlier this year when a neighbor — who had her own private pickleball court — attempted to shut down play there.

San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission President Kat Anderson said she was impressed with how fast the department was able to build the Larsen project. The commission approved the project last January and wasn’t slated to complete it until early next year.

“The growth in the demand for pickleball in recent years has been phenomenal, and that was the motivation behind the construction of this brand-new complex,” Anderson said. “The joy and enthusiasm that this sport creates is undeniable and I’m excited that Rec and Park is part of the movement to increase pickleball play, while also balancing the needs of our other sports communities.”

San Francisco has 22 dedicated pickleball courts, as well as another 41 courts that are lined for pickleball but also used for tennis. Some indoor recreation centers, including Upper Noe and Glen Park, have dedicated pickleball hours.

Like cities all over the United States, San Francisco has been scrambling to accommodate partisans of the fast-growing sport, while at the same time not annoying neighbors, some of whom object to the bright and rapid “pock pock pock” sound of the sport’s paddles meeting the plastic yellow balls.

As a concession to neighbors, the Recreation and Park Department recently changed the pickleball start time at Presidio Wall from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Carter said the new Larsen courts should draw some of the Presidio Wall crowd as well as residents of the Sunset and Parkside.

“The quality of the play space is very good and will attract people, for sure,” he said.

Reach J.K. Dineen: jdineen@sfchronicle.com