“We do want to emphasize that we are not out to dismantle any courts, so we don’t know where that information came from,” Ala Moana/Kakaako Neighborhood Board chair Kathleen Lee said.
ALA MOANA, Hawaii (KHON2) — Ala Moana now has a designated space for pickleball.
It is considered America’s fastest-growing sport, but local officials wanted to dispel rumors about the trend taking over other public facilities.
There used to be a practice tennis court at Ala Moana Park, but pickleball players often used it and drew their own lines to play. Permanent lines were painted on Saturday, Sept. 21 by City Department of Parks and Recreation contractors.
“It was really a good compromise because we’d been seeing more and more conflicts between the pickleball and the tennis players at that particular location and so we wanted to find a resolution that fit both sides,” DPR spokesman Nate Serota said.
The vice chair of the Oahu Pickleball Association said it is a place that players can finally call their own.
“It’s really awesome because now it’s an official pickleball court,” Kevin Ching said. “Before, they did not recognize it as a pickleball court.”
City officials said painting the practice court works well for everybody because it does not take any of Ala Moana’s 10 designated tennis courts away and still creates a permanent home for pickleball.
Junior tennis coach Mike Shima plays pickleball on the side with his son and said expanding one sport should not come at the expense of another.
“I love pickleball, and I think that’s great,” Shima said of the three newly-painted courts. “I just think that, you know, we don’t need to take away tennis courts because we actually need more tennis courts.”
Recent online rumors of a potential resolution in Ala Moana’s Neighborhood Board to convert some of the designated tennis courts to pickleball are not true, according to the chair.
“We do want to emphasize that we are not out to dismantle any courts, so we don’t know where that information came from. But again, we’re open to everyone coming in to our board meeting, which is actually happening next week to talk about this matter,” chair Kathleen Lee said.
Serota confirmed that there are no current City plans to convert the 10 tennis courts at Ala Moana and said the latest work is all about finding a balance.
“Amongst the existing user groups and this growing sport,” Serota said, “We really want people to get along as much as possible and to share these facilities because it is really difficult to make new facilities around the island. There’s a lot that goes into that. So for the time being, really sharing is caring.”
Check out more news from around Hawaii
The three new pickleball courts at Ala Moana will open to the public at 6 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 2 after the paint dries.