Pickle Ball vs Platform Tennis Court Resources
 

I understand these are two completely different games. But, looking at the net height and playing surface dimensions, they are fairly close dimensionally. Pickle ball courts are very busy and in demand. Platform tennis courts are mostly unoccupied. Why cant a single court be designed for multi use with adjustable net height (if different), and two different color sets of lines be painted on the same surface for the two different sports?
Seems a waste of resources with some courts filled, others sitting empty.
Educate me please.

The same could be said of the tennis courts. 90% of the time I am playing PB, the tennis courts are unused. Not always, but usually.

It would make a lot of sense to take some of the tennis and platform tennis courts and turn them into more PB courts since that is what is popular. But then the people who do play tennis and paddle will scream, so I don't see it happening.

Last year I reached out to the Recreation Department with the idea of taking ONE PART of the 2 tennis courts, striping for PB, and having a portable net so when the PB courts are jammed, and nobody is playing tennis, people could at least go over there and warm up, or if a couple just wanted to practice a bit they could do that. I even suggested a big bold sign stating that any tennis players would have preference and picklers would have to leave the court if the space was needed for tennis. I got an emphatic "NO". I was told that if I couldn't find a PB court near me (I'm in Poinciana) I should travel down to one of the newer areas like Franklin (an hour by golf cart) and see if they had a court open.

There many (over 300 now and growing?) pickleball courts in the Villages.

Joining some groups with scheduled court times is the best way to guarantee play time.

I hate playing on multi purpose courts - non regulation nets and too many lines are distracting.

The platform courts are great for drill's/practice if not in use.

The tennis courts are well utilized near me.

In the mornings before 10:30 tennis courts are well utilized everywhere. I know folks trying to get new court reservations because their reserved courts at Rohan and Burnsed were closed. It was pretty much impossible to get early morning. They ended up cutting a number of players from their group.

That said, wander to Seabreeze at 9 on Thursdays at Seabreeze and there are people playing tennis, sand tennis, touch tennis on the platform courts, and platform tennis and yet the pickleball courts are empty. People don’t show up until around 10.

At any moment in time there are tons of resources that are not being used. Neighborhood Pools, horseshoes, shuffle board, bocce, bean bag toss everywhere are all empty about 15 hours a day. Not to mention the parking lots. But people do use them. And it would be a shame to lose any of the amenities.

Most tennis are are stripped for master tennis. Tennis nets are 2 inch higher than pickleball. Makes more sense to add strips to some platform tennis courts due to dimension are same or close including net height. they are usually besides pickleball courts plus in cage so you don’t have to chase ball all over big tennis court.

Expect for soccer fields at first responders, they are hardly ever used.

Good. Stripping platform tennis cages better idea nearly same dimensions as pickleball courts. May be same I haven’t look up the small differences.

This is simply false. My idea may have been a bad one, and we needn't argue it since it was categorically shot down by Rec Department, but the statement enlarged in the quote is simply not true.

Agree.

But plenty of opportunity for paddle sports here.

Have you tried Platform Tennis? It's fun and the ability to play the ball off the screens is very challenging.

They have a very organized group with great instructional programs.

Same is true for sand tennis.

Just wish each sport didn't require a different racquet :-)

For the life of me I don't understand why after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild platform tennis courts at Rohan and Eisenhour they can't spend another couple of dollars to put down a NVZ line on the courts which would make them multi use. I can count on one hand the platform tennis games I've seen played at Eisenhour over the past eight years, they get more hours of pickleball play in a day month than PTwill ever get in a year.

Actually I am very familiar with platform tennis. I played a lot of it in the '70s, '80s and early '90s up north. Traveled, played a lot of tournaments. Loved it. Kind of wore my shoulder out hitting all of those overheads, and had some back problems so I quit. It never really took off in my town the way I hoped it would, and the way PB has, so getting good competition became impossible unless I was willing to travel 2 hours or more. That gets old in Western NY in the winter.

Minoletti...platform tennis is performed in a cage and the ball can be played off the walls of the cage. Pickelball has no such cage. Could be one reason you can't have a universal court.

I tried platform tennis thinking it would be similar to racquetball, it wasn’t. Actually, it was a let down. If you wanted to do pickleball drills, just a couple of guys, then the platform tennis courts would be good. We tried using tennis courts and the net is too high and you chase the balls a long way on tennis courts.
If you want to see a new sport that looks like it would be a lot of fun, check out Padel.

The problem with Pickle Ball is that the ball tends to bounce LOW, which is hard on the players knees. The other problem is that BOTH the ball and the racket are VERY STIFF. If you don't believe that, then just LISTEN to the strange "KLUNKING" sounds coming from the pickle ball courts. These are the sounds of STIFF objects colliding. I have been very surprise that some equipment manufacturer has not devised a Pickle ball with a softer coating that also allows the ball to bounce up a little higher. The racket could also be improved to have some "softness" at the point of impact. Possibly the use of strings would help or some rubber coating like on a table tennis racket. Go to the table tennis club when they are playing and LISTEN to the sound of the ball hitting the paddle. The ball is made of plastic (like the pickle ball), yet the sound is more mellow and satisfying.
......To me Pickleball is a game that is hard on the knees and the elbow, so it strikes me as strange that this game has become SO popular with seniors..........who have notoriously UNSOUND knees and elbows.
........Now a tennis type game played on sand makes MUCH MORE sense to me. The sand is obviously EASIER on the knees and the strings of a tennis racket provides shock absorption for the ELBOW.
.........The tennis-like game called short court (I think) would seem to be IDEALLY suited to seniors. It uses the standard tennis court and net height ( NO need to build a special court like Pickle ball). The only change from regular tennis is some line changes and a tennis ball with less air pressure inside.

Balancing the needs of 165,000 people can't be easy....today's pickleball becomes some other activity in 5 years. But agree that development of multi-sport facilities is a priority for the developers. You can see that trend in how golf cart paths have morphed into multi-M mobile paths... Much of the facility at the new Eastport town center has been designed for multiple uses...

Don’t want argument don’t bring it up beings you idea was no go.

Ok who going to do all the net adjustments beings Rec center control net cranks? Like I sure the employees are Going spend extra time cranking nets up and cause few don’t want to wait in line at pickleball courts or think there special and only want to play by themselves. besides, they would probably contract it out due to skill level. Just like they did with blowing courts off which they don’t ensure contractors doing job the hired to do.

Don’t you mean walking blundering paths.:BigApplause:

Have you actually played any of these sports?

feel free to continue the argument with yourself, for as long as you like. I think you are winning!

All of them. I'm a P-L-A-Y-AHH par excellente !!!!

It’s not fair to tennis players to use their courts just because when everyone wants to play pickle ball at the same time.

Sounds like you need to invent a game of your own, with your own special requirements and watch it take off! It'll be great once you correct everything that's wrong Pickleball.

Just like it's not fair for splash splash water "volleyball" players having to double up players because a large group of water volleyball players show up hoping for empty courts, and when there aren't, the splash splash organizers don't know how to say no and make room for them to play. Why are they entitled if there truly isn't space during SS allotted time? Just pointing out a similar circumstance in multiple sports.

For a "playah par excellente", your comments reflect more like someone who has never played either tennis or pickleball.

The reason PB ball does not bounce higher is by design. If the ball bounces too high, it makes it too easy for your opponents to hit a kill shot. There are actually softer balls geared toward beginners with a higher bounce (Onyx). Advanced players wouldn't go near those Onyx balls.

As a 25 year tennis player who now exclusively plays advanced PB, I can tell you that without question PB is easier on your ankles, knees and hips. I can play PB 4 hours every day with no problem, but after 1.5 hours of singles tennis I would need at least 3 days off before the next match.

Not sure what made you draw your above conclusions, but they make about as much sense as your expert opinions on EVs. :jester:

Yep, I always win:eclipsee_gold_cup:

That would doubles pickleball, singles pickleball at higher level lot more grueling.

You're basing injuries on the SOUND the ball makes when hit? It SOUNDS "more mellow and satisfying"? I'm pretty sure that wasn't covered when I took kinesiology...

Good thing "tennis elbow" was caused by playing pickleball... Wait what?

With all of that shock absorbing material in tennis racquets and the tennis ball, it's impossible that people have gotten tennis elbow from playing TENNIS for decades...

Plus, I used to play sand volleyball. It is MUCH harder on the legs, as you don't have a solid surface to push against...

Rebuild? :oops:They wasn’t that old. Must of been snotty construction.

Why play them, when all you have to do is "listen" to other people playing them?

Especially with that chunk of wood you have to play with.

He makes them up on the fly...

Don’t have clue do you…:sing:

[*]99% of PB players in TV play doubles.
[*]I have played singles PB and singles tennis. While singles PB is more demanding physically than doubles PB, it is still less demanding than singles tennis.
[*]Likewise, doubles PB is less demanding than doubles tennis


This is a function of the court being smaller, and has little to do with the paddle/racket or ball.

Actually, I wasn't knocking Pickle ball. I just presented common sense observations that could improve the game.

I COACHED a tennis team that played against Andre Agassi in high school. I played a guy from the Bollettieri Tennis Academy that a year later turned pro and was ranked in the World top 10. And I may have forgotten another downside of Pickle Ball. That the "wristy" shots involve cause too much pressure in the wrists and forearms. AND, I am NOT even close to buying that Pickle Ball is easier on the knees and ankles than tennis. I have played doubles tennis for 4 hours at a time. I doubt that I could play Pickle Ball for 4 hours in a row - without dying of boredom! I think that we could find a study somewhere made by Physicians as to whether tennis or Pickle ball causes the most injuries. In fact, I think I will try Googling that question right now.

The Pickle Ball does NOT bounce low because it was DESIGNED that way.The originators of Pickle Ball just grabbed the plastic ball away from their dog Pickles. No great laboratory design.

Without adjusting for age that data is useless...

What was going on in the 60s when the game was invented is irrelevant to today's paddles and balls. Just like the morph from wooden tennis rackets to metal to graphite and then carbon, PB paddle tech and ball tech have evolved. The balls bounce the way they do by design. If the manufacturers wanted a different bounce based on player need, I assure you, they would design them that way.

Exactly

2.D.5 Bounce. The ball shall have a bounce of 30 to 34 inches (76.2 to 86.4 cm) to the top of the ball when dropped from a height of 78 inches (198.1 cm) onto a granite surface plate that is a minimum of 12 inches (30.5 cm) by 12 inches (30.5 cm) by 4 inches (10.2 cm). The test is to be performed at an ambient temperature of 70 degrees F plus or minus 5 degrees F.


https://usapickleball.org/docs/eec/E...rds-Manual.pdf

Everything evolves. An example is indoor vs outdoor balls. Quiet balls and paddles are now in development.

USA Pickleball Announces Quiet Category for Pickleball Products - USA Pickleball