Cookeville Residents Request More Pickleball Courts

Cookeville residents have requested the city look into improving and adding more pickleball courts.

Local resident Paula Lilly said the current number of courts doesn’t meet the growing demand of pickleball players.

“Presently, Leisure Services offers us three morning play slots and a drop-in play on one evening. But now, unfortunately, we can’t do that in the summer or the fall because of the camps, and we are a very big community now of pickleball players,” Lilly said. “Search on the internet and you’ll find that it’s just a growing community, and we’re being left out.”

Citizen Wayne Lewis told City Council members that adding more courts would benefit Cookeville’s growing senior population.

“Cookeville’s becoming a place where people retire to. There’s a larger group of retirees here than there was before,” Lewis said. “One thing that we have to think about is seniors should stay active socially and physically. This sport gives them the chance to do both. My wife and I, we went down to Florida and we were there about a month, and we played just about every day.”

Mayor Ricky Shelton said the city will look into the possibility of expanding its pickleball offerings in the near future.

The City of Crossville expanded their pickleball courts to eight last fall with additional lighting through grant funding.

The citizens addressed City Council members during their most recent meeting on May 16.