Crossville To Consider New Courts For Pickleball Craze

The Crossville City Council will be in a bit of pickle when they consider eliminating two tennis courts next week.

Councilman Scot Shanks said he wants to convert two courts at Centennial Park into Pickleball courts.

“I’ve had a lot of people coming to me about turning those into pickleball courts. You can convert those two tennis courts into eight pickleball courts,” Shanks said. “The amount of play on those courts, I feel like, would be tremendous.”

Shanks said Tennis is turning into a dying sport and he cited low participation numbers at the state parks and Cumberland County High School. He said CCHS only had two players on the tennis team last year.

“I also talked to the state parks and they’re not getting a lot of play on Tennis either,” Shanks said.

Councilman Danny Wyatt agreed with Shanks, but said eliminating the courts could cause concern for some tennis lovers.

“Tennis is a dying sport, but if you take those tennis courts out then your phone will be ringing off the hook,” Wyatt said.

City officials said there’s currently a total of 20 tennis courts in Crossville and only two pickleball courts, which is not enough for a sport that’s growing in popularity.

“Overwhelmingly we get a lot more response for pickleball and pickleball players calling in for court space,” Crossville Parks and Recreation Director Tammy French said. “I don’t know numbers on tennis versus pickle ball, but what we see more of is definitely pickle ball.”

Pickleball is a paddle sport that combines elements of badminton, tennis, and table tennis. Two or four players use solid paddles made of wood or composite materials to hit a perforated polymer ball, similar to a Wiffle Ball, over a net.

“The good thing about pickleball is that it’s much easier to learn and you can have a lot more people doing it,” Shanks said. “They (the courts) would get utilized a lot.”

Voting to convert the courts will not be the only issue facing council members next week. Shanks said the price to resurface the courts would be an estimated $30,000 and that’s not including other items that would need to be purchased.

“I don’t know what the number will be to do this. We have $30,000 to resurface the courts, but you do have to buy eight nets,” Shanks said. “It’s probably $50,000 or so, but it may not be that much. I really don’t know.”

The council will vote on the measure to convert the courts during the Tuesday, August 14th regular scheduled meeting.