Pickleball Ambassador Says Crossville Has Potential To Be The State Hub

Crossville might be the golf capital of Tennessee, but one group is looking to also make Crossville the pickleball capital of Tennessee.

Cumberland County Pickleball Ambassador Chuck Black said the city has potential to recruit major tournaments if it installed eight to 12 covered courts.

“We’re suggesting that we use Opelika, Alabama as a model,” Black said. “They have a new covered facility down there. There chamber of commerce is estimating its generating millions of dollars in revenue for restaurants and hotels.”

Black shared his proposal with the Crossville City Council. Black said the Senior Tennessee Olympics currently held in Chattanooga could be a target for the city.

“It would make us the state of the art pickleball site in the state of Tennessee,” Black said. “Right now, there’s just a couple in Sparta, Jamestown, Cookeville.”

While pickleball may seem like a retirement game, Black said the average player age has actually decreased recently. At the same time, over 2,000 hours of play time were recorded at the Crossville courts over the past two months with up to 800 players.

“Nationally pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the past two years,” Black said. “It’s grown 39 percent in two years, and we now have 4.8 million players in the United States.”