Pickleball growing in popularity in Cape Girardeau

"Pickleball has been around a while, but in the last couple years it has really taken off like gangbusters," said Brock Davis, Parks divisional manager for City of Cape Girardeau.

One way this has manifested itself is owners of tennis courts converting them to pickleball courts, which Cape Girardeau has done at Arena Park, 410 Kiwanis Drive, off East Rodney Drive.

"It's been several years since we've renovated [the courts], and they were getting in pretty rough shape. So, for the tennis and pickleball crowd, they're glad to see it, it's a big thing for them," Davis said.

Pickleball combines aspects of several sports. The court is similar in size to a badminton court, but instead of a raised net, the net separating the players is like a tennis net. Players use paddles, similar to but larger than ping pong paddles, and the perforated ball does not travel as fast as a tennis ball.

Davis explained there were originally four tennis courts, any of which had to be laboriously temporarily converted for pickleball players. He described converting the courts back and forth as "not ideal."

Cape Girardeau Parks officials have turned two tennis courts into six pickleball courts at Arena Park. The sport has been growing in popularity in recent years.Rick Fahr

"It's a pain in the butt, dragging different nets out and all that kind of stuff," David explained.

"Pickleball is growing. Fast. We probably have two or three times more pickleball players than tennis players. They [pickleball players] are now wanting to bring tournaments here. There's a group from St. Louis that wants to bring tournaments down, and we didn't really have a place for that. We didn't have a whole lot of pickleball courts."

Davis solved the dilemma by making six pickleball courts out of two preexisting tennis courts, leaving a remaining two courts dedicated to tennis.

"This way, it will accommodate both crowds," Davis said. "We have indoor pickleball courts at the Osage Centre and the SportsPlex, but those have to compete with basketball, volleyball, rentals and all that other stuff. We wanted to give [pickleball players] an outside venue, during nicer weather, to go outside and play if they so choose."

"I can tell you, in the time I've been here, people have taken pickleball very seriously," added Amber Bockhorst, marketing coordinator at City of Cape Girardeau.