FOLLOWUP: West Seattle pickleball players band together to save court access

| West Seattle news | WS & Sports

West Seattle pickleball players rallied this week as they ramp up opposition to Seattle Parks‘ Draft Outdoor Racquet-Sports Strategy, which would – among other things – change dual-striped courts at High Point and Alki to tennis-only. Next milepost along the way: Tomorrow night (Thursday, April 23), the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners – a city-convened advisory group – gets briefed on the “strategy.” Though board meetings usually have a public-comment period, the department is directing comments to the three feedback meetings (none in West Seattle, though some local advocates are trying to get one set up). The advocate who contacted us says they’re trying to “show their support to save these vital community resources. These courts are used by hundreds of people every week to stay active and connect with neighbors. We have no idea why the city would seek to do away with such highly used and inclusive gathering places.” They’re describing what they’re doing as a “WS-specific effort … aimed at saving pickleball at Walt Hundley and Alki. We are planning another larger rally on a weekend in Mid/Late May where we hope to turn out the entire West Seattle pickleball community and invite our local elected leaders and city officials to see how many lives are touched by pickleball in West Seattle.” In the meantime, they’re continuing to collect petition signatures here. Tomorrow night’s Parks Board meeting is being held in person downtown and via Zoom at 6 pm – attendance info is here.

Alki resident April 22, 2026 (9:27 pm)

Good job everybody. There are millions of pickleball players in this country, thank you for representing. This makes me happy to see.

pickler April 22, 2026 (9:45 pm)

PIckleballers speak truth to power!

Eric 44 April 22, 2026 (10:05 pm)

Alki should be tennis only the noise I knew someone who lived in the light blue single story old apartments directly across from the tennis court on alki and the noise was unbearable and she ended up moving

K April 23, 2026 (6:24 am)

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But she already left and no one else cares. Tennis players never used those courts. Better to have an active facility than an empty one.
Jake April 23, 2026 (9:16 am)

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Should people who live next to highways expect cars to be quiet? Ridiculous, don’t live next to a court if you don’t like noise.
Kathy April 23, 2026 (10:52 am)

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My bedroom has windows facing Admiral Way near the intersection of 63rd Ave. Every sunny evening there is noisy drag racing in front of my house going on until late at night. I put in noise reduction windows to help reduce the noise. If you live near a playfield you are going to get some noise, it’s part of living in the city. You can wear earplugs. At least Pickleball is a legitimate use of the racquet court, as opposed to drag racing on Admiral Way or using the playfield for an off leash dog area.

Common Sense April 23, 2026 (6:45 am)

Why not just build a tennis court at Lincoln Park. No need to take anything away from a heavily used resource like the court at Walt Hudley. Just build an additional tennis court somewhere to service the new tennis need. But also why does west Seattle need a new tennis court? Are the ones in north admiral not enough?

Bdubbs April 23, 2026 (6:55 am)

I used to play tennis at Alki all the time, now I can’t. Literally every single day it’s packed with pickleball players. Let’s just split the court in half, or build a second court in the massive field. Simple.

Kyle April 23, 2026 (7:59 am)

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You still can! You just have to talk people and ask to rotate in. Parks could actually help by posting guides for how to rotate in different racket sports and matches. If your comment is more that you used to be able to play tennis for hours uninurupted because the court wasn’t popular, it’s probably a good thing more people are using it.
Conjunction Junction April 23, 2026 (8:33 am)

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Dude, really? That massive field is a sports field that, like tennis courts, is one of few sports fields in WS. Because of its condition, it is on the bottom of the list, but serves soccer, flag football, baseball and ultimate frisbee, to name just a few, especially as a practice field. On top of that, there is a joint use agreement for the elementary school, so they can use it as their recess space.

Seth April 23, 2026 (7:18 am)

I have lived here for over 8 years and I don’t know about anyone else but anecdotally I have never ever seen anyone ever play tennis on any Court besides the ones in Seward Park. Meanwhile I have seen hundreds of pickleball players across the city. Also there wouldn’t be a market for indoor pickleball courts the way we’re seeing now if the player base wasn’t huge. We really should make sure we have access to free and open courts across the city for pickleball players. Keeping them dual was a way better plan. Or if not keeping them dual then we should be realistic about what the proportion of pickleball players to tennis ball players is and delegate appropriately

Beanie April 23, 2026 (7:20 am)

It seems so odd that if there’s such high demand for courts, that Parks would take courts away.

Sharon April 23, 2026 (8:09 am)

Pickleball is an easy sport for many seniors to play & stay healthy. Why would the parks dept want to reduce the number of courts when it is a friendly fun activity for all ages to play.

Noah April 23, 2026 (8:34 am)

These courts are packed with pickleball players for a reason! There is a real community and third place that has been built at these courts and taking them away would be a huge loss for West Seattle.

Conjuntion Junction April 23, 2026 (8:41 am)

I’m really curious why the city/parks/players can’t double down on publicly owned parking areas – SSC’s huge parking lots, SWAC’s parking lot, elementary school parking lots. I realize that pickleball players would like nice tennis courts, but is it necessary? I scheduled a sports team that used the crappiest of grass fields for practice, and we saved our reservation for nice fields for games. Can’t “they” rehab parts of the parking lots, and stripe them for pickleball and parking? Then those that just want to pick up a game randomly or practice can drop into these spots? Its such a shame that so many paved acres in WS are used just a fraction of the time.

Noah April 23, 2026 (9:29 am)

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I’m a bit confused by this. To make them actually suitable for play youd have to fully level, resurface, paint, and fence in the parking lots. Going by the pace of other seattle parks construction efforts, this is a multi-year effort and doesn’t help the immediate problem.

Jake April 23, 2026 (9:15 am)

Let’s go pickleball!!!

Amy G April 23, 2026 (9:42 am)

Pickleball courts are vital hubs where people exercise and connect with neighbors. Closing dual-lined courts and convert to tennis-only is not just an inconvenice of longer drives and wait times. It will tear apart our communities.

K April 23, 2026 (1:21 pm)

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The hyperbole used by several pickleball players on this website is enough to make me avoid the sport entirely in public. Calm down!

ws mama April 23, 2026 (10:18 am)

Pickleball is so easy to pick up with a low barrier to entry. It’s gaining a lot of momentum with the high school kids, and they love playing pickleball at Alki. It’s such a great activity for them to be active, outdoors, and off their screens. I would be very disappointed to see these courts transitioned to tennis only. It’s become a great community space for these kids.

Kathy April 23, 2026 (11:06 am)

I’m a casual PB player and don’t really care that Alki Playfield courts are not in prime condition. Maybe tennis players and hardcore pickleball players feel it needs to be improved. It sounds like Walt Hundley courts are more geared to PB league play or large groups rotating in whereas Alki seems to be used more for small group neighborhood drop-in use. I could actually just volley over the tennis net and get some exercise if they revert Alki to tennis only but I would miss the court striping for PB.

Ellen Nichter April 23, 2026 (12:45 pm)

I have collected used Pickleball paddles and balls from the West Seattle Pickleball community for the past 2 years. So far I have put 30 paddles at Highland Park Elementary, 30 paddles at Pathfinder K-8, 30 paddles at Roxhill Elementary, 30 paddles at Kimball Elementary and 60 paddles at Arbor Heights Elementary. I have physically dropped these items off but the pickleball community has worked together to encourage healthy activity in the kids who deserve these parks. We need these pickleball courts for our kids! We need these healthy habits to continue to be planted in the next generation! #letusplay #wskidsmatter

Joseph April 23, 2026 (12:52 pm)

Exercise and engagement are important, but so is noise; pickleball is notoriously loud and interferes with people’s quiet enjoyment of their homes and public spaces. Based on demand, I definitely support finding space for pickleball courts, but these likely need to come with some sound management and respect for how current tennis courts are used.

I find it odd that pickleball activists are so ignorant of the reasonable expectations of others as they demand full access to whatever suits their needs. Do better. If sound is the issue, fundraise for sound suppression of existing courts. If competing occupancy is the issue, work out a reasonable proposal. Don’t skimp on critical thinking.

R2 April 23, 2026 (3:01 pm)

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I remember going to watch Shakespeare in the Park at Delridge Playfield a couple summers ago, back when there was all that fuss about the concrete slab in Lincoln Park. At the time, I’d heard of Pickleball, but never actually seen it played. As we were waiting for the show to begin, I remember noticing that there was a court where folks were playing Pickleball not too far from where the play was going to be staged, and thinking I might see what all the fuss was about. It turns out, it didn’t interfere one bit with the audience’s ability to hear the play. Not one bit.
- Nope April 24, 2026 (7:27 am)
  
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  Imagine being so rude that you would play pickleball while a play is being performed. I can assure you that audience and cast members were bothered.

KinesthesiaAmnesia April 23, 2026 (3:23 pm)

I don’t have much to add to the great pickleball vs tennis debate. But I don’t think Seattle does enough to celebrate the local creation and history of pickleball. It was invented on Bainbridge and they act like it’s from Mars!

TM April 23, 2026 (4:08 pm)

“We have no idea why…”? Maybe for the same reason it’s had successful resistance here, and all across the country. Which they are of course aware of.

Louis V. Mills April 24, 2026 (5:41 am)

Whoa. Anyone educated in outdoor recreation knows that some sports and activities are INCOMPATIBLE with other activities, i.e. motorcycles and bicycles. In this case, through long personal experience, pickleball is compatible with tennis facilities, but tennis is NOT compatible with pickleball. In West Seattle when pickleball is allowed on active tennis courts, they immediately begin to dominate use, noise, and schedule. Pickleball players in most cases DO NOT MOVE THEIR NETS off the courts when play has concluded. This is the norm in West Seattle, not the exception. When permanent lines are painted for both sports, confusion results on line calls. Across the country in many cities with similar experience with multi use sports corroborated this basic conflict. I suggest and urge separate facilities as a result of this basic conundrum. In the short term, minimal sharing of facilities may be warranted, but not with active existing tennis facilities in West Seattle.