NOTE: The article below and accompanying video is being presented on the JBRish blog with permission from the originator, Rocket and the Pickleball Rocks Team. You can check out their website at the link below:

Pickleball Rocks

Thanks to Pickleball Rocks and Rocket!

The Surprise City Pickleball Courts In Danger of Losing Mecca Status

February 14, 2016 by Rocket

When you build a shrine to anything, there comes a certain responsibility.

In the case of the city of Surprise, Arizona, the Surprise City Pickleball Courts, since opening 4 years ago, have become somewhat of a shrine to the sport of pickleball. But the shrine may be crumbling.

The Villages of Florida is considered THE pickleball vacation spot in the country simply because there are so many available courts.

But as we travel the U.S., when you ask people where is the mecca of pickleball, it is overwhelmingly Surprise, Arizona. Everywhere we go, people talk specifically about The City Courts.

As a matter of fact, the Surprise City Courts have become so famous nationwide that most people just refer to them as THE CITY COURTS. When players mention The City Courts, everyone knows they are referring to the 8 courts at 14534 W. Tierra Buena Lane next to Dreamcatcher Park.

There is Yankee Stadium for baseball, Pebble Beach for golf and The City Courts for Pickleball.

But sadly, The City Courts are now so overcrowded that it is starting to become a negative.

It is hard to believe that the city of Surprise isn’t falling over themselves to expand that facility in order to maintain their brilliant, pickleball-tourist attracting reputation.

These courts are packed with people waiting to play. At just about any time, you can catch some of the best pickleball players in the world, including National Champions, Gigi LeMaster, Steve Wong, Mark Friedenburg, Scott Lennan and others, mixing in with men and women brand new to the sport. It is a wonderful experience that has become famous throughout the sport of pickleball and its two million plus players.

It is (or was) truly THE place to play pickleball when you travel to Arizona.

It is interesting to watch the surrounding communities now building pickleball courts at breakneck speed in order to capitalize on the mega growth the sport of pickleball is currently experiencing.

Hope the City of Surprise realizes it before it’s too late. Sadly, based on what we’ve seen, the mecca will soon be moving.

Just our observation,

Rocket and the Pickleball Rocks Team