Out with the tennis and in with the pickleball.
A park in Alpharetta will ditch a pair of its tennis courts and convert them into courts for pickleball, a sport rapidly growing in popularity. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, about 2.82 million people were playing pickleball in the United States in 2017, a 12.3 percent increase from 2016.
The city’s department of recreation, parks and cultural services is converting tennis courts No. 4 and No. 5 at North Park at 13450 Cogburn Road into courts for pickleball.
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Work converting the courts began on Monday and they are expected to be playable by Oct. 13.
Pickleball courts are smaller, so those two tennis courts will be converted into six permanent courts for pickleball, for public use, leagues, clinics and free play.
Alpharetta’s parks and rec department said in a statement that it was “seeing the same growth and interest” for pickleball in the city as the rest of the country.
Pickleball is sort of like tennis, but the court is smaller, players use wooden paddles instead of rackets, it’s played with a plastic ball instead a tennis ball, and some other rules differ.
For folks in north Fulton County interested in pickleball, the city asks that you call 678-297-6140.
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