Langley Township council has approved 12 new fenced, lighted pickleball courts at the Langley Events Centre.
The four tennis courts there now will be moved to 80 Ave. in front of the Langley Tennis Centre at Yorkson Community Park.
Mayor Eric Woodward said these were always planned, but were left unfunded for many years.
“In addition to these 12 new pickleball courts, I am working with staff on more options,” Woodward said.
“I really appreciate the pickleball community's patience as staff, Council and I have been working on a plan, getting it done, as promised,” said Woodward.
The 16 new courts are pre-approved for 2025 so staff will begin work on them with a planned opening date of spring / summer 2025.
In July council asked staff for a report on installing 12 or more pickleball courts at McLeod Athletic Park, with the possibility of building a roof over the courts at a future date.
The area is better suited for pickleball because it's not that close to existing housing, noted Woodward.
In addition, council gave the nod to adding a third gymnasium to the planned Willoughby Community Centre, to be built with a focus on indoor racquet sports, especially pickleball.
The report included a list of possible future pickleball locations as well as existing ones. Partnerships with Langley School District on land for racquet sport courts are also being considered.
It came after a group of Langley Township pickleball players pressed the municipality to add playing courts to accommodate the growing sport.
Bill Mercer, group spokesperson, made a pitch at the Jan. 29 Township council meeting to convert what he describes as underused tennis courts to accommodate pickleball, “the fastest growing sport in North America.”
Many tennis courts in the township sit empty for the majority of the time, Mercer argued.
Some Langley Township tennis players disagreed.
In a March 11 presentation, Lionel Anker and Drew Gauntley told Township council building new pickleball courts was a better solution, and challenged the claim that tennis courts could be considered under-used.
“A wet tennis ball is not what keeps us from playing tennis in the winter, rather it is a safety issue” Anker said.
“We should consider empty tennis courts as we do for empty baseball diamonds and soccer fields and respect that there are not always games going on, especially in the winter months,” Anker maintained.
“Tennis fully supports pickleball but only through new construction courts which provide balanced access for both sports” Anker said.
Pickleball Canada has estimated as many as one million individual Canadians play pickleball at least once a month, with close to half that number playing four or more times a month.
According to an online history of the sport, pickleball was created in 1965 in Washington by three friends who improvised the game when they coudn’t find the shuttlecock for a badminton court, experimenting with table tennis paddles and different types of balls, and by lowering the net.
There are conflicting accounts about where the name came from, with one version claiming it was because a player enjoyed hitting the ball in a way that would put his opponent “in a pickle.”
READ ALSO: Players press for more pickleball space in Langley Township
READ ALSO: Tennis versus pickleball debate in Langley
