Pickleball seeds planted in Lakewood Ranch

When Bob Haskin moved to Lakewood Ranch in September from St. George, Utah, the first thing he did was search for pickleball courts.

Haskin is a member of the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) and has competed in events like the U..S Open Pickleball Championships. He was flummoxed to find out there was no club in his immediate area. It was prevalent in St. George, which has hosted USAPA regional tournaments among other big events. The situation simply would not do.

After a few meetings with Keith Pandeloglou, the Lakewood Ranch Community Activities director, and linking with Carol Lucas, a longtime Lakewood Ranch resident and social pickleball player, Haskin decided to spearhead the creation of the Lakewood Ranch Pickleball Club.

It was something Lakewood Ranch residents wanted to create anyway, he said. They just had not gotten around to it yet. 

Haskin, the club's president, was sure interest was plentiful. He was right. As of Jan. 18, the club has 126 members. Haskin said 40 people signed up the first night, when he made an appearance at Lakewood Ranch’s Club Day celebration. He’s got theories on why the explosion in popularity occurred.

“It’s an evolution of tennis,” Haskin said. “It’s a safer sport physically, and it’s a social game. You can play with anybody.”

The club is free. All interested parties have to do is contact Haskin ([email protected]) and tell him you’re ready to play.

Only one thing has soured the pickleball club’s enthusiasm: There’s nowhere to play.

Nowhere public, anyway. There are communities with courts, like Country Club West, but unless you’re a member of that community, those are not much use, and there are only two to four courts per community. For a club with so many members, a public space with dedicated pickleball courts is a necessity. Lakewood Ranch tried to paint pickleball lines on the basketball courts behind the athletic center, Lucas said, but the lines stretched off the court and forced players to play on two different surfaces at once (concrete and grass). That isn’t safe for players, she said.

Dual tennis and pickleball courts, like the ones next to Lakewood Ranch High, seem viable at first, but rules mandate all lines on tennis courts must be the same color, making things confusing for both sports if pickleball lines are painted. Nets are also two inches lower on pickleball courts than tennis courts.

Haskin and Lucas, the club's vice president, will be in attendance Feb. 20 at the Manatee Board of County Commissioners work session to make their issue known. Haskin and Lucas said the board knows pickleball courts are a problem, but it doesn’t understand the scale. Instead of, hypothetically, the board approving four public courts to be open in 2020, Haskin and Lucas would like anywhere from 12 to 24 courts, and would like them soon. With the county’s acquisition of Premier Sports Campus, Lucas said, an opportunity exists to accomplish such a feat.

For now, the club is making due. Haskin, who works with Country Club East as its “social pickleball director,” has come to an agreement with the neighborhood to allow club tournaments on its courts if the tournaments feature paid entry. Haskin is planning to hold a mixed Valentine’s Day couples tournament Feb. 10, final details pending, and a normal mixed tournament later in the month. He's also offering clinics for players looking to learn the game. 

Haskin and Lucas have grand plans for the club. The main goal is for people from different neighborhoods (and generations) to meet each other and make friends, they said, and to get listed as a “place to play” on the USAPA website, so people on vacation in the area know the sport is available. That’s what Haskin checked when he came to Lakewood Ranch, he said. Down the road, the goal is to host at least a USAPA regional tournament, like Haskin watched in St. George.

None of that can happen without public courts dedicated to pickleball.

“Lakewood Ranch’s motto is ‘Live. Work. Play.’” Lucas said. “It would be nice to be able to play where we live.”