Grand Canyon 2014 Pickleball Tournament' by Michael & Sherry Martin is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Pickleball courts are coming to Brooklyn Bridge Park
The sport of the moment is moving in to replace the 'underutilized' bocce courts
Bocce is out and pickleball is in at Brooklyn Bridge Park.
The park says that it will be replacing the 8-year-old “underutilized bocce courts” and replacing them with three pickleball courts at Pier 2, the big pier with basketball courts south of Pier 1 and Jane’s Carousel. The changes come amid the rapidly growing popularity of pickleball (though we don’t know anyone who plays it … yet).
More than 4 million people reportedly played pickleball in 2020—an increase of 20 percent from the year prior, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. The sport is a mashup of tennis, badminton and ping-pong, and can be enjoyed by people of all ages. It’s played with a flat paddle that has a longer handle than in ping-pong, and a plastic ball with holes.
The game was invented in 1965 by U.S. Congressman Joel Pritchard during a summer vacation as a way to “entertain bored children using whatever equipment came to hand,” according to BBC News. The sport’s popularity enjoyed an uptick during the pandemic as people looked for easy and socially distant sports to partake in.
“The new pickleball courts replacing the underutilized bocce courts at Pier 2 signal that Brooklyn Bridge Park consistently stays ahead of the curve. New Yorkers win when our public spaces are responsive to what our communities need.” said Councilmember Lincoln Restler, in a release.
An exact date wasn’t revealed for its opening. If you can’t wait until then, Brooklyn Pickleball group on Facebook has a list of open courts and events throughout the borough. The National Jai-Alai Association was not available for comment.
