“It’s growing by leaps and bounds,” said Troy Houtman, director of the city’s Park & Recreation department.

Houtman was referring both to residents’ interest in the sport and the city’s plans for a $6.15 million, 24-court facility in south Wichita. Construction could begin on the South Lakes Park pickleball complex as soon as this summer.

The city has also hired its first pickleball pro to teach lessons in the “dink shot” and other fine points of the game, converted more tennis courts to pickleball and — with money raised by pickleball players — installed lights for courts in Edgemoor Park.

“When South Lakes goes online, it’ll be wonderful,” said Gary Smith, an avid player and U.S. Pickleball Association ambassador. “Right now, we’re doing very well. We’re so much further ahead than we were five years ago. The city has completely changed the way they think about pickleball.”

No one seems to have a definitive idea of the number of pickleball courts in Wichita, but, counting those that are also used for other purposes, there will likely be around 100 when the South Lakes facility is ready. Area YMCAs, senior centers, schools, businesses such as Chicken N Pickle, Nahola Fitness Center and other organizations operate courts in addition to the city.

The number of players is also unknown, but Houtman and Smith say there’s no doubt it’s growing. “I don’t have anybody out there counting, but the reports I get is that the courts are full during peak times,” Houtman said.

Similar to tennis, pickleball is played with paddles and a plastic ball on a court about one-third the size of a tennis court. It is, by all accounts, much easier to pick up than tennis while still providing a challenge, enjoyment and exercise. 

“It’s all inclusive — I mean age-wise, gender-wise, everything,” Smith said. “People say, well, it’s an old person’s sport. But just the day before we had a clinic with juniors and 90 kids showed up. That’s amazing.”

South Lakes, located near South Seneca and 55th Street South, was the city’s competitive soccer center before the Stryker complex opened in northeast Wichita in 2019. In addition to 24 courts, half of them lighted for nighttime play, the pickleball complex will include a clubhouse with concessions and a pro shop, plus family bathrooms and changing rooms. Two championship courts will be surrounded by seating for about 200 people each, and there will be a space for food trucks.

The goal of the facility: provide more courts for regular play, leagues and lessons while also making possible the kind of larger regional and national tournaments that some neighboring states have been holding.

“Most definitely,” Houtman said. “We are hoping that it will draw tournaments from other states. We have people going to other states to play. A lot of times you hear about people from Nebraska or Missouri driving through Wichita to get to a tournament in Oklahoma City or Dallas. Why not stop here?”

The city will stage some tournaments itself and rent the facility to organizations that want to host their own events. For daily play, the city will charge less than $5 an hour per court, Houtman said.

Wichita has already made a name for itself in the pickleball world, with several national champions based here, including the mixed doubles team of Lucy Kovalova and Matt Wright (profiled in SPLURGE!’s October 2021 issue). Other nationally ranked players include Jay Devilliers, a former Wichita State tennis player who’s on the Professional Pickleball Association tour, and Patrick Smith.

The passion of local players was exemplified by the Light Up Edgemoor group, which held tournaments to raise $27,000 for lights on courts at Edgemoor Park. The Wichita Parks Foundation paid the other half of the cost.

Houtman said the city is seeing “a lot of demand” for the lessons given by Noi Sourinthone, who moved here from Nashville last year to become the city’s pickleball director.

While some have questioned whether pickleball is a fad that will fade away, Smith and Houtman believe just the opposite will take place. Smith cites statistics showing that pickleball has been the nation’s fastest-growing sport for three years running, with nearly nine million people now enjoying the game.

“I think there’s going to be even more demand,” Houtman said. “There’s been some discussion about pickleball becoming an Olympic sport, about pickleball possibly becoming a high school sport. There’s a lot of outreach going on to elementary school PE classes, middle and high school PE classes.”

“If we create a situation where it’s affordable and available, I think it’s going to do very well.”