New courts making Beaufort County ‘pickleball mecca.’ Why so many are drawn to the game
The crack of paddles striking whiffle balls rang out at Beaufort’s Southside Park this week as players tested the city’s first public pickleball courts.
Bob Mullins, a 62-year-old retired Marine seated in a lawn chair, waited his turn on the sidelines. Carrying a few extra pounds, he joked that his goal was to become a fitness model. Once on the court, Mullins hit a good ball for a guy who picked up the game a week ago.
“When it comes off the paddle, it sounds like it’s going to take your head off,” Mullins said of the distinctive sound. But with the balls filled with holes, they don’t fly too fast. “You are waiting for it to get there,” he noted.
Mullins and his wife, Gail, are recent Beaufort retirees who love sports and the outdoors. They were drawn to pickleball as much by the courtside camaraderie with their fellow competitors as the action on the court. It’s that combination that has made the sport one of the most popular games on the planet.
Four additional public pickleball courts recently opened to meet some of the demand for court time — two each at Shell Point Park in Port Royal and Southside Park in Beaufort, where the Mullinses were playing. South of the Broad, Bluffton Recreation Center is getting two new courts, too.
More public courts still are needed to meet the demand, said Jeff Conradi of Sun City, USA Pickleball’s district ambassador for South Carolina.
The sport is the fastest growing in the world, he said, and the Lowcountry, led by tennis- and golf-loving Hilton Head Island, has evolved into a “pickleball mecca.”
Over the past two years, Palmetto Dunes on Hilton Head, for example, has increased its number of pickleball courts from 8 to 24, all with lights, Conradi says. It’s become one of the premier pickleball resorts on the East Coast. Next month, it will host a professional tournament.
The problem in Beaufort County, Conradi adds, is that most of the pickleball courts are located in private communities not open to the public.
“We need places for the local people to play,” Conradi says. “The sport is limited only by the lack of courts, and that’s not just here, it is all over.”
Nationwide, 111 new pickleball locations are being added per month.
In 2020, USA Pickleball says, participation grew by 21.3% to more than 4.2 million players across the country. The South Atlantic Region, which includes South Carolina, has 283,000 players, the most in the nation.
Pickleball rules requiring an underhanded serve, two bounces before the ball can be hit in the air and a 7-foot no volley zone “so you can’t stand at the net and pound it,” basically took away the power game. Conradi attributes those rules to the sport’s popularity.
“It neutralizes it for everyone and makes it a fun and fair game for kids, men and women, grandparents,” Conradi says.
Beaufort County Parks and Recreation sank $75,000 into converting three tennis courts into the six pickleball courts at Southside, Shell Point and Bluffton. The courts in Shell Point and Beaufort were the first public courts in northern Beaufort County.
More courts possible
More pickleball courts will be considered in the coming year, said Beaufort County Administrator Eric Greenway, noting the budget process begins in November. Parks and Recreation also is updating its parks master plan, which is another way the public will get a chance to influence priorities.
“Every once in a while in your career, you encounter activities and interests that generate a lot of public interest,” says Greenway, “and the pickleball growth throughout the county is phenomenal.”
Additional courts in both northern and southern Beaufort County will be looked at, said Greenway. North of the Broad, more courts at Southside and new courts at Burton Wells Park have been mentioned, but it’s early in the process.
One certainty is the county plans to open the Greene Street Gym in Beaufort to pickleball this winter, beginning in October, Greenway said.
Elly Levin, vice president of the Sea Islands Pickleball Club, said many of the club members began playing pickleball at the Shed, a large building in downtown Port Royal, about three years ago. Nearly 150 people competed. Because there were only two courts, players had to wait to play. When they did, they talked. Friendships developed, and those relationships stuck even after COVID-19 and the sale of the building ended pickleball at the Shed in early 2020. Now they have a new place to play at Southside.
“Some of us take it seriously,” said Levin, who describes pickleball as a hybrid with elements of tennis, ping pong and badminton. “Some of us don’t. Most of us are just having a good time.”
“It’s great fun,” recently retired dentist Gene Grace said as he walked off the court. “What’s good is you can get pretty good pretty quick.”
Gail Mullins appreciates the slower pace of the game. “Once you get into the groove of knowing the speed, you have more ability to move and get with it,” she said. Mobility is nice to have, she says, but it’s not required.
Don’t make the mistake of judging a player by their age or appearance, then assume they would be easy to beat, Bob Mullins added. Otherwise, he said, they “will wax you.” Some players might not move much, “but they put the ball where they run you to death.”
Emily Upperman, 70, of Port Royal, started playing five years ago at the invitation of a neighbor. “It’s fun,” Upperman said. She loves the laughter that rings out across the courts. She never worries about looking silly.
“I know that no one is judging me,” Upperman said.
This story was originally published September 18, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
