The town council voted 4–1 Tuesday to convert two of the four tennis courts at Anamax Park into eight pickleball courts, formalizing a transfer of power that regulars say happened on the ground months ago.
The lone dissent came from Councilmember Ruth Tally, whose Tuesday tennis league has played the same courts for nineteen years. “I have nothing against pickleball,” Tally said, in a tone that suggested otherwise. “I have something against the sound of pickleball.”
The sound was, in fact, studied. An acoustic consultant's report commissioned for the project describes the characteristic “pop” as “impulsive, repetitive, and highly localized,” while a resident speaking at comment described it more memorably as “a typewriter falling down stairs, forever.” The report recommends a sound barrier. The council approved a hedge.
Pickleball advocates, who filled three rows in matching shirts, celebrated quietly, then loudly, then were asked to celebrate outside.
“This is the fastest-growing sport in America,” said club president Herb Salazar, 71, who took up the game four years ago and has since recruited, by his own count, “everyone.” Asked about the tennis players, Salazar was magnanimous: “They're welcome to join us. Everyone joins us eventually. It's like the ocean.”
Conversion begins in January. The hedge, the town confirmed, will take “several years to reach acoustic maturity.”
Rich Palladino covers Valley sports. His backhand is fine, thank you for asking.