July is “Parks Make Life Better” month. The goals of this CPRS campaign are to “raise awareness of the benefits of parks and recreation throughout California and to raise the status of parks and recreation as an essential community service.” No sport embodies the spirit of the “parks make life better” slogan as well as pickleball! Its meteoric rise in recent years can be attributed to the fact that it’s: appealing to all ages, easy to play, easy to learn and relatively easy to implement within existing City parks. The sport also creates strong social connections among players, which further strengthens communities.
Southgate Park, Hayward
CALA is helping their clients meet this exploding demand for pickleball. The Hayward Area Recreation and Park District (HARD) recently sought our help in converting two tennis courts into six pickleball courts at Southgate Park. The new courts are immensely popular, which has convinced HARD to convert another tennis court at Weekes Park into two pickleball courts. CALA’s currently designing new courts in Dublin (6), Menlo Park (3) and Pismo Beach (2), all of which are expected to be on-line in 2023.
Castro Valley Community Park
Pickleball is proving to be an important tool in the toolbox for parks managers. Especially as they look to offer their communities high-quality recreation opportunities at reasonable costs. We’re excited to be part of the pickleball revolution!
