Editor:
The proposal is to add lines to the Veteran’s Park tennis court as required to accommodate four pickleball playing surfaces. Pickleball players would use portable nets so the existing tennis net would not be altered. The resulting pickleball playing surfaces and nets can also be used for under 10 tennis. Our plan was to book the court for a maximum of four hours per week, which is around 1.5 per cent of the available weekly court hours for all four Canmore tennis courts.
We do not plan to use the lining systems that are pictured on the Canmore Tennis Association (CTA) web page, which would indeed wreck the court for tennis players.
We plan to use a Calgary court lining system. With this system the pickleball lines are narrow and black in color, which makes them blend in to the green court surface. In addition, over 40 per cent of the added lines are in the tennis out of bounds area. Also, with the layout being proposed, there are no areas where parallel tennis and pickleball lines are close together.
Will these lines negatively impact the game of tennis? Since I have never played on a Calgary court with dual lines I am not qualified to comment. I therefore made arrangements, with a Calgary tennis official, to have prominent tennis players email to me a summary of their experiences playing on courts with dual lines. Five players responded including a level 4.0 player, an organizer of the Calgary Interclub Tennis League, a captain of a level 4.0 team, a long time player and a player that helped organize a level 4.0 tournament on courts with dual lines.
All of these people, except one, indicated that they have not heard and complaints from their fellow players. The organizer of the Interclub Tennis League stated that over the past two years he has heard less than five complaints from the various teams that played on dual lined courts.
While I am certain the additional lines will not negatively impact tennis players there is no denying the fact that the four hours per week we plan to use the Veteran’s park court may make waiting times for tennis courts a little longer.
The long-term solution to the lack of court capacity in Canmore is for the tennis and pickleball players to join forces and justify an additional dual use court.
If anyone would like to receive pictures of the court lining systems we are proposing, feel free to contact me at [email protected]
Bill Hogg,
Canmore
