Pickleball Arrives in Oakland

By Terri Casaleggio
Pickleball court
Pickleball court

Pickleball was first introduced to Oaklanders on an experimental basis last fall when residents were invited to come and play in the evenings.  

Pickleball has been around since the 1960’s, when a U.S. congressman and his friends invented it, and it became a popular backyard game for children. 

The game spread like wildfire to community centers and physical education classes in schools, then to YMCA facilities and retirement communities.  Today the game is played around the world.  It’s the fastest-growing sport in the country, with more than 3 million players, and, yes, there is even a U.S. Open Pickle Ball Championship.  It’s a fast game, folks have lots of fun and it’s affordable. 

The game is played on a shortened court, with up to two players on either side of the net. Players use solid paddles made of wood or composite to hit a plastic ball with holes in it, much like a wiffle ball.

“We didn’t realize our kids had been playing pickleball here in school before we ever thought to introduce it to adults,” said a chuckling Mike Guadagnino, Oakland’s recreation commissioner.

Guadagnino has worked closely on pickleball’s introduction with Bob Scalabrini, Tennis and Special Needs Recreation Commissioner.

 “Bob and I had been getting requests for a while to look into pickleball for Oakland,” Guadagnino stated.   “We discussed this with the town and then we were introduced to an Oakland resident named John Garvin who owns a sport instruction company.”

Garvin suggested testing Oaklanders’ interest by erecting temporary pickleball courts and sending out an invitation to play.

Scalabrini added, “Plans were made to create temporary courts on some of Oakland’s tennis courts to see what reaction we got from players.  Each tennis court was reconfigured by using tape and each tennis court produced two pickleball courts on which up to eight people could play.”

John Garvin also made himself available for lessons in the afternoon and made equipment available for a small fee.  Even amid Covid, many people came to play on the pickleball courts.

Guadagnino added, “John came back in Spring, 2021, and we continued to attract lots of players.  Due to Covid and the heavy attendance, we had to run several pickleball courts.  John even conducted a tournament on a Saturday this October that involved 124 players.”

As has happened in Ridgewood and other communities around the nation, some tennis players were not happy about the arrival of pickleball in the immediate area where they play their sport. 

Mayor Linda Schwager and Guadagnino invited Councilman Grant Van Eck, Oakland Council liaison, to a meeting between the tennis players and the recreation commission’s members.  

A meeting was held in the library where both sides of the issue were discussed and, fortunately, an agreement was reached.

Pickleball

Marilyn Morello, spokesperson for the tennis players, said, “I’m hopeful the compromise we reached will result in mutual respect between players of both sports and we go forward with the same spirit of sportsmanship which was the legacy of the Marchese Family.”

Scalabrini said, “It was decided that five tennis courts would be dedicated for tennis only and one court would be reconfigured by our engineer to create two to four pickleball courts separated by barriers.”   

Guadagnino added, “Until then, the taping will be removed from the temporary courts after each pickleball session, then reapplied just before each new session.  And the whole tennis/pickle-ball facility will then be resurfaced to begin the 2022 spring season at no cost to taxpayers.”

Mr. Scalabrini added, “In the spring we’re also going to work out a special-needs program.”