Pickleball Protest: Players Upset With Enfield Leaders Over Conditions

ENFIELD, CT — Pickleball, a game which combines elements of tennis, ping-pong and paddleball, has become the fastest-growing sport in the United States over the last two years, with an increase of nearly 40 percent to about 4.8 million players. Locally, many people use the courts at the Veteran’s Memorial Athletic Complex on South Road, and indoor courts are being resurfaced at the former Enrico Fermi High School building on North Maple Street.

Many participants, however, are apparently unhappy with the conditions of the courts, and more so with what they perceive as a lack of action from town officials.

On Wednesday morning, a colorful array of 14 signs was placed on the chain link fencing surrounding the South Road courts. The signs contained various messages expressing players' discontent with the lack of progress, including:

• "We Pay Tax So ... Fix Our Cracks"
• "We're In a Pickle ... Just Fix it"
• "Justice For Our Courts"
• "Seniors Matter"
• "Thank You For Nothing!!!"

Kathy Kane, an advocate for the pickleball players, said money was approved to repair the courts last fall, but thus far, nothing has been done.

"We asked the town to 'reserve' the courts for open play, like other towns do, and no reply," she told Patch. "We have asked to expand to six (indoor) courts. When inquiries are made regarding these things to the powers that be, they all make up different stories and no answers or actions. The last inquiry was to the mayor, who told the person,"I'll call you when I know something."

Mayor Bob Cressotti told Patch, "The cracks will be and are being addressed."

Kane accused the town council's leisure subcommittee of making decisions without garnering input from residents.

"The meetings are private and we can’t find out when they are," she said.

A check of meeting agendas and minutes on the town website showed discussion of the pickleball complaints was on the agendas for the meetings of Aug. 9 and Oct. 25 of 2022, and April 24 this year. However, no minutes from those meetings are posted publicly.