A group advocating for pickleball courts in Poulsbo gave a presentation at the Sept. 26 Parks and Recreation Commission meeting.

The North Kitsap Pickleball Facebook page has about 350 members, and many of them showed up to provide support for the fast-growing sport, which was recently named the official sport in Washington state.

Parks and Rec offers pickleball 101 classes at the rec center where lines are painted so people can play and learn the game. To offer more courts in the community, the group asked to use the tennis courts at Lions Park as pickleball courts.

Four pickleball courts could be implemented within the two tennis courts already there. For each of the two tennis courts, a pickleball court would be on one side of the net. The existing tennis courts run north-south while the pickleball courts would be east-west, running perpendicular. The group also asked for resurfacing of the courts.

Many players from Poulsbo have to travel to Battle Point Park on Bainbridge Island to play. About 20% of the players there are from Poulsbo, the group says.

A few pickleball courts are also slated for the soon-to-be Poulsbo Events and Recreation Center, and the group would also eventually like to see some ADA-compliant courts at Raab Park to coincide with the upcoming Play for All playground project.

A more ambitious ask from the group was to possibly convert the old Albertson’s space in Poulsbo Village into a pickleball events center that would have multiple courts and places for folks to eat and relax, among other things.

Another idea mentioned by the group was for the city to consider incorporating a parks district, similar to Bainbridge, to help raise more money for community-driven projects.