Stop Making Such a Racket

University Park aims to turn down volume on America’s fastest growing sport

For players, pickleball can be super fun. But for some bystanders, the whack of ball against paddle can get super annoying.

The pop of a pickleball can be heard from hundreds of feet away. Although the sound only lasts for a fraction of a second, it has the same pitch as the sirens on emergency vehicles, a tone that can be especially grating to listeners, explained Dale Van Scoyk, owner of Pickleball Sound Mitigation Consulting LLC, a certified pickleball referee, and an ambassador for USA Pickleball.

“It so happens that pickleball has that same frequency that gets your attention,” he said. “But it’s not a continuous sound, it’s an impulse.”

USA Pickleball has acknowledged that pickleball can be disruptive, and it is working to make America’s fastest-growing sport quieter. Now, so is the city of University Park.

In November, the City Council voted to install a sound baffling system on the north and east sides of the pickleball courts in Williams Park. The city made that addition, as well as planned to remove the court backboards, after receiving noise complaints from several nearby homes.

Before the vote, the city explored other ways of lowering the volume at Williams Park’s courts. 

Staff considered the installation of an additional fountain in the park’s pond. But the fountain alone, director of parks and recreation Sean Johnson explained, would cost the city about $35,000. Plus it would require perpetual maintenance and expensive electrical upgrades.

The council also discussed requiring players to use quieter, generation two pickleball equipment. With help from the city’s Youth Advisory Committee, UP completed a sound study that compared the volume of noise made by generation one and generation two pickleball paddles and balls. 

There was decrease in sound when generation two balls and paddles were used, the study found. 

But at an October meeting, staff and a parks advisory committee member said that enforcement of a ball and paddle requirement would be a tall order, in part due to the difficulty of distinguishing second from first generation equipment.

Pickleball players on the courts at Williams Park this fall were surprised that residents had complained about noise. A sound baffling system would be fine, they said, so long as it didn’t interfere with play. But a requirement to switch paddles would likely encounter resistance.

“It’s just a strange ask,” said player Patrick Woodstock, who remarked that there were not homes close to the courts. “If there was a home that was right there, and they were like ‘I have an infant that’s trying to sleep,’ I’d be like alright, I understand.”

The cost of purchasing and shipping the new sound baffling system is $29,442, according to information presented at the council’s Nov. 5 meeting. City staff will install and be able to reposition the system, Johnson said. 

The products approved for purchase by the city — the SLN/CR Lightweight Sound Baffling System and its accessories — feature sound absorbing material. The system is designed to withstand the elements and last for several years, according to the SLN/CR webpage.

The system has received positive reviews from other communities, Johnson told the council.