The city continues to consider and rethink permanent courts at Bushmaster Park and elsewhere, but it remains unclear whether public facilities are suitable for hosting the growing number of local players.

For now, pickleballers have found themselves playing on makeshift tennis and basketball courts at Bushmaster Park. A mobile net is installed in the center, with lines drawn on the courts of other sports.

Most mornings, weather permitting, dozens of players line up on the court for a few hours. It has become a social group for many, but it reached its full peak in 2020 when group activities were restricted due to the impact of COVID-19. Many players fondly remember pickleball as a valuable outlet during a trying time.

Flagstaff City Council has set a goal of building a permanent court at Bushmaster to accommodate pickleball players and reopen for players in those sports in the mornings when basketball and tennis courts were normally in use. I am reconsidering.

Some residents are happy that a courthouse has not yet been built.

“Bushmaster is our backyard, but don’t you think we have the right to enjoy our property peacefully and protect the integrity of this place we’ve been caring for for decades? I feel invaded and so disrespected and so irrelevant,” said Audria Smith, a resident of the house adjacent to the park who created and collected signatures for the petition, of Daily Sun reporter Adrian Scaberund. mentioned in the article. “I have invested everything in my home, including moving my massage therapy location here in 1995 and then building an art studio. I am very interested in the livability of

However, it is clear that the community is growing. In his second year in business, his 220 players attended the Flagstaff Pickleball Open, hosted by the Flagstaff Pickleball Association (FPA), over the weekend earlier this month. It increased by 10% from the first competition.

FPA President Lynn Walsh expressed frustration at the return of the topic.

“Funds Approved for 2022” [for courts] We need to get through this year and finish this summer,” Walsh told the Daily Sun. “We are already there. There may be something there,’ and we had no complaints until we went.”

Like the little yellow ball in a long rally, the future of Flagstaff’s pickleball courts comes and goes. Like sports, divisive debates are getting a little more tumultuous.

But for now, I can’t stop playing the game.