September 22, 2024

To: Ms. Angela Sakkos, Recreation Supervisor, City of San Mateo, asakkos@cityofsanmateo.org

Dear Ms. Sakkos:

We the residents and pickleball players of San Mateo are thankful and very appreciative of the San Mateo City Parks and Recreation and its personnel for the pickleball classes, courts, and the mobile nets in support of the popular sport of pickleball.

We are also desirous of seeing the San Mateo Central Court pickleball and tennis community  become a more vibrant community like Foster City, Burlingame, Belmont, Palo Alto Pickleball Club at Mitchell Park,  and others –  and it might just become a top notch facility with a few changes that we think could be made. 

We would love to see San Mateo Central Park have a more robust pickleball community; however, the courts are not set up to their full potential to allow this.

Some of the current  issues with the courts are:

Equipment:  While the community is certainly appreciative of the dual court striping and securing of portable pickleball nets, unfortunately it has outgrown itself and it is just not working well. The pickleball nets are extremely unstable. The nets constantly fall over with wind, are damaged to the point of not being able to stay up,  and do not stay in place. They are not in line with regulation play. This is extremely frustrating for players. Please see the attached pictures (Illustration 1) of the condition of the nets at Central Park.

Courts rules: The sparse court rules currently posted are not honored and as a result, it is very challenging to even get on a tennis or pickleball court.  Waiting at Court #1 does not work. People poach courts consistently and stay on the courts for hours, rotating in and out with friends.  People also walk all over the courts, disrupting games, and ask players when the court will be available. There have been a number of disgruntled players and a lot of frustration (both tennis and pickleball players) regarding the use of the courts.

No reservations: Without reservations and court rules, the courts are literally a free for all and chaotic.  People are angry about the situation.

No designated pickleball open play: One of the unique and key features of building a pickleball community is the opportunity to play and connect with other pickleball players. Typically, pickleball courts have “open play” courts where people of all ages and skill levels can participate and join play, fostering an energetic and fun social community.

After consulting with fellow San Mateo pickleball players, we would like to make the following recommendations for the San Mateo Central Courts to support both pickleball and tennis players:

Courts and equipment: Convert courts #3  and #4 to permanent pickleball courts with permanent nets. Stripe these courts for 4 pickleball courts each (Illustration 2) for a total of 8 pickleball courts.  Make an exclusive pickleball only entrance to these courts from the North side and tennis courts entrance from the opposite park side. Revert Court 2 back to tennis only.

Court rules: Post comprehensive court rules. These can be adapted from Mitchell Park or Foster City or other city courts. Include open play hours and information.

Pickleball open play: Designate 4 courts at specific times for pickleball open play.  Install racquet holders/shelves to support player rotation (Illustration 3.) At certain times, allocate the open play courts for beginner, intermediate, advanced and open play. 

Reservation system: Develop a website to support a reservation system for at least 2 pickleball courts. Utilize 1 hour time slot reservation system in place for pickleball.

Classes: Offer additional evening classes to meet the demand - classes currently have upwards of 14-15 people on the evening pickleball class wait list.  (Players 18-34, who are in the workforce demographic, make up the largest percentage of players nationwide.*)

Some benefits of these suggestions include:

• Fostering a robust and organized racquet sport venue that San Mateo residents can be proud of
• Eliminating confrontations on courts and player frustration by creating fair opportunities to everyone for court use
• Allowing more courts to use for pickleball lessons, resulting in increased revenue for San Mateo Parks and Recreation; potentially increasing revenue dramatically
• Possibly becoming known as one of the top pickleball play facilities in San Mateo
• Enabling more satisfied San Mateo racquet player resident base
• Drawing more people to Central Park and downtown San Mateo, potentially increasing business revenue

We believe with these changes, San Mateo can have an active and  top of the line racquet facility. We understand this kind of transformation would take time, resources, and budget. If Parks and Rec is amenable, several people who have signed this letter have offered to volunteer to assist with researching, planning, and implementing changes.

We are happy to meet with the San Mateo Parks and Rec to discuss and assist. Please feel free to contact Sue Simpson

Sincerely,

Sue Simpson, San Mateo Resident and San Mateo Racquet Sport Players - Signatures attached)

CC:  

Rob Newsome Jr. , Deputy Mayor and District 3 Representative, rnewsom@cityofsanmateo.org

Lisa Diaz Nash, Mayor, ldiaznash@cityofsanmateo.org

*Reference: https://www.theapp.global/news/nearly-50-million-adult-americans-have-played-pickleball 

 

Illustration 1 - Pickleball Nets Condition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Illustration 2 - Example of Racquet Shelf for Open Play Rotation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illustration 3 - Diagrams of proposed  courts