With a much-needed resurfacing and community-funded nets, the pickleball courts at Capitol Hill’s Miller Playfield are now some of the busiest venues of athletic competition in the city.

Seattle Parks says from 30 to 50 players compete for the two hours 10 AM to noon every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when the four pickleball-lined courts are reserved for free, open drop-in play.

Clubs and leagues that book up the courts the rest of the week keep them even busier.

For the few open hours available at its courts, Seattle Parks and Recreation’s Lifelong Recreation Program recruited pickleball “Ambassadors,” volunteers who help organize play “and make the sport safe, fun and educational at several locations throughout the city.” The program is funded by the Seattle Park District.

Parks says there are now 78 outdoor courts lined for pickleball across Seattle where the ambassadors help organize games and some of the city’s community centers now offer indoor courts.

With its smooth new surface and central location just off 19th Ave and John, Miller is a popular center for the sport in the city.

There is demand for more. Over the summer, the Seattle Metro Pickleball Association supported a plan to realign the layout at Miller to make space for six courts but parks stuck with the simpler four-court alignment. And, for old school lovers of the racket, there are still lines and posts for tennis.

While it has exploded in popularity across the nation during the pandemic, pickleball is a game so local to Seattle that the rules include serving to the side of the court closest to Bainbridge Island where the sport is said to have been first played in the 1960s.

The changes have meant shifts from the original purpose of the courts — tennis. CHS reported here on the $50,000 effort put forth by the city to collect feedback from tennis and pickleball players about the future of the parks department’s sports courts as Seattle transforms its investments to better meet community demand.

Around Capitol Hill, tennis has been dropping points over the years. A decade ago, Seattle Parks decided to stick with allowing dodgeball and bike polo at Cal Anderson — now a signature scene in Seattle recreation.

With pickleball, Seattle Parks is embracing the game’s ability to include players across wider ranges of age and abilities. It says Miller players typically range in age “from 20 to 80.” And parks says it hopes to add more capacity with new courts and improvements to existing facilities.

But, like skateboarding, pickleball’s popularity and noise isn’t always supported by neighbors. The sport was called out in community feedback as an undesirable element in the process to shape a new park in the Harvard-Belmont Landmark District. Seattle Parks says sports courts including space for pickleball will not be part of the plan.

The Miller courts are located at 300 19th Ave E. Timeforpickleball.com provides a handy schedule of open play times at courts across the area including Miller.

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