GoCampingAmerica.com | Posted January
    1st, 2014

    RV Resorts with Pickleball
    Courts

    Happy Camper Blog

    RV Resorts with Pickleball CourtsA
    senior-citizen friendly sport called Pickleball is sweeping RV parks and
    resorts across the Sunbelt.

    “It’s a compact version of
    tennis,” said Wendell Johnson, general manager of Palm
    Creek Golf & RV Resort in Casa Grande, Arizona, adding,
    “The game is very easily learned. Within a week or two, you can become
    proficient.”

    Pickleball involves hitting a ball over a net
    as in tennis. But it requires only one fourth of the space.

    “Because
    you’re in a much more confined area, you have a much better opportunity to
    hit the ball. You don’t have to run and fetch the ball nearly as much,
    especially if you play the game as doubles. So it’s not nearly as taxing on a
    person.”

    Palm Creek Golf & Resort Resort has 24
    pickleball courts, more than any other RV resort in the nation. And snowbirds
    in particular are flocking to the sport in increasing
    numbers.

    Pickleball“We currently have 450 registered members of our
    pickleball court. But during the course of the winter season, we’ll actually
    have 600 people that play pickleball,” he said.

    But
    pickleball has become so popular that RV resorts are racing to either convert
    some of their existing tennis courts into pickleball courts or to build brand
    new pickleball courts altogether.

    “Just about every single
    RV resort that is financially capable is installing pickleball courts or
    expanding their pickleball courts,” Johnson said.

    Southfield,
    Michigan-based Sun RV Resorts, which owns Palm Creek, has also added
    pickleball courts at several of its other properties. “Some of them are
    lighted for night play to allow our residents and guests more time to enjoy this
    growing sport,” said Lori Rumer, regional vice president of operations and
    sales for Sun RV Resorts.

    “Pickleball has become a
    mandatory, expected amenity (for RV resorts) to be considered a five-star
    property that caters to active adults,” said Greg Sidoroff, vice president of
    operations for La Jolla, California-based SunLand RV
    Resorts.

    And while pickleball has primarily been a sport
    for senior citizens, younger people are now playing the sport, too.

    Here’s
    a sampling of RV parks and resorts across the Sunbelt that offer pickleball
    facilities: