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Announcer: Listener-supported WNYC Studios.
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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. After a lot of serious stuff today, we will end with a much lower-stakes debate.
[pickleball sounds]
Brian Lehrer: Do you recognize that sound?
[pickleball sounds]
Brian Lehrer: Yes, that's the sound of pickleball, and depending on how you feel about the sport, that noise either evokes feelings of joy and excitement or misery and frustration. To end the show today, we're going to do a quick call-in on the question, "Is pickleball dividing your community, and if so, how?" 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. For a much lower stakes debate at the end of the show. Is pickleball dividing your community, and if so, how? 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692. It's described now as the fastest-growing sport in the US, and it's safe to say that reactions have been mixed.
It's easy to see the appeal of pickleball. It's simple enough to learn. People of almost all ages can play, it's accessible. On the flip side, the rapid increase in players of the sport has led to tennis courts and other public open spaces being taken over by pickle ballers, overcrowded parks. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the sport is not even the crowding, but the noise that we've just heard that's been more in the news lately, in addition to the land use questions. We want to hear from you.
Is pickleball dividing your community, and if so, how? Of course, you can state your side. Are you pro-pickleball? Are you more annoyed by it and think that it shouldn't be where it is in one of your local parks or open spaces? State your case. 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. As some calls are coming in, I'll tell you one story. Inspired by, of all people, Gandhi, a couple in Canada recently went on a hunger strike. A Gandhian hunger strike over, yes, pickleball noise.
That's right, you heard that right. Rajnish Dhawan was quoted in the Washington Post as saying, "You feel as if someone is consistently punching your head," referring to the flacking sound that he hears from inside his home in British Columbia. His wife, Harpreet, broke her fast that night, whatever night that was. According to the Washington Post, while Rajnish ended the strike after 50 hours fearing for his health and with no action from the city. Now, their reaction was definitely extreme. Not many people are going on hunger strikes over pickleball noise.
The Dhawans are certainly not alone in their distaste for the sport and particularly in their case, the noise it sends rafting into their house. Neighborhoods all over the country have erupted in heated debates over the creation of new pickleball courts and the noise pollution as they see it, or the removal of open space for other purposes. A Gothamist headline from last year declared, "Pickleball Invasion Prompts Turf War in the West Village." Listeners, is pickleball dividing your immediate local community, and if so, how? If so, what side are you on?
212-433-WNYC for this much lower stakes debate, 212-433-9692. We'll take your pickleball stories right after this.
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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, to our much lower-stakes debate on how pickleball is dividing your community and which side you're on. Katrina in Maplewood, you're on WNYC. Hi, Katrina.
Katrina: Hi, Brian. I serve on the Board of Directors for the US Tennis Association's Eastern Section, which includes New York and a lot of New Jersey and Greenwich, Connecticut, strangely enough, and we talk about this all the time. I also play locally, I play in a club in Plainfield, and I play on the public courts here in Maplewood and South Orange, and it's all the time people are talking about it. We are so angry at the loud, whacking sounds and the fact that the pickleball players are taking over half the courts.
At the same time, we're all happy that people are getting out and playing racket sport. It's taken over in a way, but I frankly think it'll be a gateway to tennis for people who really want to get in great exercise. For that reason, bring it. Come on. I'm happy to have the fight over courts.
Brian Lehrer: Bring it. Yes, racket sports. Katrina, thank you very much. We could do a whole other call-in on, has pickleball been a gateway to actual tennis for you? Michael in Fairlawn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Michael.
Michael: Hey. I live in Fairlawn now. I used to live in a town called Ridgewood, New Jersey, and there if there noise complaints about pickleball and the mayor ended up shutting down the courts in Ridgewood. It garnered so much frustration from the pickleball community, they gathered enough support and ended up ousting the mayor and getting a new mayor in who supported pickleball.
Brian Lehrer: Wow.
Michael: They were able to get the courts reopened, they got soundproofing stuff up, and there haven't really been any complaints since then. I've found more likely that, especially now that I've moved to-- Even in that town, but in Fairlawn where I play, there's a great sense of community and bringing people together to play and have community and fellowship, and it's been a lot of fun.
Brian Lehrer: Michael, thank you very much. Wow, that's a politics story I actually hadn't heard before. Controversy over pickleball led to a change of who the mayor was. Lorraine in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Lorraine.
Lorraine: Hi, Brian. I love listening to your show. I just took up pickleball because I had an injury to my arm and I couldn't play tennis anymore. I play at Brooklyn Battery Park, the one under the bridge, and the courts are open till midnight. They're always packed [unintelligible 00:06:57] courts and people always get tired so they invite you in. I really love this sport. It's just like tennis. The arm movement isn't as intensive, but it's much faster, and I think it's a great sport. I try to get the courts in Prospect Park to convert to pickleball, and they refused.
They're real gung ho on tennis, so it's going to be slow-moving with getting new courts, but I think that's a fabulous sport.
Brian Lehrer: Do you think your arm injury is representative of a lot of people who play pickleball? Like it's just physically easier. Although I know a few people already who've had pickleball injuries that surprise them, but that it's easier on the body than tennis, and so it's more accessible for more people that's part of the popularity.
Lorraine: I had a major accident with my arm, and I have about 40% use of it. I didn't think I could ever play tennis again, but I picked up pickleball and it's been helping me get back to shape. It's not easier on the body for running. You do have to run more and if you don't run, you fall down a lot, and you have to wear very good sneakers. In terms of the intensity, when you get older, yes, I could see why if you're not as strong anymore, you could be a very good pickleball player and get very good results.
Brian Lehrer: Right. Lorraine, thank you very much. Jim in Huntington, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jim.
Jim: Hi. Yes. I find that they're taking over our tennis courts. Last Sunday, we went to play tennis, and there must have been 20 or 30 people, pickleball people on the tennis courts. They move in with their own nets and they're painting lines on some of the tennis courts, which is very distracting. You all got one set of lines and now somebody's painting some blue lines near the white tennis lines. They come in, we're there all year long, middle of the winter 25 degrees, summer 95 degrees, June is a nice day, there's a bunch of old people, I'm an old person myself, so-
Brian Lehrer: You can say that.
Jim: -a bunch of old people moving in with their racquetball, with their-
Brian Lehrer: Pickleball.
Jim: - pickleball equipment. It's very maddening. We had to drive miles last Sunday just to find a court, because of the pickleball [crosstalk]
Brian Lehrer: Shortage of tennis courts in Huntington, because of Pickleball, a classic turf war literally breaking out on the North Shore. All right. There are some calls, mattering of calls from people in different communities from Brooklyn, out to Huntington, out to Maplewood. Pickleball, pick your side.
That's the Brain Lehrer Show for today produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen produces our Daily Politics Podcast. We have Julianna Fonda and Milton Ruiz at the audio controls. Stay tuned for All Of It.
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