Pickleball players ask for 6 courts in Black Mountain

Pickleball is a growing sport across the country, and Black Mountain is no exception.

Libba Fairleigh is an avid pickleball player in the town and keeps track of data related to the sport and those who play in Black Mountain.

According to Fairleigh, 5,034 people played pickleball on public courts in 2022. This number jumped to 6,244 in 2023. These numbers do not reflect unique players, but rather, players were counted each time they played.

Fairleigh is one of many who joined the February Town Council meeting to ask for dedicated town-owned pickleball courts. As of now, pickleball players are playing on taped off tennis courts.

The town currently has plans to build four new pickleball courts at Cragmont Park, but the pickleball community in Black Mountain is asking for six.

In his presentation to council at the February meeting, Black Mountain Recreation and Parks Director Josh Henderson said $120,000 was budgeted in fiscal year 2023-24 for four new pickleball courts. However, when he gathered estimates for the courts in 2023, the average cost for four courts would be $163,924. For six courts, the price goes up to $241,279.

Fairleigh told Black Mountain News that the need for six courts instead of four is due to the growing number of players. She described the sport as “growing exponentially” in the town.

She said it is a common occurrence to see dozens of people waiting to play. Fairleigh said on a recent occasion, she was hosting visitors from out of town and went to play pickleball in Montreat with her guests because they could not find a space to play in Black Mountain.

“I felt comfortable going up to Montreat, but some people might not feel comfortable going to another place that they don’t have a connection,” Fairleigh said. “We need to have more space.”

Pickleball courts are not the only changes coming to Cragmont Park, with Henderson being directed by Town Council to look at costs for tennis and basketball courts in addition to pickleball, along with bathrooms and gravel parking lots and paths.

While council has not yet made a final decision on whether to fund four or six pickleball courts, the council did ask staff to look into fundraising from the community for the two additional courts. Henderson said this is something he has heard community members say they would be willing to do.

Fairleigh said this is something the pickleball community has started to work on, with a fundraising campaign that has already had 169 people donate with an $80,000 goal.

She said while being able to raise money is a good thing, it sends a “bigger statement” to the town that the community is willing to help with these sorts of things.

“The town of Black Mountain is a small town,” Fairleigh said. “Hopefully they’ll fund six courts, but we also know that they have a whole lot of other expenses and that we, as a group of responsible, caring citizens, want to offer something to Black Mountain.”

For Fairleigh and other pickleball players, the sport is more than just a game, it’s a community of people.

“It’s bigger than just people getting on a court three times a week,” Fairleigh said. “It is a support community for each other. We’ve been there when people had crises in their lives. We celebrated with people. It is a community.”

There is a quarterly newsletter that goes out and a book club known as “Picklebooks” founded by players Debra Rae Cohen and Kim Mills.

Cohen, a former English professor at the University of South Carolina, moved to Black Mountain with her husband during the pandemic.

“Pickleball was the first way that we had to meet people,” Cohen said. “We could play outside. We could meet other people. Pickleball has become the core of our social network in Black Mountain.”

She said she enjoys the community and exercise aspects of the sport.

Looking toward the future, Fairleigh said she hopes to see six pickleball courts come to Black Mountain, whether they are funded by the town or by the community.

“It’s good to get all the money that you need, but it’s even better to have a buy-in in the community,” Fairleigh said.

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