San Jose Pickleball Players Upset Over City Rules

San Jose Spotlight

August 29, 2023

A skirmish has broken out on one of San Jose’s most popular pickleball courts between players and the city—and it can’t be settled with a score.

Citywide Sports, an offshoot of the San Jose Parks Department that handles field reservations, is asking pickleballers at Paul Moore Park to break down their nets every day to keep the courts open for all parkgoers in compliance with city rules—and to avoid them being stolen or vandalized.

Players are frustrated there isn’t a place in the park to store the nets, leaving them to bring the nets home.

Chris Roth, former board member of the San Jose Pickleball Club and pickleball advocate, said the ideal situation is to create more permanent pickleball courts to avoid conflict with tennis players over court space. If more permanent courts can’t be made, Roth said he wants the club to be able to use a storage shed it previously had access to, in order to allow the club to keep making an impact on residents.

“It’s kind of a utopia, people just rotating and having fun and getting to know each other, especially after the pandemic,” he told San José Spotlight.

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