Features
What a (Pickleball) Racket
Seattle pickleball fans, rejoice. New courts open.
By Rob Smith September 21, 2023
This article originally appeared in the November/December 2023 issue of Seattle Magazine.
I love pickleball. My mother-in-law plays five times a week. A work colleague has a court in his backyard. My neighbor even gave up tennis for the sport, which was founded in Washington state decades ago.
Now, Seattle is serving up more options for the sport’s growing legion of fans.
Two permanent, bright purple pickleball courts have opened off Denny Way at Fifth Avenue and Vine Street. The courts are free and open to anyone. No reservations required.
Bellevue’s Astria Pickleball kicked off the project with a donation, and the Seattle Department of Transportation has pledged half-a-million dollars for seating and landscaping.
A pickleball court is also planned just south of the Ballard Bridge in the Interbay neighborhood at a site where a bagel stand recently stood.
A new report recently found that pickleball is the most popular game to learn in the United States. Last year, Gov. Jay Inslee even declared pickleball the official state sport of Washington.
This should make all the picklers happy.
Follow Us
His Own Man
Pete Carroll doesn’t always trust the analytics that have taken over sports
Socially liberal, but a football conservative. That description of Pete Carroll may come as a surprise to Seattle, which for the past 13 years has watched the coach defy the expectations of his profession. In other words, he’s not beholden to analytics. He does not use fear to motivate his players. He does not threaten…
The Numbers Guy
Sean Clement backed into a career he didn’t know existed
Sean Clement was not looking for a profession when he began applying formulas to football. He just needed practice. A graduate of Bremerton High School, Clement was an officer in the Army in his mid-30s. He felt a little bit out of his depth among all these big math brains as he began a graduate…
The Seattle Mag Interview: Sports Sage
Bob Whitsitt’s book tells the tales of a colorful career as a force in the front office
“Trader Bob.” The name conjures memories of the ’90s-era Sonics when the NBA club captured the heart of Seattle. It’s reminiscent of the controversial “Jail Blazers,” a term coined by Portland sportswriters to describe late ’90s and early 2000s Trail Blazers teams that enjoyed on-court success while suffering off-court misadventures. Bob Whitsitt’s ability to make…
collapse of a conference
The Pac-12 has no one to blame but itself
The Pacific Coast Conference had a hell of a run for something conceived on a Thursday night in a Portland hotel. It has been more than 100 years since five schools came together on Dec. 2, 1915, at the Imperial Hotel, forming the conference that has won more NCAA team championships than any other collegiate…