Pickleball players urge county to include dozens of dedicated courts; some ask for 12–24 indoor courts

Dozens of pickleball players and local organizers used their public comment time during the St. Mary's County sports-complex presentation to press the design team and county officials to include a substantial number of dedicated pickleball courts, including requests for at least 12 indoor courts and proposals calling for 24 or more.

"Pickleball has rapidly gained traction. It's the fastest growing sport in America," said Alex Smolden, who presented local participation figures and a supplemental packet to the design team. Smolden told the meeting the Southern Maryland Pickleball Facebook group has more than 1,500 members and that some local courts are heavily booked: "That court has 4 pickleball courts and is the only court for people under 50 in the county with lights. So it gets pretty congested and pretty busy," he said.

Other speakers described multi-generational participation and local tournament activity. "It's all inclusive," said Warren Midlock, who described seeing families and seniors play together at Chancellor's Run Park and urged dedicated courts. Local advocates from community organizations and private operators urged the county to plan for tournament-scale capacity and to follow size and surface guidance used by competitive facilities.

Mark Guadagnoli, Southern Maryland ambassador for USA Pickleball, advised the design team on court sizing and capacity and cited national participation growth: "If you use to 2019 and 2020 data, you're cutting yourself short... it was 20,000,000 participants then. It's 40,000,000 now," he said, arguing the county should plan for a larger facility than older data suggest.

Designers and county staff noted the project's program was informed by a 2020 market study and the current public survey; they encouraged advocates to complete the online questionnaire and said public input will inform final layouts. The design team did not commit to a final court count or to a particular operational model at this preliminary phase.

Speakers calling for courts also suggested dedicating surfaces (not temporary overlays) and considering lighting and scheduling so community play and tournaments could coexist. Project staff said operational details and decisions about whether the county would operate or contract facility management would be addressed in later design and procurement phases.

Public commenters left data and contact information and asked the design team to factor pickleball into the program validation and the follow-up site and traffic analyses.