Tight space for pickleball in Albany

Kudos to the city of Albany for creating more places to play pickleball. The city is converting a tennis court at the municipal Capital Hills golf course into multiple pickleball courts. Capital Hills is located off of New Scotland Road.

The plan called for four pickleball courts in the tight space. The result looks like players from different courts would be bumping into each other on the baseline, as noted by commenters on Mayor Kathy Sheehan’s Facebook page and on the Pickleball in the Capital District Facebook group.

The Albany Department of Recreation responded to a commenter on the mayor’s page.

“… thank you for you taking your time to share your concerns regarding the pickleball courts at Capital Hills. A local contractor who has had much success in designing a variety of sports courts including, but not limited to pickleball, was consulted prior to this project beginning. The courts at Capital Hills are consistent with court specs identified by the USA Pickleball Association – (www.usapa.org). The regulation minimums between each court are 8 feet, the buffer that exists currently between each back to back court at Capital Hills is currently lies at 10 feet. The photos above were intended to simply highlight the progress of the project, they are not to illustrate a final product as there is still work to be done. Your interest and passion for the game of pickleball is greatly appreciated and I can assure you, your concerns are not and will not fall upon deaf ears.”

Pickleball518 reached out to the Albany Department of Recreation but there were no updates to report.

The city already pickled a half-dozen tennis courts in the summer of 2021. The city Parks and Recreation department painted lines on a half-dozen tennis courts. Read more here: Where to play pickleball in the city of Albany.

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