Is Anyone Playing Pickleball?

    On Bainbridge Island, public pickleball is the Founders Courts at Battle Point Park. Free. This page is the camera, so you can see the courts before you drive. The club, indoor courts, and how the game started here are on pickleball on Bainbridge Island. A weekend stay is a different page: pickleball weekend.

    Pickleball Live Status

    This is a still photo of the Founders Courts, not a video. The time on the picture is when it was taken. Count the people. Four on a court is a game. People at the fence are waiting.

    If you have never played here

    The courts are at 11299 Arrow Point Drive NE, inside Battle Point Park, on the west side of the island. About twelve minutes from the ferry by car. Not a walk. Bainbridge Island Pickleball runs the weekday mornings. You do not need a membership, and nobody checks a card.

    The club’s organized open play page describes six dedicated courts and six shared courts. Players call the dedicated ones the upper courts, numbered 1 through 6. The other six are the lower courts. The park is open dawn to dusk. Organized play is only the weekday block below. Outside those hours it is first come, first served, and a group already playing does not have to let you in. On a weekend you may find a private foursome, a family, or nobody.

    Before you step onto a busy court, know how to serve, how to keep score, and the kitchen. That is the no-volley zone, seven feet on each side of the net. You cannot hit the ball out of the air while you are standing in it. People are friendly. They are also there to play.

    If the whiteboard or the paddle rack at the courts says something different the morning you arrive, follow that. The club changes this. This page follows their organized-play page.

    May 1 through September 30

    Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to noon. Friday starts at 8 a.m. Not on holidays.

    • Monday and Wednesday, 9 a.m. to noon. Open play on the six upper courts. This is the morning for a first visit. Put your paddle in the rack by those courts. Play two games to 11, then the group rotates off. Winning does not keep you on the court.
    • Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to noon. The club splits by skill rating. South-court racks are 3.5 and up. North-court racks are 3.0 and up. The higher number is the stronger court. Same rule: two games to 11, then rotate off. The lower courts are open too. If you are new, go Monday or Wednesday. That session does not list a minimum.
    • Friday. This is not drop-in. Arrive and register by 8 a.m. for the shootout ladder. Round robin runs from 9:30 a.m. to noon, which means you rotate partners instead of staying with one four. If you walk in at 9, you missed the sign-up.

    October 1 through April 30

    Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon. Not on holidays. Friday does not start at 8 in these months. The club describes a different way onto a court, and it calls the split below the off-season policy.

    • Upper courts, a whiteboard. This is for a group of four. Write all four names. If the people playing have not heard, tell them play is on the whiteboard. After one game to 11, that four comes off and the next four names go on. Do not add your name while you are still on a court. Finish, step off, then sign up. If another four is already waiting, they play before you get back on.
    • Lower courts, a paddle rack. When those courts are full, put your paddle in the rack. Play one game to 11, come off, and put the paddle back in the rack.
    • Groups and players who came alone. Courts 4, 5, and 6 are the group courts. When your game ends, look at the rack. If a paddle is waiting, you rotate off. You do not have to announce a whiteboard. Courts 1, 2, and 3 are for players who came alone or as a pair. The club opens as many of those three as the crowd needs. That line sends two players in at a time. If you want to use an empty court from the other set, say so out loud before you take it. A group that shows up and puts a paddle in the group rack gets the next group court when that game ends.

    How to read the picture

    It is not exact. Look for dark shapes and count them as people.

    A game is four players, two on a side.

    Four people, on the far court:

    Court camera still with four people playing on the far court
    Four people. One game, on the far court.

    Eight people:

    Court camera still with eight people playing pickleball
    Eight people. Two games.

    Twelve people:

    Court camera still with twelve people playing pickleball
    Twelve people. Three games.

    On your phone: bainbridgeisland.com/pb