Pickleball on Bainbridge Island
Pickleball was invented here in the summer of 1965, on a backyard badminton court on Pleasant Beach. The public courts today are the Founders Courts at Battle Point Park: six dedicated courts and six shared courts, free, with a live camera so you can see who is playing before you drive over.
This page is the whole thing in one place: where to play, when, the camera, indoor courts, the club, a weekend plan, and how the game got here and got its name. The ferry lands you in Winslow. The courts are about twelve minutes west by car. Not a walk.
At a glance
Courts
Founders Courts, Battle Point Park, 11299 Arrow Point Drive NE. Six dedicated courts and six shared courts. Free.
Open play
May 1–Sept 30: Mon–Thu 9 a.m.–noon, Friday from 8 a.m. Oct 1–Apr 30: Mon–Fri 9 a.m.–noon. Not on holidays. What to do when you arrive.
Camera
bainbridgeisland.com/pb. A live photo of the courts. Look before you drive.
From the ferry
About twelve minutes by car. Not a walk. BI Ride, taxi, Uber, or Lyft if you walked on.
Indoor
Club gym nights in the rainy season. Shared courts at the Bainbridge Island Recreation Center, by reservation.
Invented
Summer 1965, Pleasant Beach, by Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum. The original court is a private backyard.
Look at the camera before you drive.
The courts fill on a sunny weekday morning and empty in the rain. Some days the club is running a tournament. Twelve minutes each way is a long trip to find out either one.
Is anyone playing right now?
This site runs a live photo of the Founders Courts. It is a still picture, not a video feed, and it refreshes through the day. Count the people. Four to a court is a game. Two people standing at the fence are the queue. Nobody at 8:45 on a Tuesday means open play has not started yet, not that the courts are closed.
Short URL for your phone: bainbridgeisland.com/pb. The camera page also explains how to read the picture.
Where to play
The Founders Courts are inside Battle Point Park, on the west side of the island. The club’s organized-play page describes six dedicated courts and six shared courts, permanent nets, benches, a paddle shack, restrooms in the park. Players call the dedicated courts the upper courts, numbered 1 through 6, and the other six the lower courts. Free to play. Nobody checks a membership card. The courts are named for the three men who invented the game, and they exist because two islanders, Bill Walker and Clay Roberts, spent years raising the money after the locals had worn out their welcome on the tennis courts. They opened in August 2020.
Address and map are on the Founders Courts listing. The rest of the park, the playground, disc golf, summer concerts, and how to get there from the ferry, is on the Battle Point Park page. Public-restroom pin: Battle Point restroom.
Open play
Bainbridge Island Pickleball runs organized open play on weekdays, except holidays. You do not need a membership. Outside those hours the park is open dawn to dusk, first come, first served. A group already playing does not have to let you in. On a weekend you may find a private foursome, a family, or nobody.
The first-visit version, including how to read the camera, is on is anyone playing right now? If the board at the courts disagrees with this page the morning you arrive, follow the board. The club posts changes on organized open play.
May 1 through September 30
Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to noon. Friday starts at 8 a.m.
- Monday and Wednesday. Open play on the six upper courts. This is the morning if you have not played here before. Put your paddle in the rack. Play two games to 11, then the group rotates off. Winning does not keep you on the court.
- Tuesday and Thursday. South-court racks are 3.5 and up. North-court racks are 3.0 and up. The higher number is the stronger court. Two games to 11, then rotate off. The lower courts are open too. A new player should use Monday or Wednesday. Those days do not list a minimum.
- Friday. Not drop-in. Register by 8 a.m. for the shootout ladder. Round robin, where you rotate partners, runs from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Walking in at 9 means you missed the sign-up.
October 1 through April 30
Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon. Friday does not start at 8. The club calls the court split below its off-season policy.
- Upper courts, a whiteboard. For a group of four. Write all four names, and tell the players on the court that the whiteboard is in use. After one game to 11, that four comes off and the next four go on. Step off before you write your name again. If another four is waiting, they play first.
- Lower courts, a paddle rack. When those courts are full, put your paddle in the rack. One game to 11, then off, and the paddle goes back in the rack.
- Groups and players who came alone. Courts 4–6 are for groups. When your game ends, look at the rack. A waiting paddle means you rotate off. Courts 1–3 are for players who came alone or as a pair, and the club opens as many of those three as the crowd needs. That line sends two players in at a time. Say it out loud before you take an empty court from the other set.
Know how to serve, how to keep score, and the kitchen (the no-volley zone at the net) before you step into a busy game.
Indoor and rainy days
It rains here from October to April. Two indoor options, both run by someone other than us, so confirm before you go:
- Club gym nights. In the rainy season the club plays Tuesday evenings, about 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., in the Commodore Options School gym on High School Road. A few dollars a person, cash or check. Times shift with interest and gym availability. Check the club’s courts page the day of.
- Bainbridge Island Recreation Center. Shared indoor courts at 11700 Meadowmeer Circle NE, with member and non-member times. You reserve a spot ahead. Classes and leagues too. Details on the BIRC listing.
The birthplace
Summer 1965. Joel Pritchard, then a state legislator and later a congressman and Washington’s lieutenant governor, came home to his family’s place on Pleasant Beach with his friend Bill Bell after golf and found the kids bored. The property had an old badminton court but not enough rackets, so they grabbed ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. The ball bounced fine on the asphalt. The net came down from badminton height to 36 inches. The next weekend Barney McCallum joined, and the three of them wrote rules a whole family could play by.
The court is still there. It is a private backyard on the south end of the island. There is nothing to see from the road and nobody to let you in. The place to stand where it started is Battle Point: the club broke ground on the Founders Courts in 2019 with McCallum watching, and the governor came out for it.
In 2022 the Legislature made pickleball Washington’s official state sport, and named this island in the bill. The longer version of the origin story is on how pickleball got started.
Why is it called pickleball?
Two stories, one family. Joan Pritchard, Joel’s wife, said the game, thrown together from badminton, ping-pong, and a plastic ball, reminded her of a pickle boat, the crew boat rowed by whoever is left over from the other boats. The Pritchards’ dog Pickles came along later and was named after the game, not the other way around. The dog version is the one most people repeat. The full story, with the timeline: why is it called pickleball?
A pickleball weekend
If you are coming from Seattle to play, stay the night. Sleep in Lynwood Center at the Inn at Pleasant Beach, a short drive from the courts, play the weekday morning session, eat in Winslow, and take a boat home with time to spare. You need a car or rides you have already booked; the courts are not on any bus line a visitor can count on. The plan, hour by hour: pickleball weekend itinerary. Other beds: places to stay.
The club and the tournament
Bainbridge Island Pickleball is the nonprofit club that runs open play, the indoor nights, clinics, and membership. Its site is bainbridge-pickleball.org. Each August it hosts the Founders Tournament on these courts, and players come from a long way to play where the game began. Tournament weekends take over the courts; that is another reason to look at the camera first. Dates land on the club site and on our events calendar.
Background reading from our magazine years: Our Day in Court, on how the island’s native game found its footing at home.
FAQ
Where was pickleball invented?
On Bainbridge Island, Washington, in the summer of 1965, on a backyard badminton court at Joel Pritchard’s family place on Pleasant Beach, on the south end of the island. The house is private. There is nothing to visit there. The public courts are the Founders Courts at Battle Point Park.
Who invented pickleball?
Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum, three Bainbridge neighbors, over the summer of 1965. Pritchard later served in Congress and as Washington’s lieutenant governor. The Founders Courts at Battle Point are named for the three of them.
Where can I play pickleball on Bainbridge Island?
The Founders Courts at Battle Point Park, 11299 Arrow Point Drive NE. The club describes six dedicated courts and six shared courts, free. Bainbridge Island Pickleball runs organized play on weekdays except holidays: May 1 through September 30 it is 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. on Friday; October 1 through April 30 it is 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday. Indoors: the club’s rainy-season gym nights and the Bainbridge Island Recreation Center’s shared courts, by reservation.
Can visitors join open play?
Yes. You do not need a membership. May through September, Monday and Wednesday are the first-visit mornings: paddle in the rack on the upper courts, two games to 11, then off. Tuesday and Thursday are rated, 3.0 and up on the north racks and 3.5 and up on the south. Friday you register by 8 a.m. October through April, a group of four uses the whiteboard on the upper courts, and players who came alone use courts 1–3. Know how to serve, how to keep score, and the kitchen before you step in. Look at the live camera first.
Is anyone playing right now?
Look at the court camera at bainbridgeisland.com/pb. It is a live photo of the Founders Courts, updated through the day. Count the people. Four to a court is a game.
Is pickleball Washington’s state sport?
Yes. The Legislature made pickleball the official state sport in 2022, and the bill named Bainbridge Island as where it started.
Why is it called pickleball?
Joan Pritchard said the game, cobbled together from badminton, ping-pong, and a plastic ball, reminded her of a pickle boat, the crew boat rowed by whoever was left over from the other boats. The family dog Pickles came along afterward and was named for the game. The longer story is on the why-is-it-called-pickleball page.