EVERETT — Seven new pickleball courts are ready for players as the newest recreational amenity at Forest Park, with a grand opening the public is invited to attend scheduled today at 4 p.m. Following the brief ceremony, players and residents are encouraged to stay for pickup games hosted by the Mukilteo-Everett Pickleball Club.
“Our parks are at the heart of what makes Everett such a special place. The new Forest Park sport and pickleball courts give residents another place to stay active, connect with neighbors and build community,” said Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin. “We’re excited to welcome players of all skill levels to enjoy this new addition to Forest Park.”
The Forest Park pickleball courts at 802 E Mukilteo Blvd., build on the Everett’s ongoing commitment to providing recreational spaces for residents of all ages and abilities, the city offered in a press release.
Frank Espinoza, owner of Pickleteo Paddle Club in southwest Everett, knows how popular pickleball is right now. “The real draw with pickleball is you have a sport that’s fun. The key thing is, its a blast to play. You can be proficient in a very short period of time,” so the learning curve, compared to tennis, is much shorter to really enjoy the game.
Espinoza and his business partner opened Picklteo Paddle Club, south of Paine Field, in December 2024, straddling the Mukilteo-Everett metroplex at 2716 119th Street SW. Their indoor pickleball facility was designed around the business model of annual memberships to play in climate controlled conditions, to avoid weather impacts. Espinoza tells the EverettPost.com, they sold out their annual memberships two-months before they opened the front door in late 2024.
“During COVID it really took off because people were kind of limited to what they could do”, Espinoza says about the recent rise in pickleball popularity. Players can, “Be competitive to within your level of a group and you can accelerate fairly quickly if you want to. You can develop your game fairly quickly,” he adds.
The members at Picklteo Paddle Club, come from backgrounds like tennis, racquetball, and ping-pong, to hone their skill at pickleball. He says the median age of his customers is 42. Members are almost even split between men and women, he accounts, with 6% under 18, 24% 18-34, 32% 35-49, 25% 50-65 and 12% over 65.
“It’s been laid out as an old person’s sport, but it’s definitely not that,” Espinoza derives. “That’s one of the best things about pickleball is you can find yourself in a game between some folks over 60 and some folks under 30 and its still a competitive environment,” because of the smaller court with less ground to cover, precision can be more valuable than power or speed.
Pickleball is generally more accessible for beginners than tennis due to its smaller court, slower ball, and simpler underhand serving constraints. While tennis emphasizes raw power, stamina, and covering large distances, pickleball focuses more on quick reflexes, patient placement, and strategic positioning–especially playing doubles.
The main differences between pickleball and tennis are the composition of the ball and racquet, or in the case of pickleball, the paddle. In pickleball the ball is a hard plastic with 26-40 holes drilled in it, similar to a wiffle ball. Tennis relies on a hollow, rubberized ball with a felt surface. Pickleball paddles are like a larger version of a ping-pong paddle but usually include a handle with grip-tape like tennis rackets have.
Pickleball courts are about 1/3 smaller than tennis courts, 44′ long × 20′ wide compared to 78′ long × 27′ wide for tennis singles and 36′ wide for doubles. Net height for both sports is a constant 36″ at the center of court. The two key game-play differences with pickleball involve serving and front-court play. Pickleball serves must be underhand while tennis allows over-hand serves. In pickleball the court is lined with a zone at the net referred to as “the kitchen” (identified in the pictures above as the green zone of the court at the net). This rectangular shaped zone is off limits to players until the ball bounces inside to prevent players from standing at the net and the swatting shots quickly back at the opponent(s).
Espinoza pitches one more selling point for pickleball, saying, “From a health standpoint, I’m a perfect example. I lost 33 lbs. playing pickleball. About 1200 calories every hour and a half you play, if you’re playing vigorous games. Most ways that you have to lose weight are not fun.” But as Espinoza can attest, its both fun and healthy. With the increase in pickleball’s popularity and the expansion of courts at parks and facilities with memberships, the sport is growing on a multitude of levels.