Seattle Metro Pickleball Association
SPRING 2023 UPDATE
The Amazon Smile program has been discontinued.
Do you ever shop on Amazon.com?
If so, select Seattle Metro Pickleball Association as your choice of nonprofit organization on Amazon.com., and the Amazon Smile program will donate 0.5% of qualified purchases to SMPA.
Lean more about the Amazon Smile program here.
The pickleball license plate is on track to become a reality and you can participate in the process. We only need less than 800 petition signatures to reach our goal of 3,500 by December 19 (Mon).
SMPA has pickleball instructors excited about the license plate who are donating their time to give free clinics as a thank you to any volunteers helping with the final push to get petition signatures. Volunteers will be eligible for a FREE Intermediate/Advanced Skills and Drills Clinics to be taught by prominent pickleball instructors in April or May 2023 (Dates/location TBD) for every 50 petition signatures.
Bring the petition sheets, a clipboard and pen to your favorite hangout, family gathering, tournament, league, or club event! Please keep the originals and email photos of completed petition sheets to amy.greger@seattlemetropickleball.com by 12/19/2022.
Please sign up for a shift on SignUpGenius to collect petition signatures at the 2022 ETC/Kirkland Holiday Pickleball Smash!
Over 400 players are registered for this tournament on 12/15 to 12/18 (4 days). It’s the easiest way to hit the 50 signatures and secure a FREE admission to the Spring 2023 Pickleball Skills clinic. Sign up for 2-hour shifts now!
The online petition is available for signatures from anywhere! Check out the draft designs and vote for your favorite before the poll is closed.
The Seattle Metro Pickleball Association understands that a pickleball court isn’t complete without a net and we are working with various Parks Departments and local communities to get nets where they are needed.
This year, twelve semi-permanent Douglas pickleball nets were installed at locations throughout Seattle and Shoreline. Last year, twenty semi-permanent Douglas nets were installed. The vast majority of these nets have been purchased thanks to funds raised by the pickleball community with the help of corporate matching. SMPA continues to request that parks departments add semi-permanent nets wherever they add pickleball lines. Seattle Parks has plans to add 12 more Douglas nets to courts over the next few months.
These nets make the game more accessible for everyone, eliminate the need to carry portable nets to the courts and take the time before playing to assemble them. SMPA will continue to work with parks departments across the metro area to prioritize adding more pickleball courts and nets in 2023.
If you need nets at your local courts we can help. Read our fundraising guide. Contact us at info@seattlemetropickleball.com.
SMPA has narrowed down to a short list of graphic designers. We requested draft designs of the pickleball license plate by October 8, 2022. Pickleball players throughout Washington have been asked to view and vote for the best design by the end of November.
To build a dedicated pickleball facility capable of hosting regional and national tournaments and establish dedicated pickleball courts throughout Washington. A dedicated regional facility capable of supporting large tournaments will attract players from across the state and the country, contributing to the state’s economic growth. Each purchase of a State Sport special license plate supports the construction of dedicated courts in cities and towns throughout Washington.
The approximate cost of the pickleball license plate is $157.25 initial fee and $30 annual renewal fee. Special plate fees increased as a result of the $17 billion transportation bill. The funds collected will go into a Trust account and used solely for the construction and maintenance of dedicated pickleball courts throughout Washington.
Thank you to everyone who has already signed the petition. With your help, we reached 25% of our goal in just two weeks and are currently 65% of the way there. However, we must collect 3,500 signatures by the end of November to meet the deadlines necessary for the next legislative session in January 2023.
We are asking each of you to reach out to your family, friends, and fellow pickleball players. Encourage them to join you in supporting the pickleball license plate petition. If everyone can get just four signatures, we will reach our goal.
Department of Licensing (DOL) design guide and specialty color palette restrictions must be followed. The only requirement SMPA has is the words “State Sport” must be on the plate.
Any questions regarding specific design requirements can be addressed to DOL by email.
Deputy Mayor Wong, Councilmember Herbold, Councilmember Lewis, and Councilmember Morales,
As a member of the Seattle pickleball community, I appreciate the Council Budget Action (CBA SPR-003-C-001) which allocated $50,000 for adding pickleball lines to existing tennis courts in low-income areas. Alki Playground and Whale Tail Park was selected as one of the locations to have pickleball lines added to the tennis courts on 9/19-21 (Mon-Wed).
In May 2022, the pickleball community completed a 2-week court usage study and submitted the results to Seattle Parks and Recreation. We observed court usage at 10 Seattle parks (8 with tennis courts and 2 multi-use pickleball/tennis courts) 3 times per day over a 14-day period. Utilization was calculated based on actual usage of total available courts at each location.
Five of the 10 parks were in West Seattle. Below is their utilization during the May 7-20 study:
423 Pickleball players used the 8 pickleball-lined courts while only 19 Tennis players used the 4 tennis courts at Delridge and Walt Hundley.
The court usage study clearly demonstrates the growing demand for pickleball courts in the Seattle metro area. This is the perfect opportunity to maximize pickleball access by adding 6 pickleball courts (instead of the scheduled 4) at the Alki location. The Alki space is similar to the Delridge courts. It is a low-cost and high-impact solution to increase utilization of mostly empty tennis courts and better serve the growing pickleball community.
Existing Seattle pickleball courts have blue or green lines on blue or green tennis courts. According to the American Institute of Architects:
https://www.aia.org/articles/178406-how-color-and-design-affect-environments-fo:36
“Aging eyes lose the ability to discriminate pale colors […]. They are also unable to differentiate shades of blue, green, and purple as these cooler colors can read gray. People with color deficiencies are best able to perceive bright colors at the warm end of the spectrum, such as reds and oranges.”
We therefore ask Seattle Parks and Recreation to choose yellow or orange for pickleball line color at ALL pickleball courts. Brighter lines will allow elderly and visually impaired players to reasonably distinguish from the court surface, and easily seen by pickleball players under all lighting conditions.
Thank you for your consideration.
[Name and email of supporter]
Our very own SMPA Founder, Theresa Haynie, is one of the 4 finalists of the WISE (Women in Sports and Events) award! Voting closes on Thursday, September 22nd at 8:00PM PST.
Theresa Haynie helped found the Seattle Metro Pickleball Association to improve access and advocate for pickleball in the greater metro area. following a gold medal win at the USA Pickleball National Championships in 2019, Theresa decided to focus on promoting play for women.
The cash prize donation would go towards advancing her work of encouraging and empowering women in pickleball to help offset court rentals for early evening access to women still in the workplace.
| No. of Players | 600 |
| Washington State | 433 |
| Out-of-State | 167 |
| No. of Countries | 3 |
| No. of States in US | 11 |
| Players’ Age Range | 11 to 81 |
| No. of players age 16 or under | 6 |
| No. of Referees | 26 |
| No. of Volunteers | 129 |
| No. of Matches Played | 744 |
| No. of Matches with Referee | 357 |
July 20-24, 2022
Shoreview Park, Shoreline, Washington
That’s a wrap on the 2022 Humana Seattle Metro Classic! Five days of fun, sunshine, fierce competition amongst 600 players, 700+ matches complete, 228 medals awarded, and over $12,000 in prize money collected. Thanks to all who came out to play and spectate. And a very, very, special thank you to the 120+ volunteers who make this tournament what it is.
Washington state Senator John Lovick sponsored a bill which designated Pickleball as the official Washington state sport in March 2022. We had a ceremony to celebrate at the tournament. Awards were presented to Senator John Lovick, Kate Van Gent, and Chuck Wright, who helped make Chuck’s idea into reality.
Great photos by Stephanie Keegan and visit us on Facebook for tournament news including amazing drone footage from the Mixed Doubles Open Division gold medal match!