When it comes to pickleball, Dave Weinbach is the man.
Over his career in the growing popular sport, he has accumulated numerous gold medals in top tournaments, taught hundreds of clinics across the country and the globe, and has been nominated for the Pickleball Hall of Fame.
And it all started for him in the deep Valley of the Sun, in Surprise, when his parents introduced him to the sport.
“My parents moved to Sun City Grand 15 years ago and that’s when I first learned about pickleball,” he said.
He added that the West Valley could be a destination for the sport and cited Peoria as a good opportunity.
There is no reason Peoria can’t be a destination for pickleball, he said.
“There is a huge demand for pickleball in Peoria, where there is minimal supply and the demand far exceeds the number of courts,” Weinbach said. “Players have to drive to other communities to play, so it is absolutely time that Peoria gets more dedicated pickleball courts.”
Since Weinbach came to know the sport, it has exploded, and he has continued to teach it and play it in the West Valley during the cool months.
Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the nation.
The stats are plentiful:
• The sport grew in 2021 to 4.8 million players in the U.S., according to the 2022 Sports & Fitness Industry Association Single Sport Report on Pickleball. SFIA is a trade association in the sporting goods and fitness industry;
• This 14.8% growth from 2020 to 2021 follows on the heels of 21.3% growth the previous year and contributes to a 11.5% average annual growth rate over the past five years;
• In 2021, pickleball was one of the hottest trends in the U.S. as it continues to be the fastest growing sport in the nation with a 168% increase in total media exposure.
This recently culminated with the sport's first national broadcast, when CBS televised the Pro Pickleball Association Skechers Invitational Summer Championship from California, Aug. 13.
Experts in the field say the sport’s next big milestone will be its placement in the summer Olympics, exclaiming it’s not a matter of if, but when.
Peoria resident Tom Bottorf, knows all this too well. Much like his friend Weinbach, he is one of the sport’s biggest fans and ambassadors — the Pickleball Johnny Appleseed of Peoria, if you will.
Right now, the city of Peoria has a total of 16 pickleball courts. But Bottorf says the demand is high for the sport in the city and says it is enough to support dozens more courts.
And he has been selling the idea of more pickleball courts to the city of Peoria as part of the Paloma Community Park Phase 2 design, which has four additional pickleball courts in the plan, for a total of eight courts at the park.
The park expansion has been put on hold due to supply chain issues, but Bottorf has met with city officials and gone before the city council with a proposal to eliminate two baseball fields and instead build four groups of 12 courts, totaling 48.
He said Paloma Park is a window of opportunity and contends the baseball fields are an overkill and a waste of valuable acreage, and would be better used as pickleball courts, and would have an acre left over.
“This would create the No. 1 most desirable location in the western United States for pickleball, no exaggeration,” he said.
Bottorf is modeling his proposal after a successful pickleball installation in Opelika, a small town in Alabama of 30,000 people that has built 24 courts under two tents, and in the last three years is now recognized, he said, as one of the finest installations anywhere in America, with an expected economic impact to be about $2 million annually.
“Nothing Peoria does sports-wise in any of our parks can generate the revenue of a world-class pickleball installation,” Bottorf said.
Despite Bottorf’s passion for the sport and its place in Peoria, city officials say there isn’t a possibility for any more than four additional pickleball courts in Phase 2 of Paloma Park.
Deputy City Manager Erik Strunk said that any alteration to the current Phase 2 design process, which is currently at 90% completion, would trigger the possible redesign of other elements in Phase 2.
He said the Paloma Park Phase 1 and 2 design and public outreach process was an extensive and robust process, which began as part of the fiscal year 2014 CIP budget, including nearly 30 different public planning, design and park amenity meetings/input sessions, as well as city council, city boards and commission meetings.
The input also included more than 2,200 public comments and input during the Phase 2 design stage, with additional pickleball courts ranking 10th out of 21 possible design elements, Strunk said.
“It is important to note that with 16 pickleball courts dispersed throughout our city, along with the additional four courts planned in Phase 2 of Paloma Community Park, the city of Peoria has a great distribution of courts throughout the entire city,” Strunk said.
Interim Councilmember Brad Shafer, who represents the district where Paloma Park is located, said the park today is a direct reflection of significant community engagement that spanned several years and brought invaluable feedback from thousands of Peoria residents.
“We are proud to offer this award-winning park and the amenities within our community. As we look forward, Phase 2 includes even more amenities, including four additional pickleball courts to support this very fun and fast-growing sport,” Shafer said. “In addition, the city has recognized the interest in pickleball and has converted several neighborhood tennis courts to pickleball courts throughout the city.”
As for Peoria making money on pickleball, officials say the city’s agreement with the Maricopa County Flood Control District prevents the use of the Paloma Park area from being used to generate profit.
Strunk said its intent is for use as a public site for recreational purposes only.
At this time, the city’s park system is primarily designed for public use and will only permit the private use of its facilities if available, for example, the rental of certain sports fields and rooms at Rio Vista Recreation Center, Strunk said.
“The parks and recreation department is very careful to allocate the use of city fields and facilities to balance the public passive use, the public rental use, and the private organization use,” he said.
Philip Haldiman can be reached at phaldiman@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @philiphaldiman.
Meet Philip Haldiman is an award-winning journalist who most recently took first place for investigative reporting in 2023 from Arizona Newspapers Association. He joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2015, covering Sun City West his first year. Since 2016, he has covered the city of Peoria. Prior to coming to INI, he was a reporter with The Arizona Republic for seven years, covering numerous cities throughout the Valley. Before that, he was a freelance writer.
Community: Haldiman spearheads the Peoria Independent Hometown Heroes Awards program, honoring local individuals and businesses that give back to the community. He has hosted local candidate forums over the years and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. Haldiman also served as a member of the Journalism Program Community Advisory Board at Glendale Community College. Outside journalism, Haldiman served as a member of the city of Peoria Complete Count Committee for the Census, 2019-2020. Lastly, he has served as a member of his HOA governing board since 2021.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a BA in Theater.
Random Fact: Haldiman is a fourth-generation Arizonan as well as wrote and produced an autobiographical comic book about his time spent in Hollywood and his life as a cult film star.
Hobbies: He enjoys hiking Arizona’s mountainous landscapes and is currently working on a play for the stage.
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