Pickleball popularity hits fever pitch in Cranberry Township
CRANBERRY TWP — Pickleball has reached unprecedented levels of popularity across the country, and Cranberry Township has been at the center of that upward trend.
The UPMC Passavant Sportsplex at Graham Park and its 19 pickleball courts has developed into the home of 1,900 members that now make up the Cranberry Township Pickleball Association.
All of that attention is on par with the rest of the country as the sport has seen a 223.5% growth since 2020, according to a report by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.
“Cranberry Township is now the largest pickleball area in all of Pennsylvania,” said Tracey Flynn, a member of the association and a professional pickleball player for the Boca Raton Picklers.
Originally, eight courts were built at the site as part of a Cranberry Township Community Chest project that also brought multiple tennis courts, a basketball court and horseshoe pits to the park.
Five more courts have been added in the years since, and at the end of last summer, six additional courts were completed with the intent to use them for all four seasons.
The decision-making for the association is left up to co-directors, Bruce Mazzoni, who also serves as a township supervisor, and Barry Watkiss.
“It’s all volunteers,” said Watkiss. “We have many other roles and responsibilities for other volunteers throughout the club that are all members. We just kind of steer the ship in a lot of areas and have meetings with those individual groups as needed.”
Currently, the club isn’t accepting any new members, but will “most likely” accept 100 to 200 new members in January, according to the township’s website. There is a waiting list that prospective players can join for a $25 fee that will be deducted from membership dues.
A township resident will pay $155 for a membership that will be valid between March 18 and Dec. 31, 2025. A nonresident will be asked to pay $175 for the same benefits.
The courts are open to the public, but only from 1 to 4 p.m. daily on three predesignated courts. Those operating rules have not gone over particularly well for one resident who has made sure that his voice is heard.
Jim Charles, a township resident who spends time at the park, has raised concerns at several supervisor meetings over the last few months regarding what is mostly a pay-to-play system at Graham Park.
“Everybody thinks that if you live in Cranberry, you’re rich,” he said. “Not all people are rich, and those people are actually priced out and can’t afford to play there. You have these people coming from the whole tristate area, and they pay and they’re on our pickleball courts. Our taxpayers have to watch them use our courts.”
Township officials said they met with Charles for several sit-down meetings and they provided answers, but found the disconnect largely stems from a difference of opinion.
“All along the way, we’ve been trying to be responsive,” said township manager Dan Santoro at a recent supervisors meeting. “We have a difference of opinion in terms of how Mr. Charles believes we should be providing an adult pickleball program in our parks and recreation department versus what he believes should be the right way to do that.
“Just to be clear, the pickleball program is a program of the parks and recreation department. We have a volunteer advisory committee that Mr. Mazzoni sits in on that helps us make sure that we’re providing that service, which is a very, very successful program in the township and generates a significant amount of revenue to support other parks and recreation and township services.”
In response to some of those limits placed on the association’s courts in regards to public play, supervisors have already committed to accommodating pickleball enthusiasts elsewhere in the township.
The township is in the process of constructing two free public courts at the Cranberry Township Community Park. While there isn’t an exact timeline for when those will be completed, officials are targeting late spring and early summer next year.
“We’re hoping to have them open by the beginning of next summer for sure,” said Santoro.
