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- Pickleball leagues in Tucker sell out quickly, reflecting explosive growth and over 1,000 annual participants.
- The revised TRC plan adds mixed-use courts with sound mitigation, moving courts away from residences to reduce noise.
- Community support is strong; residents want shared recreational space that boosts Main Street Tucker businesses and TRC programming.
It is October 2020 and Tucker is adding pickleball to the Recreation Center (indoors).
It is October 2022 and Tucker is talking about adding pickleball to the Recreation Center (outdoors).
It is June 2025 and Tucker is talking about adding pickleball to the Recreation Center.
It is June 2099 and Tucker is still talking about adding pickleball to the Recreation Center (probably, but hopefully not).
The Tucker Recreation Center (TRC) is a well-loved, and heavily patronized institution in Tucker. People take dance and art classes there (I know firsthand because I learned to dance for my wedding there). It houses Main Street Theatre (highly recommend any of their shows, they are great). Kids and adults alike participate in rec sports leagues all year long. It has an outstanding summer camp and serves as a great place for high schoolers to walk to after school.
What most people don’t know is that it sits on six acres of property, right near the heart of Main Street Tucker, almost touching Chamblee Tucker Road. The reason they don’t realize this, is because that large area is made up of a turf field that is so prone to flooding that TRC had to abandon hosting official leagues on it, so it sits locked 90% of the year.
Meanwhile pickleball has been growing in popularity, almost exponentially, and with no signs of slowing, in Tucker specifically. The leagues sell out every season, typically within hours of opening. More levels open up each season and those also sell out. The annual participation is well over 1,000 players now.
Unfortunately because of this explosive growth, the league had to make do with what was already available. That meant adding another set of stripes in the TRC gym (already multiple basketball courts and volleyball lines, so it’s akin to abstract art) and having to split time with other popular leagues, or playing at Rosenfeld Park, which has almost been abandoned by the tennis community due to erosion and rotting structures. So pickleball in Tucker has become extremely comfortable with compromise, from the beginning, out of necessity.
The TRC project came about in Fall 2022 and the community was ecstatic! Twelve courts of our very own, on land already owned by the city, providing necessary improvements to TRC, and near places we could go after our match by simply walking! It was a dream! Unfortunately that dream was put on pause, as some residents voiced their concerns about noise, as is their right.
A sound study and alternative site study were commissioned and said the site was the best place, for a litany of reasons, but provided some modifications to help assuage sound concerns. The design was changed and altered, to move 6 dedicated courts to the opposite side from residences, and convert 6 dedicated courts to a tennis court, and a basketball court which could be converted to pickleball, as well as a sand volleyball and bocce area.
This new design also included sound mitigation, which would drop the loudest hits down to less than the sound of a fridge clicking on. And the pickleball community was thrilled, because this was progress and the gym schedule was only getting more packed and Rosenfeld continues to crumble.
Still, there were detractors making wild claims and saying things like pickleball was a threat to their lives. Another popular claim is that this is still a plan for 12 courts, which is true in the sense that the current field is both a soccer field AND a phenomenal Okefenokee cosplay.
Everyone I have spoken to in the pickleball community is over the moon with the current plan, as it went out to bid this week. We would love nothing more than to share a space with basketball/tennis/volleyball/bocce players, and enjoy the community that makes TRC the institution it already is. Compounding on that community, by going down to Main Street and keeping our celebrations at local places.
TRC is the best parts of Tucker, and the community wants to enjoy its full potential, while finding a much needed home for other sports.
So let Tucker play, and let’s give the Tucker Rec Center the improvement project it deserves.
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