Interview with L.T., Club Manager of Colt’s Neck Racquet Club

Q. What does the club manager do for Colts Neck Racquet Club?

A. It means I oversee all of the operations for both pickleball and tennis — that includes keeping the entire facility running but also setting up leagues and even scheduling parties. In fact, we have our first pickleball party next month.

Q. What is a pickleball party?

A. The courts are lined for pickleball and reserved, usually for a group of 12 to 60 people. The guests have full access to the lounge where food can be catered in. We have a lot of tennis parties and expect to see more requests to include pickleball too.

Q. Why did you decide to bring pickleball to the Colts Neck Racquet Club?

A. The club had been thinking about pickleball for a while, but when I became the club manager over the summer I realized the time was right. We had an advocate, Theresa Lee, who is one of our teaching pros, and she had hopped on the pickleball bandwagon. And during the summer things are quieter for indoor tennis so it there is some time to explore the opportunity.

I spent some time with Mary Philips from the New Shrewsbury Racquet Club to get her perspective and learn about the experiences they have had. This helped because I realized if Colts Neck offered specific programs and times to the public we would fill a gap in the area. Now we have Open Play times offered in addition to the option for groups to reserve courts.

Q. Besides different lines on the court and lower nets, how is running the club for pickleball different than tennis?

A. Because the sport is still so new relative to tennis there are more opportunities for experimentation. For example, what is the best way to line the court for pickleball so it can be quickly converted back for tennis? At Colts Neck we pride ourselves on providing a great venue so we want to avoid having players put down tape. But it can take up to an hour to tape the courts and set the nets ourselves, which is a lot of downtime for the facility. We also don’t want to paint lines because our tennis players prefer cleanly lined courts.

Pickleball has more of a social component to it where players are looking for opportunities to play in groups that mix players. It is rare for a foursome to want to rent a pickleball court for just themselves, but this is typical for tennis. This means we have to offer Open Sessions that will draw enough people so players can intermingle. I laugh sometimes because it seems like pickleball players travel in packs.

There is so much energy from the players too because many are discovering it at the same time and are eager to grow the sport. This has brought some excitement to the tennis players here because there is something new they can try that is still close to home.

Of course, there are the growing pains of a sport rapidly increasing in popularity. Common assumptions about etiquette, level of ability and even proper footwear are not yet fully rooted so there are misunderstandings among players. But over time this should get better. And the club helps ease these by providing clinics and having our associates available to make sure things run smoothly.

Q. What else has surprised you about pickleball?

A. I am amazed at how co-ed it is. You’ll have one woman and three men in a game or one man and three women – and it is all ok. It has been a great way to get husbands and wives out together.

The other thing that surprises me is pickleball players will seem to play with any sort of lines, on almost any surface, in almost any weather.

Q. You are hosting one of the area’s first big tournament in a few weeks. What are you hoping to achieve with the event?

A. We want to draw a large diverse crowd for each level of play. Right now, we have teams from all over in NJ, plus people coming from New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. We already have a strong turnout for the intermediate and advanced levels, but we are hoping more beginners/advanced beginners will sign-up. This is a low-stress forum to play with different people from around the area which we think will be ideal for this entry level of play.

Q. What plans are in store for Colts Neck?

A. We are continuing to build out our schedule for Open Play so players should check back frequently at the Colts Neck Racquet Club or the Monmouth Pickleball websites for times. Early next year we are going to offer a rating clinic for players to assess their level – instead of having to guess. We are also going to offer a teaching certification clinic so the instructors in the area can become officially-certified by the USAPA.

Q. If you had one wish for pickleball what would it be?

A. An easier way to line courts. It would be great to be able to quickly set-up a court without having to paint lines. We’d save a lot of time and tape, have more court time available and not degrade the experience of our tennis players.

Q. Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Yes, we now have two pickleball associates – these are high school kids who have been playing for three years now. Their role is to set-up courts, keep the flow of play going during open sessions and help with the tournaments, leagues, etc.