New John Hunt Rec Center is pickleball-forward
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The 25-court facility is one of the largest in the region. Photo: Derek Lacey/Axios
John Hunt Park Recreation Center, with its 25 lighted, covered outdoor pickleball courts, is officially open.
Why it matters: The long-awaited facility is expected to attract regional tournaments and offer a central location for Huntsville residents.
- James Gossett, director of Parks and Recreation, said the center was built, like everything else at John Hunt Park, "with sports tourism in mind," but also as "something the residents of Huntsville can use every day."
Zoom in: The new facility is at 3035 Leeman Ferry Road, on 8.5 of John Hunt Park's 435 acres.
- Alongside the pickleball courts, the facility has a gymnasium that can be configured into four high-school-regulation basketball courts or eight high-school-regulation volleyball courts, as well as concessions, multipurpose rooms and a fitness room.
Catch up quick: Monday morning's ribbon cutting was well attended by factions of all three sports, with around 200 people taking to the pickleball courts as soon as the ribbon was cut.
What they're saying: "It was so fun," Max Patin with Huntsville Pickleball Club tells Axios. "We were initially curious about how the wind would flow through the building, and it did extremely well."
- "The lines are very bright, the colors are great — without the windscreen behind us there was a bit of a glare, but that will be fixed by the end of the week," he says.
Context: With 24 normal courts and one elite, championship court with room for bleachers, it's the largest facility in the area, with Patin saying the next closest ones are in Opelika and Macon, Georgia.
- He says the club, with then-president Judy Hayes, first approached the city about a 16-court facility back in 2022.
- "It's the best that Huntsville has, period, with no exception," Patin says, noting that even with Monday's crowds, it wasn't packed and there were no long wait times.
What we're watching: "We just need to figure out if it's going to fill up every hour of every day," Patin says, expecting it to be busy in the morning and at night, but likely not in the middle of the day.
- His Monday-night group of players is already texting him about moving to the new facility, he says.
Yes, but: It's more than pickleball.
- It's already serving as a destination for basketball, with the inaugural Trevor Lacey Basketball Camp taking over the gym at the new center this Saturday.
The bottom line: Find programming here.