GULF SHORES – The wait is finally over. With the ceremonial first dink, or first shot, the 12 pickleball courts at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex officially opened for play just six months after construction broke ground.

Instead of holding a traditional ribbon cutting, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Director Grant Brown and the staff organized a first dink that involved players as well as integral people from the project and city officials alike.

“Blown away by the support, blown away by the quality of the production and the facility, the quality of our staff that was able to put this together and create this,” Brown said. “There were certain folks that needed to be recognized so that was a lot better I thought than doing a ribbon cutting where people go out and watch eight people go like this (mimics scissors cutting) and that’s it.”

Officials like Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft, President/CEO of Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism Beth Gendler and Jeff Nichols from American Tennis Courts joined players the likes of Billy and Shirley Reeves who have served as ambassadors for the sport in the city in being the first to play pickleball on the new courts.

Matches don’t take long to get serious

After the ceremonial opening, it was game on as exhibition contests filled the courts and eventually gave way to the more competitive matches that locals had been fiending for.

“It’s what the community has been waiting for, for quite some time,” Billy Reeves said. “I see a lot of, what I call, heavy-duty players out here today going through this experience and I can see their competitive juices coming out already and these are just fun games, they’re not even serious games.”

However, the impact the game has had on Reeves and some of the community is quite drastic.

“It means a lot to a lot of people, I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say, ‘If it wasn’t for pickleball, I’d probably be dead by now. This game has saved my life,’ and honestly I’m the same because I feel the same way,” Reeves said. “It keeps you active, keeps you from getting sedentary and it’s just a great game.”

What’s next

Now, the plan will be to let the community enjoy the new facility while staff, including Recreation Manager Nicole Ard and Tennis and Pickleball Coordinator Bernie Gilliam, begin to plan events with the players’ wants in mind.

“We’re going to let pickleball be an organic movement to begin with,” Gilliam said. “We’re going to open it up for play, see how it evolves and from there, hopefully develop leagues or ladders, organize social events and open it up for tournament play. All of that is to be announced, but it’s in our plans.”

What you need to play

For those making plans to head out to the Sportsplex and get their pickleball on, Brown offered a couple of preparation tips.

“We do not provide balls. I’m fairly new to the pickleball world so apparently some places provide pickleballs, but we don’t do that,” Brown said. “Bring your own paddles, bring your own balls, wear your court-appropriate shoes so we don’t scuff the courts up and bring water bottles, we’ve got a water bottle filling station that you can refill your water.”

The courts will be available from sunrise until 10 p.m. when the lights shut off, however, Brown said the transformer had yet to arrive so the lights wouldn’t be operational quite yet. Once they are, he was excited for those to take advantage of the opportunity.

“And it’s free, we’re glad to have people come and enjoy it, just take care of it,” Brown said. “Read our rules and regulations and help us keep it clean and nice.”

Sense of relief seeing hard work pay off

Brown said the community had been itching to hit the courts while he and all those involved put in the work to reach Thursday’s destination. Finally seeing the fruits of their labor, Brown said he felt a sense of relief as people played pickleball.

“It’s rewarding, it’s relieving. There’s been so much demand and people have been asking when they’d be open, so now, we can say, now open,” Brown said. “They’re open to the general public, there’s no court reservation system at this point so it’s more just open play.”

“It feels great, it was a team effort to put this whole grand opening in place, there was a lot of planning behind the scenes that went into it,” Gilliam said. “It’s always nice when the weather cooperates with an event like this but we’re excited and feel great about it.”