Despite this good press, the noise of pickleball and people’s feelings about the noise and/or pickleball was the overwhelming theme in the pickleball headlines these past couple of weeks. As the Wall Street Journal put it, “Thwack. Pop. Whack. Pickleball noises turn neighbors into activists.” However, this is not a new theme. This “turf war” between pickleball players and neighbors has been ongoing (Pickler even discussed the “Sour Notes Off the Court for Pickleball” a few months ago). But, communities are trying to propose solutions. For instance, the North Saanich community hired a private security company to enforce specific permitted hours of play. ‍♂️ Another community, Niagara-on-the-Lake, completely shut down its outdoor courts, leaving some pickleball players to poetry (as discussed in the MFTLB article above). The problem for neighbors is that they are typically outnumbered by the pickleball players, as large numbers of pickleball players can gather, play, and share a space, while there are typically just a handful of neighbors surrounding a court. In fact, in Provincetown, they received 40 letters in favor of pickleball, with just 4 letters against. This makes it difficult to weigh the interests of neighbors who live in the area versus the interests of a larger number of pickleball players.