On any given night, Wichita State’s pickleball courts are packed. Most days, players have to wait for one of the four courts between the Heskett Center and Wilkins Stadium to become available to play a game.

“There’s definitely a high demand for them. When we showed up, we had to wait like 20-ish minutes for (a) court to open up,” WSU student Lesly Hernandez said.

Within the next month, though, it’s expected that these popular courts will be moved to make room for an expanded Wilkins Stadium.

The pickleball courts are expected to move to the lawn nestled between Hubbard Hall, Heskett Center and Lindquist Hall. 

There’s not a clear date on when the pickleball courts will be taken down and when construction for the new courts will start, though. 

Initially, Emily Patterson, WSU’s executive director of facilities planning, said the current courts would come down sometime in August.

Construction is now expected to start in September, according to Lainie Mazzullo-Hart, WSU’s director of communication. 

“We are waiting to receive a building permit to get started,” Mazzullo-Hart said via email. “This project will be out to bid this week.”

Construction bidding involves submitting a proposal to an entity to complete a job under a specific set of terms, meaning WSU is seeking a company or business to do the construction work for project.

Currently, there is no projected completion date for the project. Mazzullo-Hart said construction time will be based on available labor and material deliveries.

Hernandez and other players said they would have liked clearer communication about the courts’ move.

“I wish there was more notice out here like, ‘Hey, we plan on moving these courts to a new location,’” Hernandez said. “Just because we might show up one day, and they’re not even here anymore.”

Students aren’t alone in wanting to hear more communication from Wichita State. Chase Billingham, an associate sociology professor at WSU, said he and other faculty are concerned about the potential noise a project like this could generate. According to Tennis Warehouse University — an online source of scientific research on games similar to tennis — the sound of a pickleball being hit can make quite a bit of noise: around 90 decibels. 

Sounds above 80 decibels are generally considered loud and could be damaging in large quantities.

Billingham also noted the potential removal of mature trees for construction.

In Wichita, trees have been coming down by the thousands on city-owned property. The Wichita Eagle reported that since 2010, the city has removed 44,000 more trees than it added.

A glance at Google Earth also shows significant removal of trees on WSU’s campus, especially on the Innovation Campus, which used to be the university’s golf course.

University response

When asked if stakeholders had been informed of the upcoming changes, Mazzullo-Hart said the university consistently provides updates on projects, referencing a March town hall.

During these March presentations, the pickleball courts are replaced in the master plan, but their move isn’t explicitly mentioned or discussed.

A demolition map shows the courts coming down to make room for Wilkins, while another map later in the presentation shows future “hard” or “recreation” courts to be built in the lawn by Hubbard.

Hopes for new courts
Pickleball has seen astronomic growth in popularity across the nation since 2020. The rise of the sport can be seen in Wichita as well, with businesses like Chicken N Pickle springing to life and the city spending money to build new facilities.

While moving pickleball courts could take players out of the game for months, some hope to see improvements with the new courts.

According to John Lee, director of Campus Recreation, there will be three new courts following the removal of the current four.

With the courts being primarily used at night, adequate lighting is crucial for players.

Dallas Grimes, a public administration master’s student, said he hopes the new courts have improved wind protection and light systems.

Currently, the courts have lights that have to be manually turned on, but players typically only find this out from others.

“I don’t want to be lazy but maybe automatic lighting when it gets (dark) or just better signage area than just a random button on the side of the cabinet,” Grimes said. “The only reason I found out was because someone else did it, and the lights turned on.”

Despite the upcoming changes, most players were generally receptive to the courts being moved.

“Considering the fact that they’re not completely getting rid of the pickleball courts, I don’t think the (new) location is too bad,” Hernandez said. “I’m glad that they’re investing into the softball stadium just because the team deserves to play in a stadium that is nice.”