At six o’clock on a Wednesday evening you might see the grass field at Manzano Mesa Park dotted with a couple dozen people taking a stroll with their dogs or sneaking in a jog after work. This week the parking lot was packed, and the party on the “tennis” courts was hoppin’ to a chorus of clinks from fluorescent-green projectiles smacking against paddles, polka-dotting the cloudless July sky above the Sandias. Pickleball is blowing up across the country, and in Albuquerque it’s giving the tennis community a run for its money.
“Tennis is more of a single sport, and so it’s not as social as pickleball,” John Kimbrough, vice president of Albuquerque Pickleball Club says. “With pickleball, you have four people on a court, so four people have to get organized. Well, they get organized because they’re friends. And these friends kind of snowball into other friends. Two years ago, there were 16 of us [players] that gathered up and decided to go to Hawaii for 10 days. We played pickleball every morning. Then in the afternoons we went out on the ocean, on the zip lines or we saw the volcanoes. That would have never happened — I don’t think — in tennis or other sports, because of the sociality. People have more fun. But if you have that competitive spirit, people are out there who will give you a game.”
The First Taste is Free
Thuan Nguyun, one of the founders of Albuquerque Pickleball Meetup, isn’t the largest dude on the pickleball court. But if you roll to locations such as Manzano Mesa Park and join the all-aged potpourri of players, it’s easy to tell he’s the organizer in charge by the crowd of sporty looking folks hitting him up for tips on their technique. And his massive, welcoming personality gives you the impression that he’s the right guy to be rustling the growing herd of athletic clothing-clad competitors arriving at the event. Maybe they show up because of their leader’s charisma and the welcoming social environment, but the fact that the group is free to join doesn’t hurt. Nguyun is eager and animated when he talks to newcomers about the details of the meetups and why he thinks the sport is exploding across New Mexico.
“To give you an example of the growth I’ve seen, when I first learned to play pickleball two years ago, there were two original founders of this meetup group,” Nguyen says. “We would meet at a kids court, which only had six courts, because we only had, like, 12 people showing up. Now, when I schedule a meetup, we average about 40 people showing up, and that’s in two years. So that’s how big the sport has grown – not only in our group, but the other groups that I play with. We just keep adding courts, and we even asked the city to paint more [pickleball] lines on them.”
The group really is a hit. At the beginning of the meetup last week, Nguyen scanned the ranks, did some quick mental math and estimated about 34 players had filled the courts fifteen minutes into the pickleball session. After an hour, the crowd of “picklers” had grown to 64, and cars continued to pull into the lot.
Nguyun says he thinks people have made the crossover from tennis to pickleball because it’s easier on the knees, but more importantly, the camaraderie of the group sport is what has drawn so many people in. He says most of the time the group plays doubles matches, and it’s easier to learn and pick up than tennis. Once in a while the group might come across someone who’s sour about the pickleball maniacs taking over the tennis courts, but Nguyen says over time, it’s gotten a lot more chill, and they’ve become a lot more accepting of their new neighbors.
“You learn the sport, you meet new people, and sometimes we even say, ‘Hey, after play today, how many of y’all wanted to go hang out, grab a bite to eat, grab a beer or a coke or a coffee?’” he says. “There’s also the cost factor. You can very well stay within a budget with equipment. You can go to Costco or Target and get a beginner set of paddles. That’s two paddles and maybe four to six balls for like 25 bucks.”
In addition to running the group that meets at Montgomery Park in the Northeast Heights and Ventana Ranch and Pat Hurdy parks on the Westside, Nguyun also teaches a free beginners group through UNM continuing education. Right now they’re in the middle of a session and classes are full, but he says you have a good chance of getting a spot if you click a link and request an email when there’s an opening. He says about 20 percent of the people in his group have taken the class.
“The more you play, the better you’re going to get,” he says. “When I see some of my former students come out here and play and progress, I give them a high five. And I say, ‘That is so great!”
For people that have never gone out and don’t know the rules, Nguyun suggests jumping online, pulling up a quick video on the Albuquerque Pickleball Meetup page (it shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes) and learning some of the basic rules. In a nutshell, pickleball uses lighter paddles than tennis, smaller courts and lime-green plastic balls. The game also has a “no-volley” zone called the kitchen and only allows underhand serves. There’s a “two-bounce rule” (the ball must bounce once on each side before players can volley). If you’ve never played before, he might even hook you up with a paddle to borrow, so his group is a great place to get your feet wet. A disclaimer: the game is addictive, and the group makes a pretty persuasive case for picking up a paddle.
The City’s on Board
David Flores is the deputy director of the City of Albuquerque’s Parks and Recreation Department. He says there’s a clear need for more space to play pickleball in the metro area, so they’ve begun construction on a new two-million dollar improvement project at Ventanna Ranch Park on the Westside. The picklers have spoken, the demand is everywhere, and the funding and space are available to give them what they want.
“So at Ventana, there’s existing pickleball lines that are being shared,” he says. “But the ideal thing is to have courts designated for pickleball, and that’s what players prefer. That’s what we have been building on a lot of locations, that’s our premier facility. That’s the way it’s built at Manzano, and that’s what we’re adding onto here at Ventana.”
Flores says it’s almost obligatory to support pickleball for several reasons, not the least of which is the out-of-state tourism the sport brings to Burque. He also says since the sport is growing, it brings more people out to the park, promotes the health and well-being of residents — particularly for seniors and retiree-aged folks.
“To not do pickleball would be to ignore all the signals and all the good things that are out there being offered,” he says. “When people from Albuquerque drive out to Arizona, they come back saying, ‘Have you seen all the pickleball facilities that are out there? Let’s get a piece of that action.’ And so that’s what we’re saying. Do we want a piece of that action? Bring the dollars over here, bring the players over here.”
According to Flores, construction crews started with dirt work a few months ago, and if they can beat the weather this year, the project can be done by the end of October. Best case scenario: the pickleball courts will be ready for action this fall, and if not, construction will wrap up in the spring of 2026.
Flores says the most successful and popular parks in town are the ones that offer variety. That’s where the energy and the chemistry are. Pickleball brings diversity in age and socio-economics, and at least one factor Flores says not everyone is aware of: safety in numbers.
“I’m surprised when I go into some areas where we put [pickleball facilities] — Pat Hurley particularly — that it was so well-received and has been doing so well,” Flores says. “When you see and have more people on site, there’s a safety factor. There’s a level of safety that increases when you see more people in the park, and so if you’re out there, there’s a better sense of security.”
Not only is the city investing in the sports craze, big business is taking notice. And this month picklers in Rio Rancho just scored themselves the first indoor court in the metro. Defined Pickleball (1644 Rio Rancho SE) advertises the largest CushionX indoor facility in the Southwest. That means softer courts for safety and comfort, locker rooms, showers, a cafe and even booze for sale on sight.
A big-name chain plans to open a huge new pickleball party spot in the Heights as well. Word on the street is Premier Pickleball is set to bring a 39,000 square foot air-conditioned club called “The Picklr” to the vacant spot that used to be Conn’s Home Plus near Eubank and I-40.
Green with Envy: There’s a New Big Dog on the Court
John Kimbrough, vice president of Albuquerque Pickleball Club, says when they started their group back in 2015, they might have had 50 to 75 members. By 2017 they were celebrating a 200 member milestone which seems small compared to the nearly 3,000 they boast today. The group is still free to join, and a QR code on the website will get you on the email list and provide access to pickleball buzz such as tournament and event schedules, education and training offerings and equipment purchasing across New Mexico. Kimbrough says when the club started a decade ago, training classes at Monzano Mesa Community Center were filled with folks over age 50 — probably closer to 60 or 75 — and they’d stay in that class forever, just for the aerobics.
“I’d say [the average player] is closer to 30 now,” he says. “I can go to the courts now, and there’ll be 100 people there, and I probably won’t know any of them, whereas five years ago, I would have known everybody. I look at the players, and they start at 18. Basically the better players are 30 to 45 years old. They’re quick, they’re fast, and they love the game. I’ve heard of parents whose children are going to schools on a pickleball scholarship.”
Kimbrough echoes Nguyen when he says the game is about community before competition, which is probably why it has become more popular than tennis in Albuquerque these days. While some players still love and play both games, pickleball has become the juggernaut of the two sports among athletes and social extroverts in the Duke City. Since court access operates on a first-come, first-serve basis, many tennis players don’t like pickleball addicts crowding the courts. But pickleball has undeniably surpassed the older game in popularity. Courts at Ventanna Ranch are full by 9:30 in the morning, while afternoons at the Jerry Cline tennis courts can be pretty quiet and mostly empty.
There’s no universal pickleball player archetype anymore and some players compete in professional tournaments for six-figure prizes. Bigshot football stars are on TV playing pickleball. Kimbrough says a couple of weekends ago he went to train Governor Lujan-Grisham because they’re renovating the tennis courts at the Governor’s Mansion for pickleball.
“She was a tennis player, so she does the footwork, but she injured her arm, so she doesn’t have quite the mobility that maybe she had in the past,” Kimbrough says. “But this sport is not so strenuous — you can either play with a patty-cake attitude, or you can play with a hammer.”
If you’ve caught the pickleball bug, there are a couple of ways to get the scoop on upcoming tournaments, court locations, news and more extras than you can shake a paddle at. Join the ABQ Pickleball Club on Facebook or at abqpickleball.org. You can join Nguyen’s Albuquerque Pickleball Meetup group at meetup.com/albuquerque-pickleball-meetup.
On August 23 and 24 the YMCA of Central New Mexico is hosting the Summer Smash Pickleball Tournament. Like the event page on Facebook, find out the details and register at ymcacnm.org/pickleball-tournament.
You can also visit the City of Albuquerque’s pickleball page for lessons through the Parks and Recreation department and court locations here.