Let’s play pickleball!

18 new outdoor courts coming to Vaughan    

Grab your racquets – more pickleball courts are opening in Vaughan! Given the increased participation in the sport, the City of Vaughan is planning to add 18 additional outdoor pickleball courts throughout the community by the end of 2024. This will bring the total to 27 pickleball courts city-wide.

In 2021 and 2022, nine tennis courts in eight parks across Vaughan were retrofitted to also allow for pickleball play. This came following the completion of the City’s Pickleball Study, which assessed demand and feasibility for the sport, as recommended in Vaughan’s 2018 Active Together Master Plan. The study was completed in 2022 with public feedback collected – and the verdict: pickleball is here to stay! Based on the findings, the City is offering new outdoor shared-use pickleball courts and developing dedicated pickleball courts.

What’s pickleball?

Pickleball is a popular, emerging sport in Canada that combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong. It is played with a paddle and a wiffleball (a plastic ball with holes) on a badminton-sized court with a slightly modified tennis net. It can also be played on a tennis court modified with additional painted lines. The sport can be played with doubles or singles and enjoyed by all ages and skill levels. Visit Pickleball Canada’s website to learn more about the sport.

Where can I play?

There are currently nine outdoor shared-use pickleball and tennis courts located in parks throughout Vaughan, with an additional 10 shared-use courts to be retrofitted this year. Eight new dedicated outdoor pickleball courts are coming to LeParc Park and Carrville Community Centre by the end of 2024. All outdoor courts operate on a first-come, first-served basis. Find a court near you at vaughan.ca/pickleball. 

Drop-in indoor pickleball programs

Recreational drop-in indoor pickleball programs operate on a first-come, first-serve basis, and are open to all skill levels to practice and play the game. Sessions can run up to two-hours long. Currently, there are three community centres offering drop-in pickleball programming – North Thornhill Community Centre (three courts), Dufferin Clark Community Centre (four courts) and Al Palladini Community Centre (three courts). The newly renovated Garnet A. Williams Community Centre will add to the list when it reopens this summer. Pre-registration and pre-payment are required and available seven days in advance. To view schedules and register, visit vaughan.ca/sports.

Registered indoor pickleball programs

Registered indoor pickleball programs are available at community centres across the City on a seasonal basis and include:

• Learn to Play Pickleball: An introductory program to pickleball. Through friendly gameplay as either singles or doubles, learn basic pickleball shots, court awareness and scoring.
• Pickleball Ladder: A competition where you can work your way up the rankings by winning matches against other pickleball ladder players with similar skill levels. If you challenge someone and win, you take their spot in the ranking, and they get bumped down one spot.

View the Recreation eGuide at vaughan.ca/recreation for more pickleball programming.

The City continues to explore options for additional pickleball play. Stay tuned for updates and engagement opportunities by checking vaughan.ca/pickleball frequently. You can also learn more in the Pickleball Project Update May 2023 staff report.

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