'I don't think I'm asking too much': Pickleball craze brings noise and residents' calls for help

Vitas Matulyauskas isn't coming for your pickleball courts.

He seeks only a compromise on the noise.

As pickleball's popularity explodes nationwide, the suburbs are not immune to the growing pains. Played like a cross between tennis and Ping-Pong, pickleball's hard paddles and plastic balls create a sound — much louder than tennis does — that carries with every paddle whack and surface bounce.

While the noise isn't as much of an issue with indoor courts and outdoor courts away from residential neighborhoods, it's become a nuisance for folks like Matulyauskas, who lives within yards of a converted tennis court at Abbeywood Park in Lisle.

“Some people are coming there to play at 5 a.m.,” he said. “They don't understand how annoying it is.”

But, again, he's not looking to ban pickleball at Abbeywood Park. He plays himself and loves it.

He's merely asking village officials to implement what he considers easy solutions. He wants to limit the hours of play and require the use of quieter paddles.

“There's a really easy solution out there,” Matulyauskas said. “It's just an unwillingness to do anything that really frustrates me.”

Sounding off

When Matulyauskas moved into his home, the Abbeywood Park courts were striped for tennis. But he soon discovered plans were underway to convert one of the tennis courts into pickleball courts.

He tried to prevent the switch, warning village officials about the noise issues with homes so close to the park. At a recent Lisle village board meeting, he even brought a tennis racket and ball — and a pickleball paddle and ball — to demonstrate the different noise levels.

The mitigations suggested by Matulyauskas will be discussed at future meetings, officials said.

In the meantime, Matulyauskas had to move his home office to the opposite end of his house to avoid the pickleball din. His master bedroom, however, still faces the courts and is subject to the many hours of “pop pop pop” sounds.

Others besides Matulyauskas have gotten frustrated.

There are websites and online forums dedicated to pickleball noise, and decibel meters are keeping tabs on “pop pop pop” levels from coast to coast.

Legal action to stop the noise is ongoing in communities from Arlington, Virginia, to Phoenix, Arizona.

The nation's fastest-growing sport — participation levels have increased by 159% in the last three years, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association — has created a conundrum for local towns.

While park districts love community involvement, it's been difficult to keep up with demand. Converting tennis courts and creating dedicated pickleball facilities have become a priority, as well as a focus of complaints.

Solutions

The Glenview Park District has 10 dedicated year-round pickleball courts, including some at Flick Park. But at a meeting last year, about 60 residents living near Flick Park complained about the noise.

In response, the park district installed Acoustifence soundproofing panels to mitigate the sound.

“We haven't received feedback, either positive or negative, since installing the panels,” said Anna Ables, the park district's director of brand strategy and community engagement.

Carrie Fullerton, executive director of the Arlington Heights Park District, said she's gotten few pickleball noise complaints. She said landscaping was added at the Green Slopes Park courts to act as a natural buffer.

The Naperville Park District is investing more than $500,000 in new pickleball courts at the Frontier Sports Complex. To deaden the noise, officials there also installed natural buffers such as vegetation, berms and fencing.

Officials discussed soundproofing the fences. But at an estimated cost of $20,000, they decided to hold off and see if the natural options work.

“Obviously, it's really important for us to be good neighbors,” park district board President Mary Gibson said at the time. “I know staff put a lot of work into addressing these questions.”

For Matulyauskas, however, the answers don't need to be so difficult. His simple solutions, he said, would make a world of difference.

He's fine with the pickleball craze, as long as it's with less “pop pop pop.”

“I thought it'd be simple, but it's not,” Matulyauskas said. “I don't think I'm asking too much.”