Bullhead Pickleball Club in the News

City, club partner to give pickleball players a little relief from the sun

By BILL McMILLEN Mohave Valley Daily News  

Jan 24, 2026 Updated Jan 29, 2026

BULLHEAD CITY — Players at the Bullhead City pickleball and tennis complex at Rotary Park now have the cover of shade to await their turn on the courts and to watch others play.

And they can thank an active group of pickleball enthusiasts — and the City of Bullhead City — for the improvements.

Four shade canopies have been installed between courts in the center of the complex one the corner of Lakeside Drive and Riverview Drive in a project not only pushed but funded in large part by the Bullhead Pickleball Club.

"This project reflects a partnership between the Bullhead Pickleball Club and the City of Bullhead City working together to continue some of the best pickleball courts in northern Arizona," the city said in a Facebook announcement of completion of the shade installation. "The Bullhead Pickleball Club contributed funding and brought the proposalforward, with city council approval allowing the project to move ahead as a shared investment in one of the city's most active recreation spaces."

Pickleball, which combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong, is played with a plastic ball on courts slighly smaller than a regulation tennis court. It was created in 1965 in the Pacific Northwest — one of the many places that some winter visitors in the Tri-state call home the rest of the year, and slowly gained popularity as snowbirds from the Northwest introduced it elsewhere. The sport was introduced to Arizona as a demonstration event in the 2001 Arizona Senior Olympics and gradually made its way into Mohave County, where clubs of mainly senior citizens exist in Bullhead City, Kingman and Lake Havasu City.

In recent years, its popularity has gained with younger generations, introduced to it by grandparents and parents and schools that can use their gymnasiums for indoor courts as part of the physical education curriculum, It also has become a sport played at the professional level, exposure that has increased the reach globally.

Locally, pickleball is the second-most popular event, in terms of participants, in the annual Bullhead City/Laughling Golden Games, trailing only softball.

Yhe sport has been on a creative, community-led journey over the last decade, one that began with the 2017 construction of four courts for a racket sport that many Bullhead City residents had never heard of before.

Four more pickleball courts and a traditional tennis court were added, opening in February of 2019, greeted enthusiastically by the growing pickleball communty that at the time was comprised primarily of local retirees who had been introduced to the sport elsewhere.

Four more pickleball courts were built in 2023, thanks to a combination of a grant from the BHHS Legacy Foundation and some of the city's share of American Relief Plan Act funding approved by Congress to help the country recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

A group of BPC members, dubbed "Pickleball Nation" by City Manager Toby Cotter, presented an 11th-hour request for shade funding during a budget hearing last June.

Originally interpreted by city officials as a pitch to cover some or all of the courts themselves, the idea was going to be placed for review for a future budget year because of the estimated $250,000 cost.

But BPC member Jim Kennedy clarified what the group was asking: not for shade over any of the 12 outdoor courts but over the commons area in the middle of the complex.

"We're just requesting to cover a small area between the courts, so that while we're waiting to play, we've got a shaded area that we can congregate in and have relief from the sun between games."

"So we're just talking about shading over the seating area or the bleacher areas?" asked a surprised Cotter.

When Kennedy said yes, then-Mayor Steve D'Amico said, "That could be a whole different story."

Indeed it was. When the city and the club — which already had raised $15,000 toward the project — agreed to a fund-matching proposal, an account became part of the 2025-26 fiscal year budget.

The project eventually will include bleachers and picnic tables in the concrete concourse, protected by the blue fabric canopies secured to withstand the area's frequent high winds.

The courts have remained open during construction and the city and pickleball club plan to mark completion of the project, possibly as early as next month.

The master plan for the complex ultimately calls for four more pickleball courts for a total of 16. It's the most visible impact of "pickleball fever" in the community, but not the only one.

Two shaded outdoor courts have been built at Optimum Community Center, where three indoor courts also were budgeted during the current fiscal year. And indoor play is offered at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Colorado River's Bullhead City campus.

For both Optimum and the Boys & Girls Clubs, a $3 fee is charged to each player. There is no charge to play at the facility at Rotary Park.

By Mohave Valley Daily News (Opinion Section)

Jan 29, 2026

When Bullhead City finished installing shade canopies at its pickleball complex, it wasn’t just the players who won. The whole city did. That project didn’t come from a grant writer, a consultant, or a mayor’s speech. It came from regular people — members of the Bullhead Pickleball Club — who saw a simple need and stepped up to help fix it.

This is exactly the kind of local teamwork that deserves support. When residents bring energy, money, and a practical idea, city leaders should find ways to say yes faster. That’s true in Bullhead City, and it should be true in every city in Mohave County.

Too often, small projects get caught up in slow budget cycles or are misunderstood at first — just like this one almost was. City staff originally thought the group was asking to shade the courts themselves, at a cost of $250,000. But what they really wanted was shade over the commons area, where people rest between games. That’s a much cheaper project — and something the club was already raising money for.

Once the city understood the request, the story changed. With $15,000 already raised by the club, the city agreed to match funds and make it part of the 2025–26 budget. That’s how local government should work: listening to the people who use public spaces and helping them turn ideas into action.

This isn’t just about pickleball. It’s about how we plan and care for shared spaces. From dog parks to skate parks to basketball courts, the people who use them often have the best ideas for how to improve them. Cities don’t need to solve everything on their own. They just need to be open to partnerships and move quickly when the opportunity is right.

Bullhead City has done a lot right in supporting pickleball’s rise — from new courts to free access at Rotary Park. Now the city is seeing what happens when it works directly with the community. That model should guide future park projects, not just in Bullhead but across the county.

When local government works with the people who care most, small improvements can lead to big wins. Let’s do more of that.

-- Mohave Valley News