I grew up in the Washington Manor district of San Leandro, California. As a youth, Washington Manor Park was my neighborhood park and playground. This afternoon I returned to Washington Manor Park to play on the brand new pickleball courts there. The new courts opened earlier this month. I usually play pickleball in my backyard on Thursday afternoons, but all of the players in my Thursday crew were curious about the new courts at Washington Manor Park so we played there today.

San Leandro did an excellent job building and surfacing the 6 new courts at Washington Manor Park. The surface is great and the nets are top notch. There are no windscreens in place on the cyclone fencing yet and those will definitely be needed, eventually, but I’m sure that’s not high on the city’s priority list right now after spending a lot of time and money to build the new courts.

Today I played with my friends Borden, Ron, and Tom from 2:00 PM to 4:15 PM. For all but a few minutes of that time we had the courts to ourselves. Near the end of our play, a few more players showed up. As word spreads throughout the East Bay about these new courts, swarms of players will come to play regularly.

I’m sharing a 2 minute video and some photos from today’s pickleball at Washington Manor Park. In the video, you’ll notice that we’re the only players on the courts…