How to get connected with Pickleball - TeamReach - Facebook - Just Walk up and don't be shy.

How to get connected with the ever-growing pickleball community? First of all, stop being an introvert. Jokes aside, there are a few things you can do to join the Pickleball Community.

You may need to learn about the TeamReach App. It seems to be the go-to option for many groups in organizing open play and establishing communication between players that play in a specific area or location. This does sound great, but there is one main flaw in using this app in this manner. My problem with TeamReach being the "go-to" option is the need for the team code which you have to get from one of the members. This really doesn't make much sense for groups that are "open" to the public. You can't even search for a code as far as I know. If you are new in town and looking for group that meets up at the local park, chances are that you will not know anybody in the group. So, you either need to go and talk to them if you see them at the park and hope these strangers are members of the group, or you need to ask around online which can take some hunting. Facebook (Meta) has proven to be a pretty good source. Most cities and towns have a few established pickleball clubs or groups with pages and often times, there is somebody in that larger group that has a code or knows of somebody with a code.

Some clubs, like the Albuquerque Pickleball Club and the Santa Fe Pickleball Club will also have established open play times posted on their Facebook or website. Sometimes the calendars can be a bit wonky if it's an old WordPress site, but the website is likely free and I'm complaining for simply no reason. A true first world problem.

I have now played at multiple open plays in Albuquerque and have also been able to acquire some TeamReach codes and have met some lovely people all around. Each location will be described below.

Manzano Mesa - 501 Elizabeth Street S.E.

Albuquerque's golden child or as it has been called by the news "pickleball mecca." I think they could simmer down a bit on that, but I must admit that they are nice courts in a nice facility. It is kind of in the corner of the city. I live in the central part of the city, and this is still a solid 20-25 minutes away from me. Good luck Rio Rancho dwellers!

ABQ Pickleball club says this "It’s Open Play/Paddles Up Rotation on courts 2, 3, 8, 9, 14 and 15. Bring your own paddles and balls." I have gone to many open courts here and have only shown up 1-2 times where nobody was actually playing on the open courts, but it is possible. I've done a ladder tournament here that was quite fun, but be warned, the public courts typically aren't available for long stretches of the day when there is a tournament. Always check the ABQ pickleball website for tournaments before trying to play on weekend morning.

Ventana Ranch - 1000 Universe Blvd

I play here quite often. These are just regular old tennis courts, so it's not quite as nice as Manzano Mesa, but there are a lot of welcoming people there. You can easily find a welcome committee of 20-60 people of various skillsets. Don't be an introvert here. You may need to ask where to set your paddle so that you can get next game! I usually play weekday mornings, so I honestly couldn't tell you what a Saturday looks like.

There are usually 1-3 challenge courts for people who want to go a bit harder. They are usually the two courts furthest to the east and they have their own paddle up system (on the court) separate from the standard courts paddle up line.

Fort Marcy Park - Santa Fe

I just decided to wing it one day and went on a random Wednesday around 6:30pm. The courts were relatively empty with only 3 being used, however it was early spring. I imagine that as the sun sets later and the weather warms up a bit, there will be more people playing at this time. Fort Marcy Park has some standard open play times (mostly morning) posted on the Santa Fe Pickle Ball Club's website. Join the Facebook group if you are looking for people to play with as they are pretty active. The courts were recently resurfaced with the addition of six new courts!