Las Crucens try out the new pickleball courts at the East Mesa Public Sports Complex Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (Photo by Leah Romero / Source New Mexico)
LAS CRUCES – Pickleball continues to be the fastest growing sport in the U.S. and Las Cruces is no exception to the trend.
Crystal Hyslop and Janice Czyscon picked up the paddle sport after giving racquetball and table tennis a try.
“It’s easy to learn the game, and it’s not like in tennis, it’s not as much running,” Hyslop said.
The City of Las Cruces officially opened the East Mesa Sports Complex pickleball courts Friday, Sept. 13. The complex has been in the works since 2012 when the Las Cruces City Council approved the application to lease the land from the Bureau of Land Management, according to Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez.
Along with the eight pickleball courts, the first phase of the sports complex in Las Cruces also includes several fields. Enriquez said the next phases of the project will include a skate park, basketball courts, sand volleyball courts, a sculpture garden, an adaptive playground and public art.
Hyslop and Czyscon said they play outdoors at Apodaca Park and indoors at Meerscheidt Recreation Center, but the new sports complex is closer to where they live.
The unobstructed view of the Organ Mountains and court lights will likely lure them out to play in the evenings as the temperatures cool.
“I think it’s just really, especially for seniors, a lot of them were former tennis players and they got some knee issues and whatnot, and they say pickleball is perfect because they can still use some of that skill, but they don’t have to run as much,” Hyslop said. “And kids, it’s great for them, eye-hand coordination, and it’s not so challenging that they can’t pick it up.”
The complex was approved by Las Cruces voters in 2018 through the approval of four general obligation bond measures, according to reporting from the Las Cruces Sun-News. City officials told the Sun-News that $7.8 million in GO bond funds were allocated to the project, along with $6 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.
It is unclear how much total funding went into the build. The city’s communications office did not respond to inquiries from Source New Mexico before publication.
The new pickleball courts at the East Mesa Public Sports Complex open to the public in Las Cruces Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (Photo by Leah Romero / Source New Mexico)Enriquez grew up in Las Cruces and recalled his excitement as a child when Maag Ball Park was built.
“We were playing (baseball) at the elementary schools before Maag Park. And man, when I was a kid, Maag Park was the greatest thing that was ever built in Las Cruces,” Enriquez said. “And then Paz and then Harty, and so we see the continuation.”
Residents and city employees gathered in the midafternoon heat last week for the ribbon cutting and within the hour, people were claiming courts and breaking out their paddles.
The complex is located in Las Cruces’ East Mesa, off of Sonoma Springs Avenue and Camino Coyote behind the East Mesa Public Safety Complex.
According to the 2024 Sports & Fitness Association Topline Participation Report, at least 13.6 million people play pickleball. Between 2022 and 2023, that participation grew by 51.8% across the U.S. The report describes pickleball as the “fastest-growing sport” in the country.
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