Welcome to MBPC!
Welcome to Monterey Bay Pickleball Club. We are a vibrant community dedicated to promoting and growing the sport of pickleball on the Monterey Peninsula. We aim to make pickleball accessible to everyone in our community by advocating for free access to high quality, safe public courts and sponsoring free events.
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Your $20 annual donation helps pay for club expenses such as club socials and this web site. Click below to join the club.
New Club Logo
With the demise of the Ryan Ranch pickleball project (see below) and the opening of the new $3M pickleball courts at MPC, the MBPC will be focusing its efforts towards club events in 2025. Our first event will be a Pickleball & Potluck event at MPC on Jan 26. More information and sign up is here.
To bolster our club's identity, we've adopted a new logo and updated our website design. Additionally, we're commissioning merchandise featuring this logo. The first item is a stylish hat, perfect for playing on the courts. We also have personalized pickleball bag tags customized with your name and phone number. These are available for free exclusively to club members. Be sure to attend our next social event to see these items in person. Pre-orders are available now.
New Carmel Pickleball Restrictions
The city of Carmel has reduced the number of pickleball days at Forest Hill Park due to neighbor complaints about noise and parking. The City Council tasked the Forest and Beach Commission with finding a solution to this ongoing issue. During their December 12, 2023 meeting, after a brief 10-minute discussion following over an hour of public comments, they decided to limit pickleball play to Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. You can watch their discussion here. The 90 day trial period went into effect on December 20.
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It's concerning that the Commission specifically chose these days, as they coincide with pickleball days in PG. The commissioners explicitly stated they did not want PG players coming to Carmel. It's evident that the commission is not interested in finding a compromise that reduces play while still accommodating player schedules.​
New Courts for Del Rey Oaks and Marina
As part of the Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway (FORTAG) project, the City of Del Rey Oaks is striping their tennis courts at Work Memorial Park for pickleball. They plan to include 2 or 4 dual lined courts. You can see a video rendering of the park enhancements here. The courts may open later this year.
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The Marina City Council appears to be in full support of a new indoor sports center and aquatic center that would include the addition of 5 indoor courts. These courts would be in a multi-sport sports pavilion that would include basketball, volleyball, and other sports in addition to pickleball. A video presentation of the project and City Council discussion can be viewed here. Marina, the most pro-pickleball city in our area, also has multiple other outdoor court projects in various states of development.
Ryan Ranch Pickleball Funding Denied
Regrettably, the Monterey City Council has opted to abandon funding for this project, despite the NCIP (Neighborhood and Community Improvement Program) commission's recommendation of $300,000 over the past two years. The City Manager has been openly opposed to this project, and the Mayor seems to have aligned with his stance. The City Council discussion at their Nov 19th meeting was notably engaging, with the "old guard" advocating to return the project to the newly appointed NCIP commission members for their input, while the "new guard" aimed to terminate it immediately. A narrow 3-2 vote ultimately sealed the project's fate.​​​
Future Plans for Monterey Pickleball
On the bright side, the City Manager and his team are not completely abandoning pickleball. They are backing changes to the Monterey Tennis Center (MTC) that would add six pickleball courts. However, the MTC is a pay-for-play facility, similar to others in the area like Meadowbrook, Hyatt, and Chamisal. Whether these changes will benefit the pickleball community will depend on the pricing structure.
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The Santa Barbara Municipal pickleball center, for example, has $6 day use fees and annual memberships ranging from $125 to $153. If the MTC were to adopt a similar pricing structure, it could be quite successful. ​​However, if comes with monthly dues in the $50+/month range it will just be another entry in a crowded field.
Ryan Ranch Funds
​In recent years, the Monterey Bay Pickleball Club has raised a total of $15,331, which the Club planned to donate to the city of Monterey for the construction of new courts at Ryan Ranch Park. This fundraising initiative began after members of the NCIP commission indicated a need for private funding. With the project's demise, the MBPC Board will now consider other ways to use these funds to support the local pickleball community, as outlined in our contingency plans.
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Please reach out to the Board if you have suggestions on how these funds could be used to benefit pickleball in our area.​​​
