Our Story
Welcome to Monterey Bay Pickleball Club! We are a vibrant community dedicated to promoting and growing the sport of pickleball on the Monterey Peninsula. Founded in 2016, we provide a welcoming and inclusive environment for players of all ages and abilities. We aim to make pickleball accessible to everyone in our community by advocating for free access to high quality, safe public courts. At the Monterey Bay Pickleball Club, we believe in the power of pickleball to help people stay active and healthy. Studies have shown pickleball can help lower blood pressure and cholesterol, improve cardiopulminary fitness, hand-eye coordination, agility, and muscular endurance. Pickleball also provides opportunities for people to form active social groups and build relationships. It helps reduce anxiety and depression. It is a fun way for people to stay fit and healthy while enjoying their leisure time. For many of our players it is these social benefits that keep them coming back for more. For them, pickleball is a life changing activity.
A New Home
Pickleball has been the fastest growing sport in the US for each of the last three years. We have also seen an explosion of new players in our area. So, MBPC and others in the local pickleball community have been working with city governments to expand and improve facilities. We have worked with the cities of Monterey, Seaside, Carmel, and Pacific Grove to establish and improve their public pickleball facilities. However, existing public pickleball parks on the Monterey Peninsula are all nestled within residential communities and have little to no noise buffer between the courts and homes. With large numbers of players flocking to these courts, residents have mobilized and they have worked with their city governments to restrict pickleball play at some of these locations. To address the need for more courts, espcially in the city of Monterey which has the fewest number of courts, MBPC submitted a proposal to the City of Monterey's Neighborhood and Community Improvement Program (NCIP) in Feb 2023 to build pickelball courts at Ryan Ranch. The City had previously funded a feasibility study that identified Ryan Ranch as the best site for new pickleball courts. In June of 2023, the NCIP commission overwhelmingly recommended our project to the City Council. The scope of this proposal calls for $80,000 in City funding to design an 8-court Pickleball Complex at Ryan Ranch park. Court construction will be a follow on project. Ryan Ranch park is a 75 acre park conveniently located near the Monterey Airport at the intersections of highways 68 and 218. This predominantly open space park is popular with walkers and is the home of the Monterey Stinging Jellies disc golf club. The surrounding community consists of office parks and light industrial businesses. This site is no stranger to noise because it is located in the MRY airport landing zone and adjacent to a recycling plant. There is plenty of room for 8 pickleball courts and space for future expansion should the need arise.
How You Can Help
As the City embarks on the design of this facility over the next year, we are turning our attention to phase two ... construction funding. The City estimates it will cost $400,000 to build the courts once the design is complete. While the NCIP commission supports our efforts, they made it clear that they expect the pickleball community to partially fund the construction. So, we have set a fundraising goal of $100,000. While it is no guarantee, we feel confident that the commission will vote to fund the rest of the project if we are able to achieve our fundraising goal.
Site Overview Video
This is a short video from Google Earth. The yellow pins mark the likely building site within the 75 acre Ryan Ranch park. This location is currently used as a storage yard by the City of Monterey.
Design Inspiration
Design work is expected to begin after a firm is selected in the spring of 2024. The images below provide a glimpse of the potential this project holds. Unlike other courts on the peninsula, this is a "from scratch" dedicated pickleball development so there are many possibilities. If you would like to comment on the facility, send email to montereypickleball@outlook.com.
Project Timeline
The Ryan Ranch Pickleball Complex development effort is a public/private partnership between the local pickleball community and the City of Monterey. Because the NCIP committee controls the public portion of the funding, the project timeline for the project follows the yearly Monterey NCIP funding cycle. Each year, the NCIP committee accepts project applications in January. Our project is broken into two phases: Design Phase and Construction Phase. The design phase project was submitted to the NCIP committee in January of 2023 and approved in September of 2023. The construction phase project will be submitted in January of 2024. Because the design phase will take more than one year, the design of the pickleball complex will not be complete before we begin fundraising, nor will it be complete before we submit our construction funding application.