are also available to the public for open
and tournament play.
On the residential side, Minto
Communities, developer of
communities such as the new Latitude
Margaritaville and the award-
winning Isles of Collier Preserve in
Naples, includes pickleball courts in
developments because the demand has
grown exponentially.
William Bullock, Senior Vice
President of Minto Communities,
says pickleball has been on his
company’s radar since around 2009.
“In the 20 years I’ve been involved in
development, you can see where things
are trending and where they’re headed.
A great example is how the trend
shifted from shuffleboard to bocce,”
he explains. “In 2009, we acquired Sun
City Center and sat down with the
board and association members. This is
a community of 17,000 units, and they
told us they wanted things like a dog
park. They didn’t want a playground.
Then they said they wanted pickleball,
and I said, ‘What’s pickleball?’ When
they explained it and why it applied
to the demographic, it was obvious
it would be a trendsetting sport. We
helped convert tennis courts and,
within a year, had dozens of pickleball
courts. That real-world experience was
validation for us.”
Since then, pickleball courts have
been included in Minto’s Isles of
Collier Preserve in Naples, LakePark
in Port St. Lucie, and the new Latitude
Margaritaville communities in
Daytona Beach and Hilton Head.
Residents of Isles of Collier
Preserve have their own pickleball
courts and club—and compete
in area tournaments regularly.
Residents simply walk through a
gate that connects the community
to East Naples Park where there are
championship-level, covered pickleball
courts.
Bullock says not only has Minto
embraced pickleball where it thrives,
it has also embraced the pickleball
community by sponsoring events
that are important to the players. The
company was the title sponsor for the
2016 Inaugural US Open Pickleball
Championships and continues to be
a title sponsor of the event. “There’s
been no wavering on our zeal for the
sport,” says Bullock. “We’ve seen the
US Open grow from a few hundred
people to more than 5,000. It’s
growing by leaps and bounds, and it’s
because of how accessible the sport is.
It’s intergenerational and crosses all
boundaries.”
As far as the communities being
built, Minto’s enthusiasm for pickleball
will continue for the foreseeable
future. Bullock says the company’s
strategic marketing surveys continue
to show pickleball’s popularity in the
top 10 out of 20 athletic activities that
customers and interested buyers want
to see in their neighborhoods. “We’ve
seen golf go from being in the top 5 to
15 of 20, but pickleball just ticks up
the ladder every time we survey
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PICKLEBALL AT MINTO COMMUNITIES.
MARCH/APRIL 2018 |
MAGAZINE
33