March 2024 Announcements
Summer Pickleball Programming in Royal Oak:
– Pickleball courts open for the season the weekend of April 27th, weather permitting.
– Pickleball hours are 9am – 9pm, and, whenever a permitted event is not running, ALL courts are open to ALL levels of players for drop in play.
– A paddle rack rotation system is in place for court rotation at both Whittier and Upton parks, and signage explaining how this works is posted!
– SMPA’s permitted event programming runs from mid-May through early October, and includes leagues, mixers, mini-tournaments, and our large, annual Aug tournament. Please see our Court Usage Calendar for when the courts are booked for an event v. when they are open for drop-in play!
– Summer session 1 leagues’ lottery opens ~4/8/24 – SMPA membership is required to enter!
Indoor Pickleball Programming around Southeast Michigan:
– Our final indoor mixer for the year is Sat evening, 4/13 at Peachtree Tennis Club; details and registration are here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C4BAEAC2AA1F8C61-48813489-smpas#/
– Our second indoor mini-tournament for the year is Sun, 4/21 at Peachtree; details and registration are here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C4BAEAC2AA1F8C61-48813497-smpas#/
SMPA Membership and The Royal Oak Pickleball Courts expansion project!
We encourage ALL Royal Oak pickleball court users to donate to join SMPA as membership money and all other donations and programming income not only fund all of SMPA’s pickleball programming in Royal Oak, the equipment at the courts (nets, windscreens, johns, paint, and more), and the maintenance of the courts (court and fence repair, etc.), but also we are fundraising to expand the number of courts at each park (work currently scheduled to begin fall 2024)! Beginning in the fall of 2024 or spring of 2025 (currently tied up in the city budgeting process), Royal Oak will be completely tearing out and rebuilding the existing 8-court complexes at both Whittier and Upton Parks. This will be a taxpayer funded project. SMPA is fundraising for the addition of two courts at Whittier (bringing the 2025 total to 10 at a SMPA cost of ~$60,000) and two-four courts at Upton (bringing the total to 10-12 at a SMPA cost of $75,000-$150,000). We are nearly to our primary fundraising goal of $135,000 (for 2 additional courts at each park) as of April 2024, and can use your help to reach our full goal by fall 2024!!