As a business owner, I know that starting a business can be tough and there are kinks to work out so I'm being very generous with my star rating to make sure they get off on the right foot.
First, it's a good place to play when it's cold out. There are 11 courts, there's a lot of room around each court to get the balls. They've done a good job of converting the space into a pickle friendly space and it's NOT loud, which is nice. They have high ceilings (!!!) so you can actually lob.
There's also a pretty decent amount of parking and it looks like they'll soon be able to have a bar. Not sure if they'll also serve food.
Here's where I want to give feedback to help them.
1. I REALLY wish they had consulted with an interior designer on paint colors
1A. The dark blue paint on the walls makes it SO dark.
1B. I also wish the courts were painted differently. I understand they probably wnated to go with Broncos colors but they have dark grey flooring, and dark blue courts, which makes it SO hard to see if a ball is in or out. Other courts have a distinct difference, so that if I see for instance, green, I know the ball was out. But when a ball is going fast and you have a split second to look at the ball, and on top if it, it's dark, you can't make a good judgement call on the ball, which means you end up having to feel bad about having made a potentially bad call, or you reward the other team with the point. Also the orange kitchen makes it hard to see the ball sometimes. It goes from dark to light and with the darkness of the entire place, it's so unbalanced. If the blue in the courts was a bit brighter I think that might help?
2. There needs to be *way* more lights than there are in this space, especially since the walls are so dark. Honestly it's just not ample enough, especially along the corners/walls. It ends up being really difficult to see the ball. Not understanding lighting needs for pickleball play is probably one of my biggest pet peeves.
3. There are three courts with a stairway which really gets in the way of serving, and returning a deep ball, because your paddle ends up hitting the cover pad. I don't understand why they couldn't have moved the court like, 3- 4 feet over into the middle? It's not like there's not enough space in the middle area that they couldn't just take that for the courts.
4. The fact that open play for different levels is ALL at the same time is very frustrating. It means that during that time, they block off almost *all* their courts which makes it very hard to reserve a court. I don't understand why it can't just be staggered?
5. I understand that they have rent to pay and a return to make but honestly $40/court/hour is ridiculous, and if you pay their annual membership, that price goes down to $20/an hour which is also super high. I suggest considering the ikea model, where if you reduce prices to something more reasonable, the demand will increase. Right now I see this as being busy really only when it's cold/snowy out, or if the weather is uncooperative. There's just no incentive for me to play indoors at such a high rate, especially with all the issues above, when I can just go to a free public facility when the weather outside is nice,
That said, I truly do wish them the best of luck! I'm happy to see the availability of more indoor spaces! read more
