SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — Pickleball players are back on the courts at one of the Lehigh Valley’s premier places to play after St. Luke’s reopened the former Westend Racquet Club in South Whitehall Township.
St. Luke’s University Health Network announced Dec. 20 that it “completely upgraded” the former tennis and racket club to support pickleball and other sports.
“The demand to open has been so tremendous, we’ve decided to do a soft opening and get people playing pickleball."John Hauth, senior network administrator of sports medicine relationships for St. Luke’s
The arena is holding a soft opening through Jan. 2, with free court time for members, the health network said in a news release.
“The demand to open has been so tremendous we’ve decided to do a soft opening and get people playing pickleball,” said John Hauth, senior network administrator of sports medicine relationships for St. Luke’s.
“We anticipate that memberships will go fast.”
The 75,000-square-foot St. Luke’s Sportsplex features a dozen NBA-quality hardwood pickleball courts and a dozen “designated hardcourt pickleball courts,” according to the company.
The Sportsplex — at 4636 Crackersport Road, just off Routes 22 and 309 — also has an event center lined for pickleball.
There are 22 outdoor courts across 3 acres at the facility, offering a “festival atmosphere” and parking for large tournaments, according to St. Luke’s.
The St. Luke’s SportsPlex is “poised to become the … sports and pickleball destination in the Northeast,” the company said.
The SportsPlex is “going to be a wonderful pickleball mecca,” Mary Jo Cambridge, the facility's director of pickleball operations, said in September.
She called the new venue “one of the nicest, biggest venues around” and said she expects it will bring together “people who respect and support each other in having a great time learning and playing the game.”
It also will serve as the home of Pickleball Lehigh Valley, which is set to offer training, open play and tournaments.
SportsPlex memberships are set to cost $30 a month. There will be a separate charge to use the courts, which Cambridge said will be about $2.50 per hour, depending on the time of day.
Pickleball boom
Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the United States.
The sport resembles badminton and tennis, but players use smaller courts, wooden paddles and perforated plastic balls.
USA Pickleball, the sport’s governing body in the United States, said 8.9 million people of all ages played the game in 2023.
That's up from 4.8 million people the previous year.
The dozens of new courts at the St. Luke’s SportsPlex are the latest to be built amid a pickleball boom in the Lehigh Valley.
New courts have also popped up in recent years in North Whitehall and South Whitehall townships, while the area’s first dedicated courts opened in 2017 at Upper Macungie’s Grange Park.
There are more than 1,200 pickleball courts in Pennsylvania, according to USA Pickleball.
