Ribbon Cut On Indoor Pickleball Courts

Mayor Justin Elicker rolled up the sleeves on his collared shirt, didn’t loosen his tie, readied his paddle, and then chased and swung at a yellow perforated plastic ball — to help celebrate the ribbon cutting of the city’s first indoor pickleball courts.

Elicker and Pickleville CT coach Bruno Semino teamed up for that brief friendly match against city economic development deputy Carlos Eyzaguirre and Pickleville CT owner David Goldberg Tuesday morning on one of the three indoor courts at 1 Valley St.

The enclosed venue at the corner of Valley and Blake near Whalley has been open since last October. The site used to be a ​“underused parking lot” on an ​“oddly shaped little stub of a lot,” as Eyzaguirre put it. 

Built by Harrison Blume — with a new pup-pickleball mural adorning a wall on the side of the parking lot — Pickleville CT is now owned and run by Goldberg, who said he purchased the business several weeks ago.

Elicker, Eyzaguirre, Westville/Amity Alder Richard Furlow, Westville Village Renaissance Alliance Executive Director Lizzy Donius, and a host of other racket-sport and Westville neighborhood enthusiasts joined Goldberg to cut the ribbon on a business focused on one of the country’s fastest growing sports, which is a little like tennis, a little like ping pong. 

Tuesday’s ribbon cutting doubled as a celebration of Benny’s Beanery, a new café located inside Pickleville CT that is run by Blair Timme.

“The U.S., and the Northeast in particular, does not have enough courts” to meet the ever-growing pickleball demand, Goldberg said. Elicker said Pickleville CT represents the fifth pickleball courts in New Haven, in addition to outdoor courts in Edgewood Park, Scantlebury Park, East Shore Park, and at Wilbur Cross High School.

Goldberg lived in New Haven from 1998 to 2002 when a student at Yale. He now lives in New York City, where he runs another indoor pickleball venue called Gotham Pickleball in Long Island City, Queens.

Goldberg used to work in finance, retail banking, asset management, insurance. 

A few years ago, he said, he was looking for a new job, and got to know some people who work for Pod Play, ​“a technology company that builds autonomous ping pong venues.” His eldest son is a competitive ping pong player, but Goldberg’s racket-passion is pickleball. He wound up licensing Pod Play’s technology, opened his first indoor courts in Long Island City, and has now expanded to New Haven with Pickleville CT.

This Westville venue, he said, is also ​“autonomous” — meaning that customers can book a court and access the facility anytime between 6 a.m. and midnight with the help of an app, even when no Pickleville CT are present.

“The barrier to entry is so low,” said former aerospace engineer and current Pickleville CT coach Will Meng about why the sport is so popular with younger and older players alike. He said he’s working with the city’s Youth and Rec department to build out more pickleball clinics and playing opportunities for young New Haveners. 

“What should I say?” Alder Furlow said, as the thwak thwak thwak of paddles against pickleballs rang out from the courts behind him. ​“Go pickleball!”