'It's a war': Pickleball nets targeted by vandals in Needham
NEEDHAM - Needham Police are investigating after vandals targeted the town's pickleball courts. First, someone slashed the nets at Mills Field. In a separate incident, the nets were tossed out of the courts.
As players arrived at the popular spot Monday morning, they noticed four of the six nets had been sliced. The pickleball nets, which are on rollers, are set up on the tennis courts.
Several players told WBZ-TV there was an argument with tennis players over the weekend about sharing the courts, but they don't know if there was a connection.
"We were more than happy to coexist with tennis players and share the facilities as needed and someone had this rage inside of them to take it out on us," said Lisa Rhoades.
Tensions over territory are boiling over in Needham. It's a craze on the courts, all stemming from the enormous popularity of pickleball.
"A year ago January we started and there were five of us. Now there is close to 1100. It's just exponentially blown up," said pickleball player Paul Pasquarosa.
Needham neighbors paid for the pickleball nets themselves, and they have permission from the town for the equipment to be wheeled to the side when it is the tennis players' turn.
"Over the weekend apparently somebody came by and cut four of the nets right down the middle. So, they're completely unusable," said Rhoades.
That vandalism was sandwiched between two other incidents. There was verbal altercation among tennis and pickleball players on Saturday, and on Monday afternoon, the nets appeared to be tossed and trampled.
"Today when I came down someone had basically dissembled them and bent some of the poles and things like that and left them in a heap," said pickleball player Chrissy Silverman. "It just looks like a pile of trash."
Monday's damage happened during a high school girls' tennis match. The superintendent of Needham schools confirmed to WBZ they're investigating "unacceptable adult behavior."
"It's a war. There's no question and if you go online and you see on Twitter and Facebook, people are at each other's throats," said former tennis pro Tim Mayotte.
Mayotte sees the animosity all over. He's a former tennis pro and an Olympic silver medalist.
"One of the big problems is that on two courts of tennis you might have 25 or 30 pickle players," Mayotte said. "But then there's always people waiting. In tennis you used to have space and quiet. The two peoples really don't get along at all."
Needham Police were called to Mills Field for both incidents. They already patrol the popular area but will increase their presence as they investigate the vandalism.