Caddo Parish completes parishwide pickleball court upgrades across four communities

Caddo Parish just gave local players a more usable map, not just a ribbon-cutting. By converting 10 outdoor tennis courts into pickleball courts, the parish added 10 places to play across four communities, with six dedicated courts at Earl G. Williamson Park in Oil City, two shared pickleball-tennis courts at Keithville Community Park, one dedicated court in Blanchard and one in Greenwood.

That distribution matters. Earl G. Williamson Park, at 11425 LA Hwy. 1, now holds the biggest cluster of the new courts. Keithville Community Park, at 12201 Mansfield Rd., keeps both racket sports in the mix on two shared courts. The single-court stops in Blanchard, at 402 Birch Ave., and Greenwood, at 9360 Greenwood Rd., give players in those towns a closer option than driving to a single central site.

The project moved through the parish’s system over months, with a bid package advertised in September 2024 under project number 24-25 and architect’s project number 24-BC0003. TBA Studio Architecture was listed in the bid documents as the design firm. Caddo Parish first announced the parishwide resurfacing project on Feb. 26, 2025, and then confirmed completion on April 28, 2026.

Patrick Wesley, who leads Caddo Parish Parks and Recreation, said pickleball has been the fastest-growing sport in the country over the past three years, and the parish has been reading that demand correctly. The practical payoff for casual players is immediate: fewer bottlenecks, shorter drives and more dedicated space that does not require begging for a line on a busy tennis court.

The broader signal is bigger than one resurfacing job. Caddo Parish is clearly treating pickleball as part of its core recreation strategy, not a novelty bolted onto existing tennis facilities. The parish’s pickleball page says it estimates 48.3 million U.S. players and 223.5% growth over three years, figures that help explain why local governments are converting existing courts instead of waiting for brand-new builds.

And Caddo is not stopping here. Parish planning also points to a proposed $10 million pickleball park behind the Lash Family YMCA in Shreveport, with 19 lit regulation courts, a championship court with seating for 1,000, a 6,000-square-foot clubhouse, parking for 500 and a walking-jogging trail. For now, though, the clearest win is already on the ground: 10 more playable courts, spread across the parish where people actually live and drive.