Clay County Adds First Pickleball Court While Repairing Basketball Surface

Clay County now has its first pickleball court, and it arrived by way of a practical fix to an old problem on Center Street: a battered basketball surface with holes, cracks and only one backboard that still held up.

The new setup was officially marked with a ribbon-cutting on April 29, 2026, beside the Clay Business Development Authority in Clay. Both courts are free for public use, and equipment can be rented through the Clay Family Support Center, giving the county an entry-level recreation option without asking residents to travel far or pay to get started.

Donna Salisbury, director of the Clay Family Support Center, said the basketball court had become hard to ignore. Complaints from kids helped push the project forward, and the county used an Aetna Better Health grant to resurface the court and convert part of the space into a dedicated pickleball area. Community volunteers helped prepare the courts for play, turning a worn public surface into a multi-use recreation spot.

For Clay County Commissioner Duane Legg, the project marked a first for the county and a sport he had to learn about before the plans moved ahead. Legg said pickleball is now played by people of all ages, and he believes the new court could draw both residents and travelers into town. That matters in a community where the nearest play option may determine whether people pick up a paddle at all.

The court opening lands during a national surge. USA Pickleball said its 2025 court-location database reached 18,258 locations, while Pickleheads lists 82,613 known courts across the country. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association estimated 24.3 million Americans played pickleball in 2025. At the 2025 USA Pickleball National Championships, players ranged in age from 11 to 87, a span that reflects why small towns keep adding courts of their own.

Clay County’s approach also fits a familiar funding model. Instead of building a brand-new complex from scratch, local leaders repurposed an existing public surface and paired the upgrade with a new paddle sport. A similar county-city project in Green Cove Springs, Florida, involved six courts and documented county and city funding shares totaling more than $464,000, showing how often pickleball growth depends on shared public investment.

In Clay County, the immediate result is simple: a broken basketball court got new life, and residents gained the county’s first place to play pickleball close to home.