Balsam Mountain Preserve adds three pickleball courts in Sylva, North Carolina

Balsam Mountain Preserve opened its new outdoor pickleball complex June 13 with three regulation courts set beside the Ruby Valley Fitness & Wellness Pavilion and the property’s outdoor tennis complex. The launch gave Sylva-area players a fresh mountain destination, not just another court stop, with blue and green SportMaster acrylic surfaces, a seating and viewing area, and room for light food and beverage service during events.

The opening sharpened a larger point about where pickleball is headed in western North Carolina: access is no longer only about court count, but about what happens around the courts. Balsam built the project into an existing wellness campus that already includes swimming, tennis, massage, training and cookouts, turning the new complex into part of a broader lifestyle package rather than a stand-alone amenity.

That matters at Balsam because the preserve is not a dense club footprint. The property spans 4,400 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains between Sylva and Waynesville, and background material says roughly 3,200 to 3,300 acres are protected by conservation easement. The pickleball complex sits at about 3,500 feet of elevation, where the club says summer temperatures are cooler and the views carry as much appeal as the lines on the court.

Director of Fitness Gavin Baldwin is leading the racquet sports initiative, and his backstory gives the launch a local edge. Baldwin grew up near Balsam Mountain in Nantahala and studied health and physical education at Western Carolina University, a combination that ties the new program to the region as much as to resort-style recreation.

Baldwin is working with Katie Nowicki, identified by the preserve as the current pickleball professional at Champion Hills in Hendersonville. Her role gives the new courts an instruction pipeline from the start, with clinics and private lessons planned to support beginners while still serving experienced players who want competitive runs.

Opening-day programming reflected that approach. Balsam scheduled a ribbon-cutting, a meet-and-greet with Nowicki, a complimentary clinic, open play and free paddles for general use, all of it designed to lower the barrier for first-timers and make the courts usable immediately. For a sport that keeps growing because of its easy entry and social pull, Balsam’s new complex shows how private communities are bundling courts, coaching and scenery into one destination.