McCleskey-East Cobb YMCA opens eight new pickleball courts
Eight new courts at McCleskey-East Cobb YMCA add immediate play space, then a First Dink clinic from the Atlanta Bouncers showed how East Cobb plans to fill the demand.
Eight brand-new pickleball courts are now open at the McCleskey-East Cobb Family YMCA, giving East Cobb another batch of places to play at a moment when court space has become the sport’s biggest bottleneck. The branch marked the opening with a First Dink ceremony on Wednesday, June 17, and the message was clear: pickleball has moved from a pop-up pastime to core community recreation infrastructure.
The upgrade carries extra weight because McCleskey-East Cobb is not just any facility. The YMCA opened there in 1989 and calls it the flagship Y in Cobb County, so this expansion lands at one of the system’s anchor branches rather than a satellite site. The campus already includes tennis/pickleball courts, plus an indoor pool, whirlpool, sauna, indoor track, gymnasium, wellness center, play center, outdoor exercise circuit and racquetball-squash courts, which makes the new build part of a broader multi-sport campus instead of a standalone add-on.
The courts are also built for more than casual open play. The YMCA of Metro Atlanta says the new space will support youth camp activities, recreational play, leagues and opportunities for families and older adults to improve their physical and social well-being. Its adult pickleball programming already runs through lessons, clinics, leagues and reservable courts, which is the formula that matters most in amateur pickleball: court access plus instruction plus a place where newer players can learn without feeling lost.
That teaching piece showed up on opening day. After the remarks and ceremonial First Dink, players from the Atlanta Bouncers ran a community clinic, giving local players a chance to watch high-level technique up close and then try it themselves. Major League Pickleball lists the Atlanta Bouncers as a Challenger Level team, so the clinic brought pro-level credibility to a recreational opening that was designed to lower the barrier to entry, not raise it.
The timing fits the numbers. The Sports and Fitness Industry Association said U.S. pickleball participation reached 19.8 million players in 2024, a 45.8% jump from 2023, and later put the total above 24 million in 2025. That kind of growth is exactly why facilities like McCleskey-East Cobb are investing in permanent courts, not temporary setups. The Trae Young Family Foundation, which says its mission includes mental health awareness and youth support through sports, helped make the project possible alongside YMCA of the USA and the YMCA community, and its Young Family Athletic Center in Oklahoma, which includes 18 pickleball courts, shows this is becoming a recurring part of its sports investment playbook.
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