Pickles and Play — Local services in Wake Forest

I could write a ton, but I will keep it simple. I've played in one tournament at the Wake Forest P&P location.

Nice facility, and nothing really to complain about there, but the operational aspects could be improved a bit.

We made it to the Gold Medal round, and they moved our best out of 3 game match to another court after the first game. Who does that? We ended up winning the Gold, but I've never seen that before in a tournament.

I attempted to play in the upcoming tournament in Garner, but only 2 teams signed up for our division. We offered to play against them in any format just to be able to play. They said they could not do that. We then considered the offer to play at a lower level (frowned upon by most pickleball players), so I decided not to put myself through that heckling. In all fairness, my son had been sick a week before, so that was a factor too.

However, things cleared up with him, and I reached out to the tournament director and asked if I could play with a new partner on the second day of the tournament (at a higher level where my previous partner had already committed to play with another player). The director e-mailed me right back, and said "Sure, I will add you and a partner to that bracket." I scrambled to find a partner, and after 10 minutes or so, I found someone, only to go back to my e-mail and see a response from the director that this would be unfair to the teams on the waiting list for that bracket. I honestly think that this should have been an exception to that, as we had already signed up to play, and they could not accommodate us at our original level.

Hopefully they can do better...

Pickles and Play Wake Forest is an amazing pickleball facility providing a clean and welcoming atmosphere. The staff, including the owners, are absolutely amazing and very helpful, always smiling and genuinely interested how they can make your experience the best it can be. PnP offers a bunch of playing options, from leagues for a more competitive expérience to open play sessions for those seeking to mix it up and play with different people, while still providing that healthy casual competition mix.

For personalized instruction, Avery and Lane provide professional lessons for both individuals and groups (clinics now too). The facility also has a ball machine (2 actually), which is really great for those of us who want to come in at ungodly hours to work on certain aspects of our game. The PnP tournaments are absolutely amazing. Huge turnouts with great competition at every level, yet run almost flawlessly. No more sitting around for hours not knowing when you’ll be playing your next match. If you sign up for a PnP tournament, be ready to play! Lisa (heads up… there’s like 6 of them :) has mastered the art of running a tournament efficiently, and always does so with a smile.

This summer, there’s also a kids camp, which is an awesome option if you’re like me and already need something besides the pool to keep the kids busy.

The sense of community at Pickles and Play is one of the best aspects of PnP, members are always eager to find a partner/group for a game or a drill session.

If you’re addicted like a lot of us are, and looking to scratch that pickleball itch, Pickles and Play is the...

We had my son's 6th birthday party at PnP in Wake Forest, and from start to finish, it was amazing to work with their Director of Events, Miko. As an early-bird planner, the original semi-private courts for events ended up being almost completely private due to their ability to expand out their existing space and it was AMAZING. Every single one of our child and adult guests had a great time, even though 98% of them had never played pickleball. The kids got to spin a wheel to see if they would win a PnP t-shirt, towel, sticker, etc. The step-and-repeat background they have for pictures was great especially with the props! In addition, the facility was clean, spacious, and had plenty of refrigerated drinks and snacks. We definitely plan on coming back to PnP for drop in...