Pickleball ban at West Village playground pits parents, players against each other

Players and parents clash after pickleball banned at West Village playground

The battle of pickleball players and parents is continuing across New York City, after parents got the sport banned from a West Village Park after claiming it was taking away space from their children.

NEW YORK - Parents are clashing with pickleball players at one West Village park where the breakout game has been banned.

Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the nation, but as it continues to grow, so do the turf battles over spaces allocated for it to be played, due to complaints that the game's courts are taking up too much space.

At the playground at 17 Horatio Street, critics argue that the sport was making it difficult for people to reserve courts, excluding children from some of the little public space they have in Manhattan.

However, pickleball aficionados say public space is hard to come by in New York, and that any time overlapping with children playing is relatively small.

Ultimately, the decision will come down to the city's Parks Department which, for now, is redirecting players to go to the nearby designated courts on Hudson Street.