Pickleball players upset over new noise-reducing ball required by Cape Cod town: "It's garbage"
Pickleball is causing a pickle in one Cape Cod town. It's a cliche as bad as the noise of the game, but in Mashpee, Massachusetts, it's an ongoing battle that has a new twist.
Following numerous noise complaints, the town is requiring players to use a new noise-reducing ball that is far more expensive than a regular ball.
"You can get these on sale for about $1 a ball," said pickleballer Paul Key holding a traditional ball. "This is the ball that the town is now saying we have to use. It costs $50 a ball, and it does not play anything like a pickleball."
The new ball is 3D-printed from a company called NETX. Key tested it out for WBZ using his paddle. The ball was quiet, but he said it had significantly less bounce.
"It's like a sponge," said Key. "It's just, it's garbage."
Players say the irregular bounce makes play inconsistent and becomes a large disadvantage when they go anywhere outside of Mashpee and play with regular balls. At times, players say they have to hit this new ball twice as hard.
"If we have to use this ball, and get used to this, we'll be at a real disadvantage to play other places," said Jackie Ferguson who plays pickleball year-round.
Ferguson and her friends brought the ball out to test it and struggled to find consistency.
"Visitors, summer people that play here, they're not going to have these balls," said Ferguson. "They're not going to have the means to get them if they're here for a week."
On the company's website, they charge $99 for a 3-pack, but Mashpee's town website says they will offer a 20% discount for Mashpee residents.
Pickleball players tell WBZ-TV this debate has been going on for a while, and that the town has been trying to make changes.
"These courts they've put noise dampening tarps around the sides. They planted vegetation to drown out some of the noise, so the town has gone to measures to reduce noise," Key said.
Proponents of the change call the new ball a compromise, with one neighbor speaking up at a town meeting.
"Changing the ball didn't change the times. It did not change anything about the pickleball park. It just changed the ball," said the neighbor before the board, adding later, "I think this is going to be a great thing. I don't think the ball is too expensive," as laughs came from the crowd at the meeting. "Keep laughing," he said, "but I bet every person who is laughing has spent more than that at Dunkin' Donuts in a matter of a week."
Originally, players had to use the new balls starting August 1, but the town just extended the start to August 13. They tell WBZ-TV they expect to expand the list of approved balls by next week.
