Sunset Park handball players want repairs, not pickleball

On a recent weekend, a dedicated group of handball players gathered at the courts in Sunset Park. Many of them learned to play the game on these very walls, and the meetups, organized through group chats, bring together multiple generations of players who return to where it all started.

Many of the players still live in the neighborhood but often play at one of several other courts in Sunset Park.

"Most of the time we don’t play here," said 35-year-old player Alex. "The court’s in disrepair, but we want the younger generation to continue what we did."

While a renovation of the handball court by the New York City Parks Department was completed just a few years ago, players cite a number of issues that keep them away.

Several pointed to what they described as insufficient repairs to the walls and signs of persistent water damage, likely coming from cracks near the top of the wall that allow water to seep through the surface.

"They painted the walls and just patched the worst spots," said Manny, a veteran handballer whose relationship with the court goes back 30 years. "We don’t have a flat wall, but we make the best of it."

Another major complaint: a resurfacing of the court floor that players say was done to accommodate pickleball, which has made the ground uneven and, in some areas, hazardous.

According to the New York City Parks Capital Project Tracker, the handball court renovation was completed in 2022 as part of a standalone project titled "Sunset Park Handball Court Reconstruction." The records don’t indicate any substantial work on the wall itself but do show a new court floor repavement. It’s unclear whether the repaving was done to also add pickleball to the handball court.

"I will tell you, I have no intention of replacing any handball court in the community with pickleball," said Council Member Alexa Avilés. "The New York City Parks Department keeps wanting to pickleball things, and we have never received a request here for a pickleball court."

Manny remembers learning to play on the court back when it wasn’t paved at all, just covered with bluestone gravel, making the ball bounce in unpredictable ways.

"We learned not to let the ball bounce," Manny said. "We learned to kill it."

That early training created a fast, aggressive style of play among the veterans. Players moved with an intuitive awareness of each other’s rhythms, exchanging high-speed volleys with barely a bounce in between.

Miguel, 42, who’s been playing since he was 12, says the game has taught him more than just court skills. "It’s competitive, it’s stressful, but it builds communication. You learn to lead and read people—the way they move, function, and think. You learn to adapt."

The players are planning to organize a tournament at the Sunset Park court at the end of the month or in early September to raise awareness about the court’s condition while also celebrating its long history.

Council Member Avilés has expressed interest in attending the event and has promised to look further into the court’s condition. The Sunset Post will let readers know once the date of the tournament has been finalized.

To many players, Sunset Park is the mecca of handball in the neighborhood. They believe that with the right investment, it can reclaim its place as a home court not just for locals, but for players from across the city.

"Build good walls," Alex said, "and trust me, they’ll start coming back home."