A Sunshine Coast tennis club has responded to concerns raised in an anonymously authored community notice about pickleball noise that has been circulating online.
The notice, which was shared in a Buddina locals Facebook group in recent weeks, relates to pickleball activities at Kawana Tennis Club and warns residents about potential noise impacts from the sport.
Kawana Tennis Club vice president Ben Chester said pickleball officially commenced at the club on May 4 after months of consultation and approvals with Sunshine Coast Council.
“Pickleball had a rather large demand from both members and the community to do it,” he said.
“As well as from a community club aspect, we are aware that many other clubs on the Coast do it.”
The notice, headed ‘Community Notice – Noise and Amenity Concerns’, states pickleball courts would operate ‘during weekday daytime hours, with potential expansion to weekends’.
It also claims the sound generated by pickleball is ‘sharper, louder, repetitive, and carries further’, adding it could impact ‘the quiet residential nature of the surrounding area’.
Residents were encouraged to report ‘unreasonable or ongoing noise disturbance’ to council every time so that the ‘impact on the community can be properly assessed’.
A Sunshine Coast Council spokesperson said the club had been advised of the process required to introduce pickleball at the facility, including obtaining landowner consent, undertaking community consultation with neighbouring properties and implementing a trial period within the court schedule to monitor participation, assess acoustic impacts and gather community feedback.
“Council is currently awaiting further advice from the club as it progresses through this matter,” they said.
The spokesperson also confirmed council had “not received any noise complaints relating to the Kawana Tennis Club through May 2026”.
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Mr Chester said the club had undertaken acoustic testing as part of the approval process, including sound surveys on courts nine and 10, which are furthest from nearby homes.
“We had to do a sound survey to do records of sound and get a sound meter in and run reports and check distances from houses and all sorts of things to ensure that the noise wouldn’t be an effect,” he said.
He said four pickleball courts had been established across courts nine and 10, with up to 16 people able to play at one time.
Social pickleball sessions currently operate on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 8.30am to 10.30am, coaching sessions on Fridays from 7.30am to 10am and social play on Saturdays from 3pm to 5pm. Courts are also available for hire between 11am and 3.30pm on most days.
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Mr Chester said the club, which has between 250 and 300 members, had not received any direct complaints about noise.
“Categorically,” he said when asked whether complaints had been made.
He said the club became aware of the notice after it appeared online.
“We only saw it online saying someone saw it in their mailbox,” he said.
“When my fellow committee members raised that with me, I re-read it and said, ‘Okay, I can see how this might appear deceptive’.”
Mr Chester said the club supported the introduction of pickleball as a way of broadening participation and responding to growing community interest in the sport.
He said the club’s committee, which is volunteer-run as a non-profit organisation, believed pickleball would continue to grow in popularity on the Sunshine Coast alongside traditional tennis activities.
