The tennis courts at the Boothbay Region Schools have been in use since the spring of 2014.

Although on school grounds, the courts are community courts and are available for all members of the public to use while not being used for school functions, such as matches or gym classes.

However, community use of the courts has created a problem that Boothbay girls tennis coach Alex Arsenault brought to the attention of the Community School District Trustees on June 3.

“A number of people are using the courts for pickleball games, which is no problem,” Arsenault said. “But they are drawing chalk lines on the courts because pickleball has a different court size than tennis.”

A regulation-sized tennis court is 36 feet wide and 78 feet long. A pickleball court is 20 feet wide and 44 long.

According to the USA Pickleball Association’s website (USAPA), pickleball “combines many elements of tennis, badminton and pingpong.”

The chalk lines have been an issue because once finished, the players do not remove the lines they have drawn, and Arsenault has been responsible for cleaning them up. Including cleaning and drying time, this can take around two hours.

Superintendent Eileen King suggested creating permanent pickleball lines that wouldn't need to be cleaned, but Arsenault explained this would make the courts illegal for tournament use.

“MPA varsity rules states we cannot host a match on a court that has lines for any other sport,” Arsenault said. “I love how many people are playing tennis out there, this is like my dream, and I don't want to stop anyone from using them. But one of the reasons these courts were built was so we could host tournaments here.”

The trustees discussed possibly making “drop-down” lines available for players, which could be placed and removed easily. King stressed that the agreement between the town and school states that the courts were to be for community use, and the trustees would need to tread carefully.

The trustees decided that for now, a sign would be placed asking players not to mark the courts in any way.

The trustees discussed suggesting the creation of a pickleball court to the town of Boothbay Harbor as part of the design for the old tennis court area.

King said she would research the agreement between the school and town, and would talk to Maine Tennis and Track to find out the official rules on this issue. Chairman Chris Buchanan suggested possibly placing tape on the courts during the summer season for pickleball players, but was concerned if that would damage the courts.

“If we don't do anything, sooner or later someone’s going to use a marker to place lines and then we'll have a real problem,” Trustee Kevin Anthony said.

“I think we need to research this, but I for one don't like the idea of people marking our tennis courts,” Buchanan said.

The trustees thanked Arsenault for bringing up this issue and promised they would work to resolve it so all parties would be happy.