San Diego places

I have been to Balboa Park, Doyle Park and Scipps Ranch to play. And today, I'll go check out Carmel Valley.

Out of all the Gym I've been to, Balboa Park is the best place to play, players in there can range from beginners to B level players. On Tuesday and Thursday, they will reserve 5 cours out of the 15 for club players only, and 5 open courts free for the rest to play. The other 5 will be close for the Ping Pong club to play ping pong. If you want a more competative game, spend about $25 (if I remember correctly) and join the club for 1 year, that will give you the privlege to play on the club side with more serious players to play with. And you won't need to wait for as long for an open court. If you chose to play on the open non-club side, it's free of charge, but remember to bring your ID to sign in to get on the court. You may stay on the court for the time period they assign to you depending on if you're playing double or single games. (forgot the exact time...but I can find out)

Doyle Park can get really crowded during the weekends, mostly entry level players, with a few better ones. Free of charge. You pretty much have to fight to get on the court as soon as someone gets off, and you may only play one game per round. People play with plastic birds, and I just can't get used to it. So I try to avoid going there unless I'm desprate.

Scripps Ranch is a little less crowded, and somewhat better players then doyle park. i would say, maybe C/D level, and with a few better ones. If not too many people shows up, you might be able to play a 2 outta 3. More people play with feather then plastic, that makes my life easyer. It's free to play in there too.

There's also another place to play in Carlsbad on Wednesday afternoon from 5-8pm, and Sunday from 8-11am, it's called Coach...something Park...I'll find out. 3 clean courts, nice lighting. More Sr. players play there, ages around 40-50s, with a few younger players in their 20-30s. It's $1 to go in if you're resident, and $3 if you're not. The Sr. players might be old, but don't look down on them, they're experanced players, even though they don't run too fast, they can place their shots pretty well. So I do enjoy playing them very much. Everyone play with feather. They're all well mannered players, and very friendly, no need to fight on to get on, but only 1 game per round. I like going there the most.

I'm heading to Carmel Valley right now, hopefully it will be good.

If you're in the SD area, and would like to find out more, let me know, I'll try to help!

 

Update on some San Diego places to play

Kwun,

Thanks for posting the list of places to play in San diego--and for all of your other Great Posts. Here are a couple of updates:

Carmel Valley Mon & Tues 3-5:30 3 courts
Friday 5:30-8:30 6 courts
Sunday 9-1:30 6 courts

Black Mountain Rec Center at 9353 Oviedo St.
(near I-15 and Hwy 56; north of 56 on Black Mt Road...)
858-538-8128 or 858-538-8198
Wed. 6:30-9:30 6 courts
Sat. 1-3

Stagecoach Community Gym in Carlsbad
760-602-4690
Sunday 8-12 3 courts
Wed. 5-8 3 courts
Wed. play is seasonal, so call first; and this location charges a few dollars. the other two above are still **free** And all playing times are subject to change, so call ahead.


mike

 

I cant believe all those places are free! who pays for them-Government? Do you only pay for your shuttles? BTW who owns the courts, and are they multi sport?

$25/year sounds amazing value, how much is it to hire a court on your own?

 

the courts are in community recreation centers, i.e. public parks paid for by local taxes. the gyms are primarily designed for basketball, usually, but accommodate badminton and volleyball. not perfect but good enough for rec play. so yes, we provide our own shuttles. Oh, the Balboa Park 'Activity Center' facility is designed for badminton, it's very nice actually. You can play for free, but get preferential treatment for the $25 annual fee. But it's a long way from where I live, so I usually play in the rec centers.

SD is one of the places in the US where there are enough badminton players to fully utilize all of the facilities that are available. So there's often a wait to play, and the players are of "all levels", so some places and some games are less competitive than others... but we don't have any private facilities that I know where you could rent the courts for yourself, while the San Francisco area has several privately owned clubs. I gather those are the norm in UK?

 

erm.. no, I know of only a few. The vast majority are run from schools + council sports halls, and others from private sports halls.

Schools are quite cheap, but restricted to term time usually, and of low quality, council halls are more expensive, and usually still of poor quality, and the private halls are expensive, but sometimes better quality.

Even in council/goverment run halls, you still have to pay around £5 (per hour)off peak (daytime/weekend), then £9 evenings. Never anything free!

Our halls tend to be 4-5 courts (maybe 90%) the rest may be 3, 8 or more.

Do you have any pictures?

 

our province is pretty rich but no free public courts here
Not even low cost ones.

 

I just knew that I will be able to get info regarding places to play in San diego at this site. Thanks to all the people who posted the info. I'll be going to sunny San Diego 1st week of August for an aunts wedding, and being the badminton addict that I am, am looking forward to play while I'm there. Lets put it this way, I travel every sat to NY from CT just to play and sometimes even fridays and sundays, I really have it bad...anyway, if anybody has any other tips on places, players pls reply or post it and it will be very appreciated. Or if anybody need a partner or buddy to play with, also will be appreciated I guess I have to apply for membership to san diego badminton club right? I checked their website and I think the membership is prorated, no drop in fee. Well, hope I will hear from someone soon Again, grateful to all who posted info

 

Well I hope you enjoy your visit here. Schedules change in lots of the miscellaneous gyms, and the Balboa park SD Badminton club is the only one that keeps their schedule pretty current online. As August nears, check back here, or contact some of the SD posters to find out who is open when. I know schedules for a few places, and you can call or visit San Diego Badminton Supply in Cardiff for info: they keep a list of places to play with schedules and phone numbers so you can find out if the schedule has changed. (I think the store is Rackets by the sea, or something like that, they have tennis and badminton stuff; the owner coaches the UCSD badminton team--the 2005 National Collegiate championship team, by the way , so they do know badminton; and their URL is www.badminton.net ).

Have a great visit.

 

Well, the gym is a public facility that belongs to the city and not any particular club or group. There are courts reserved for club members on certain days and there are always courts for drop-in guests with no fees. If you are planning to stay in San Diego and play there often, it may be worthwhile to get the membership so that you can play with the club members as the majority of them are better than the non-members. Saturday people are friendly and they will hit with you if you do not have a hitting partner. Friday nights tend to get crowded with the majority being high school students and beginners.

I travel back and forth from Irvine to San Diego every four weeks, sometimes 3, and I almost always go play on Saturdays with the club members. Sometimes I go on Fridays but usually my brother is lazy and does not want to go which discourages me from going. Anyway, there are quite a few number of players from San Diego on this forum so if you need a hitting partner, just find out their contact info and ask them to go play. I'd certain play but like I said, I am only home once a month so you'll have to catch me whenever I drive back.

 

san diego places to play

FYI,

The Carmel Valley gym is now only available for badminton on Sundays, 9-1:30. Schedule there keeps changing.

 

Is this information still accurate? Could anyone who plays at any of these spots update any info if necessary.

Here's mine- Escondido Community Center (East Valley Pkwy)
760 839-4382
Friday: 6:00-9:00 6 courts
(Call first, they occasionally have basketball events)
$1.00

 

I love the SF bay area, but SD is up there among my top choices of cities. I am sorry that I missed the Dave Freeman tournament at the Balboa Park Activity Center.

 

Escondido has online schedule,

http://www.escondido.org/recreation/sports/adults/opengym.html

And for other places,

http://sites.google.com/site/sdbadmintongroup/Home/places-to-play