Starting my pickleball journey last summer, I was super excited to hear about the former Neiman Marcus at the Natick Mall being converted over to be the Bosse Pickleball facility. Since its opening I've attended over 20 sessions of open play and ladder at various skill levels and intend on going back for more.
The staff here is great, both facility and Pickleball pros. Everyone is super nice and want you to have a good time.
Given the open nature of the facility, each event can have both familiar and new people to meet and play with which keeps things interesting and it's nice to see the growth in other players to help motivate yourself to keep playing better.
That openness can have some challenges though--which is that the open play rarely has any staff present to help manage courts under the assumption that we're all adults and can figure things out. That assumption usually works but people with different backgrounds from other facilities try to change what's going on at Bosse to match their own preferences which then disrupts the larger group.
Simply having a staff member wander by every so often would likely deter this behavior. Better yet, just post some signage with instructions so that people don't have to argue or get confused about what's going on.
Some of the "normal house rules" and challenges I've seen for open play:
1. Match scoring--here it's normally play to 9, win by 1, but if there's a lot of people sometimes people try to request play to 11 so they can stay on the court longer, creating awkward vibes. Is 2 points really going to make a difference? probably not. When there is nobody waiting to play, going to 11 is usually more accepted otherwise don't do this.
2. Court rotation--If you win, stay on, if you lose, rotate off and get back in line. Play at most 2 games in a row. Unfortunately, some people that lose try to stay on anyways. Some people that win, continue to stay on and never rotate out after 2 wins. Don't be that person, nobody will like you for being greedy for time and everyone notices but might not say something to you.
3. Paddle queue--Near each set of courts is usually a rack for paddles with a magnet to mark position. How this works is that you put your paddle next to the paddle that is furthest from the magnet. then you just move the magnet to mark whoever is next in turn. Some people end up rearranging all the paddles and ignoring the magnet. Don't do this. Do you really want to touch someone else's paddle, or have other people touch your paddle? Some paddles are over 250$!
4. Court teams--Here it's usually the 2 winners split to opposite sides and the two new players pick one. Sometimes the winners want to stay together because they're partners and it's totally OK for the new players to agree to let them stay together, bearing in mind that there is the 2 games at most in a row rule from court rotation.
Although these are the usual rules, be nice, think of others, and keep an open mind about what is fair. Don't be afraid to shut down weird requests just because someone wants to play more than their share. Speaking of which, it's great that the facility emphasizes "play nice" but not everyone will, that's why facilities are usually staffed to help enforce where needed.
This facility does have low-ish ceilings given that it was formerly a department store and not a warehouse type of building so be careful with your lobs. Ceiling-touches are automatic loss. Courts are also a bit narrow which can make returning side-spin serves quite difficult and ATPs a rarity. There are also a few courts that have obstructions near the service line that might surprise you as you try to serve.
Give it a try! Prices are relatively high but you already know this when you sign up so it's not something to complain about. The facility is very full all the time even at this pricing so it's likely not to change (maybe until the weather gets nicer probably).
I also think that Bosse could get much more memberships (and guaranteed recurring income) if they bundled some included/free open play with the pickleball membership in addition to the discounted rate. I would definitely sign up for TWO memberships if that were the case, but for now I'll just keep paying a la carte to keep things flexible for myself.
Hope to see you yelpers on the courts! read more