Pickleball courts, soccer fields, more to come at new Galaxy Park in Carson

LA Galaxy and Dignity Health Sports Park have designed and started building a new park for soccer fans, racket sports enthusiasts, the Carson community and greater Los Angeles area.

The new sports center, Galaxy Park, is coming together at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson — home of the LA Galaxy. The launch of the new facilities is part of the 20th anniversary celebration for the popular sports complex, located on the campus of Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Galaxy Park will included five 5v5 soccer fields (not as large as a full-size 11-a-side pitch), two futsal courts, eight pickleball courts and four padel courts, and will be home to a number of other recreational activities (if you don’t recognize one or more of those sports, keep reading for more details).

All of which will be publicly available — people will be able to sign up for courses to learn the sport or rent out a field or court to play with family and friends.

The courts in the park are scheduled to open in mid-March for people to start using, officials say, and a grand opening will be held later in June, once all construction is complete.

“(LA Galaxy and Dignity Health Sports Park) always have it in mind when we do anything here in the facility, how we can better serve our community and our neighbors to continue to strengthen that partnership and to offer them things that you can’t get in other cities,” said Katie Pandolfo, general manager of Dignity Health Sports Park. “And I think that’s very important to this community.”

At the park, LA Galaxy staff will offer a range of youth programs including Galaxy Juniors, camps, clinics and skills training for youth players and all levels of ability to play soccer in a challenging and exciting environment, according to a press release. Programming will also include youth and adult leagues and tournaments.

A partnership for Galaxy Park is Southern California-based AGIA, LLC, also known as Taktika Padel and Pickleball.

Operators of padel and pickleball programming and activities at the award-winning Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego have been selected to manage the various courts including coordinating and staffing for private and group lessons, clinics and tournaments.

Padel is a contemporary cocktail of many different racket sports – tennis, pickleball, squash and raquetball.

“Originated in Mexico in 1969, Enrique Corcuera invented this amazing sport in Acapulco, but now it’s very popular in Europe,” said Armando Rodiel, managing director of Taktika Padel and Pickleball. “Worldwide there are about 25 million people playing padel.”

Padel is the fastest-growing racket sport in the world, and pickleball is the fastest-growing racket sport in the U.S., Rodiel said.

Pickleball began to gain traction in the United States during the coronavirus pandemic. Making these courts available will cater to the diverse community of Carson and the greater Los Angeles area, especially those invested in the game of pickleball.

“There is such a need in Carson for more pickleball courts and there are some public courts that they have converted but to have a higher level court and a great experience here, we’re really happy to be able to offer that,” Pandolfo said.

The facility will also include surfaces for futsal, a scaled-down soccer spinoff played on courts smaller than the usual football field. It’s played with a a smaller, low-bounce ball.

There will also be clear green areas and a recreation center at the park that will have a video board, registration area, merchandise store, a café and healthy food options for athletes and parents of athletes, and various other resources, Pandolfo said.

Galaxy Park will serve as an extension of the LA Galaxy Sports Complex and the Kinecta Soccer Center, powered by the LA Galaxy, in Torrance – two other facilities that were created to serve the community and encourage playing soccer and other recreational activities.

Through Galaxy Park and the other facilities, officials at LA Galaxy and Dignity Health Sports Park say it reaffirms their commitment to the greater LA area communities by promoting soccer to players of all ages in a safe and organized environment, striving to foster sportsmanship and physical fitness while maintaining a fun, enjoyable and exciting atmosphere.

“Carson loves the partnership with Dignity Health Sports Park (and LA Galaxy), which partners with us on a number of community events, this is only to enhance the community,” said Jawane Hilton, Carson’s mayor pro tem who represents District 1 on the City Council.

“We have people from all over that play these sports and they don’t have a premiere place to play them but Dignity Health Sports Park offers that,” he added. “We have residents that play pickleball, we have residents that play padel, we have residents that play soccer and they want premiere access, so this is that for the community.”

Additional details about the official unveiling and ribbon-cutting ceremonies of Galaxy Park and programming to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Dignity Health Sports Park will be announced at a later date, officials said.