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Glow Pickleball Supplies, Tips & Tricks for Black Light Pickleball
How to host and play glow pickleball
Table of Contents
Glow pickleball is sweeping the country and for good reason; it’s addictive and fun to play!
Here we’ll share tips and tricks for planning a glow pickleball event, and the equipment and supplies you need to make your pickleball event glow!
What do I need for glow pickleball?
Many of the same supplies that are used for normal pickleball can be retrofitted and used for glow pickleball without much work.
Regular pickleball supplies that are neon or fluorescent colored are ready to be used for glow pickleball.
At a minimum you’ll need:
Glow pickleball is also referred to as cosmic pickleball or glow-in-the-dark pickleball.
How many blacklights do I need for glow pickleball?
Not all blacklights are created equal. There are generally three different types of black lights based on how far they “throw” the glow lighting effect:
- Short-throw blacklights (5ft – 20ft)
- Medium-throw blacklights (20ft – 40ft)
- Long-throw blacklights (40ft – 300ft)
High-power, long-throw, LED blacklights are recommended for glow pickleball.
These lights are designed to “throw” the blacklight a long distance and have the power to make everything on and around the court glow.
What type of pickleball will glow?
Pickleballs that are neon or fluorescent colored will glow under blacklight. These balls contain pigment in them that makes them glow under blacklight. Balls that are not neon or fluorescent, that are simply orange, yellow, or green, will not glow under black light.
These pickleballs will work with black light:
- Franklin Sports X-40 Pickleballs (Optic Yellow)
- Franklin Sports X-40 Pickleballs (Pink)
- Onix Pure 2 (Neon Green)
- Dura Fast 40 Pickleballs (Neon)
These pickleballs will glow without blacklight:
These balls work without blacklight because they are lit with a battery powered LED inside the ball. Surprisingly balanced, they do not wobble due to the LED and battery inside the ball. These do not glow as bright as balls under blacklight, but for fun pickup games at night without a lot of setup, these balls are perfect.
How much glow pickleball tape do I need ?
A standard 44ft x 20ft pickleball court needs approximately 270ft of glow pickleball tape to outline the court lines and the net.
Unlike duct tape, our glow pickleball tape is designed to stick during the event and not leave a residue or pull up the court surface when it is removed.
We recommend using one color for each court outline and the net. In a multi-court exhibition format this creates easy reference points for players (a yellow court, green court, pink court, etc.)
Each court requires two (2) 150ft rolls of 3/4in tape. 1/2in “detail” rolls also come in 150ft rolls and are more narrow. These thin rolls are great for wrapping paddles or covering shoes, hats and clothing.
When planning court organization, we recommend outlining each individual court in the same color, which can be helpful for tournament play or large exhibition events. Players can be assigned to a certain color court, and it will make your event photos cohesive and stunning!
The best colored pickleball tapes that are the most glow-reactive are:
Where do I put the blacklights?
Placing the blacklights at opposite corners of your pickleball court will allow for the maximum amount of glow to reach the entire court setup.
Below, we’ve included sample setups for one (1) court and four (4) courts to show optimal placement of the blacklights.
How do I mount the blacklights?
Light stands allow you to attach and elevate the lights safely up above players’ heads for maximum coverage of the court area.
“Super clamps” are also a great choice to attach lights to objects 2in in diameter or less, like poles or railings that may already be in the court area.
One other option would be to use heavy duty zip ties to attach lights to chain link fencing.
Thinking about power outlets near the light locations and/or making sure you have enough extension cables is important. Make sure the outdoor power outlets work prior to your games!
Tripod Light Stand
Super Clamp
Glow pickleball blacklight & tape calculator
Enter the number of courts you want to make glow and the calculator will tell you how many long-throw blacklights and rolls of neon gaffers tape you’ll need.
Fun glow pickleball supplies
What glow accessories will you bring to the glow pickleball experience? The possibilities are endless! Have teams get creative in what they wear and tape. A contest for best dressed glow team can add an additional fun element to blacklight pickleball events.
Get creative with glow supplies to make your pickleball experience memorable. Think of all the glow items like:
- Neon shirts
- Neon hats / visers
- White shirts drawn on with office highlighters
- Glow makeup
- Glow sticks / bracelets / necklaces
- Glow nail polish
- Glow drinks (tonic water)
Get the gear you need for glow pickleball
High-power blacklights are expensive to purchase! Rent the blacklights you need to get the most out of your glow pickleball event. It will turn a fun idea into a memorable in-demand annual event or fundraiser!
Reserve your date today and get the gear you need when you need it. Ask us about discounted long-term rentals, or if you are interested in purchasing lights, we can get a quote together for you on that, too.
your best event starts here
Let's talk about your event! We want to hear your plans and see your vision. We're ready to make this your best event ever. Are you?
Glow Sports
Glow Pickleball - Glow Tennis - Glow Volleyball
Permanent installs & Sales
Are you looking for permanent lighting for your glow pickleball events?
We sell all the glow pickleball lighting equipment, consult through the design process for new builds, and help with all the details to make sure your venue glows and your events are successful. Reach out to us and we can help get you setup with everything you need.
Is the tape you put on the court’s reusable? I know that’s probably a stupid question.
It’s designed to go down and come up cleanly. Unfortunately when you put it down it picks up dirt and debris from the surface so it’s a one use type of tape. Would also be hard to get it rolled back up. You’ll have 1/4 to 1/2 a roll leftover using 2 rolls outlining a court. So that can be re-used for future events.
We live in Ardmore Oklahoma. 1 hour north of Dallas and 1 hr south of Oklahoma City. We would love to do this in the fall. We have 6 new PB courts. Do you know if a place around that we could rent the lights from? We will buy balls and tape, but our group is so new, we can’t afford all the lights yet. What do you suggest?
Can definitely help you out with the lights, renting them is a great place to start, we ship nationwide. We can help you purchase what you need as well if the time comes. Ball wise any neon colored yellow / green pickleball ball will generally work, the Franklin X40s are the brightest (optic yellow and pink). Blue and orange balls generally do not glow from our tests.
I have 4 pickleball courts un Los Cabos Mexico, I would like to get those black lights things for the courts, how can I get them? Please?
We can definitely help out find the best option for you and can ship to Mexico and Canada. Will reach out for more details.
Hi. I want to do this but we don’t have electrical outlets at our courts😩. Are there any other options? A generator?
Great question! A generator would be a great idea, inverter generators are quiet and provide clean electricity which work well for these lights. I’d avoid traditional generators as the power can be up and down and might cause a flicker in the lights. Another option are battery packs or battery generators. They are rated in watt hours. A 1500 watt hour battery pack would power a 150 watt blacklight theoretically for 10 hours, two 150 watt blacklights, 5 hours. The math works out to battery capacity / load = runtime. For our purposes we take 10% off the theoretical to come up with real world run time.