Around the Pond | Green Pond Real Estate™ | June 2026
If you’ve spent time at Green Pond, you know the lake is the heart of the community. But ask any longtime resident what keeps them here through the shoulder seasons — what pulls them out of the house on a crisp September morning or a warm October afternoon — and a surprising number of them will point not toward the water, but toward the courts.
Green Pond has one of the most active tennis and pickleball communities of any private lake community in New Jersey. And if you haven’t discovered it yet, here’s what you’re missing.
The Courts
Green Pond is home to four clay courts and three macadam courts — a combination that is genuinely unusual for a private residential community of this size. Clay courts, in particular, require real investment and real commitment to maintain. Their presence at Green Pond says something about how seriously this community takes its tennis.
Clay courts play differently than hard courts — the ball moves slower, points last longer, footwork matters more. For serious players, there is nothing quite like the feel of a well-maintained clay court on a summer morning. For beginners and younger players, clay is more forgiving on the body and allows more time to develop technique. Green Pond has both surfaces, which means players of every level and every preference have a home here.
Tennis: Youth and Adult Programs
Green Pond’s tennis program is one of the community’s most enduring traditions — and one of its best-kept secrets from the outside world.
The youth tennis program introduces children to the game in the same environment where many of their parents and grandparents first learned to play. There is something quietly remarkable about watching a seven-year-old learn to serve on the same court where their parent chased down lobs twenty-five years ago. The program develops fundamentals, builds confidence, and — perhaps most importantly — builds friendships that tend to last a lifetime at Green Pond.
The adult tennis program is equally active, drawing players across a wide range of levels and ages. Regular round robins, organized clinics, and a casual culture that welcomes both the competitive player and the weekend social player make the courts a genuine gathering place throughout the season. Early morning matches before the heat of the day sets in. Evening games that stretch until the light fades. The kind of ongoing, informal community that forms when the same group of people shares a court season after season.
Pickleball: Green Pond’s Fastest-Growing Community
If tennis is Green Pond’s long-established tradition, pickleball is its newest passion — and it has arrived with the kind of enthusiasm that tends to surprise people who haven’t experienced it firsthand.
Pickleball has been one of the fastest-growing sports in America for several years running, and Green Pond reflects that perfectly. The adult pickleball community here is active, welcoming, and — it should be said — extremely competitive when the occasion calls for it. Games run throughout the week, drawing residents who may have never picked up a tennis racket but found in pickleball a sport that clicked immediately.
Part of what makes pickleball such a natural fit for a community like Green Pond is the social dimension. The games are shorter, the court is smaller, and the nature of the sport lends itself to transcend generations, allow for easy conversation, laughter, and the kind of easy camaraderie that defines life at this lake. It is not uncommon for a morning pickleball session at Green Pond to turn into lunch, and lunch to turn into an afternoon on the water. That is simply how things tend to go here.
Courts, Lake, Community — In That Order, or Any Order
What makes Green Pond’s tennis and pickleball community special is not just the quality of the courts or the activity of the programs — it’s how naturally they fit into the rhythm of life here. A morning match followed by an afternoon on the lake. A sunset pickleball game followed by dinner at the Yacht Club or Green Pond Mountain Stand with the same people you just played against. The courts are one more reason why Green Pond residents find it so easy to fill their days here with things that matter.
For families considering Green Pond, the courts are worth knowing about — not just as an amenity, but as a window into the community itself. The people who show up for early morning tennis, who organize the pickleball round robins, who teach the kids to keep score — these are your neighbors. This is what community looks like when it’s been building for generations.
Thinking About Green Pond?
If a community with this kind of depth — lake, courts, Yacht Club, hiking trails, four full seasons of activity — sounds like what you’ve been looking for, we’d love to show you around.
Marilyn Lapham, Jill Lapham Rotta, and Andrea Fritzsch of Green Pond Real Estate™ have lived here their entire lives. There is no better introduction to this community than a conversation with us.
📞 Jill: 201-966-1813 | 📧 greenpond@gmail.com | 🌐 www.greenpondrealestate.com