The Fort known as the 'Disney Land for pickleball players'

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FORT LAUDERDALE — If some had their way, the pickleball empire known as The Fort would never have been built.

But the $30 million complex now stands in all its glory, a 10-acre slice of pickleball paradise situated in the southwest corner of Fort Lauderdale’s 93-acre Snyder Park.

The Fort had plenty of critics before it even broke ground.

They said the noise would be a nightmare. That stadium lights would shine into backyards . That no one would come to play.

They were wrong on all counts, says entrepreneur Brad Tuckman, the animated pickleball aficionado who came up with the vision for a pickleball stadium while brainstorming with friend and partner Richard Campillo at a local coffee house.

In October, The Fort hosted a Pickleball Wor