Pictou tennis group moving ahead
Harvey Bate wants to see tennis boom in Pictou again.
“Our goal is to put tennis back on the map,” says the president of the Pictou-based Highland Tennis Association (HTA).
Bate was not a part of the original group that worked to get new tennis courts in the Shiretown, after the old ones located next to Hector Arena began to show their age, but he has since got involved again with a sport that kept him active when he was a youngster.
“I’d play tennis for hours back then,” he says.
The two-court facility opened three years ago and is located in Broidy Park.
“They worked hard, got the money and built these courts,” he said this past weekend, as he stood on the blue synthetic courts, casually tossing balls to his grandson Caden, who whacked some volleys across the net.
They are slowly making improvements and additions to the HTA; a building has been moved adjacent to the courts that will serve as a small clubhouse, and a recent survey of past members indicated they’d like to see a practice board set up at the courts.
“That was one of the things they wanted to see the most,” Bate said, adding that it should be installed in the near future.
The HTA, cognizant of the growing popularity of pickleball – a lower-impact sport similar to tennis with a smaller playing surface – has purchased removable lines that can be used to temporarily transform a tennis court into a pickleball court.
The annual cost to join the HTA is $50 for a family and $30 for an individual, which will include free summer lessons and access to the courts whenever they are available.
The Town of Pictou also includes tennis as part of its recreation program for kids during the summer, providing lessons and court time twice a week and Bate hopes that will help in getting more young people playing the low-cost sport, which requires only a racquet and some decent court sneakers.