Pickleball players looking for courts
Pickleball enthusiasts in Niagara-on-the-Lake want to take their game outdoors and are urging the town to convert the tennis courts at the Virgil Sports Park into pickleball facilities.
A racquet game that combines elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis, pickleball is the fastest growing sport in North America and is particularly popular with seniors.
A drop-in program was started at the community centre about two years ago and grew to 100 participants by 2017.
In January, the Niagara-onthe-Lake Pickleball Club was formed.
Club representative Case Bassie told town council Monday the three courts at the community centre are no longer enough to meet the demand for the sport and members would also like to play outside from April to November.
“For six pickleball courts, you’ll get a lot more bang for your buck than for two tennis courts,” said Bassie, referring to the existing courts at the Virgil Sports Park.
The club currently has 65 members and Bassie said that number is expected to grow as players return from wintering in the south.
The town has budgeted over $50,000 for refurbishing the Virgil courts and another $35,000 for adding an acrylic surface.
Coun. Betty Disero said converting the courts to pickleball would not be expensive as it mainly involves painting lines. The playing area is half the size of tennis courts.
“I don’t want to see any problems with tennis groups,” said Coun. Martin Mazza.
Operations director Sheldon Randall said the town does not know how many people use the Virgil tennis courts as they are open neighbourhood facilities and no fees are charged.
Disero said she and Bassie have had discussions with tennis players in town and requested that staff add the issue to the Join the Conversation page on the town’s website to gather more feedback.
Her motion that staff investigate the merits of converting the Virgil courts within the approved budget after receiving more feedback from residents was approved by council.