What is pickleball? Is it a green ball? Is it sweet or sour? Well, it's not a food. But it is the fastest-growing sport in America.
Pickleball courts are so important to our community that the Rotary Club and Rotary Foundation would like to partner with the city and help sponsor the construction of four new outdoor courts at Creekside. The club recently voted to make this contribution to the Community Center.
Rotary President Rhonda LaBorde said afterward, “Rotary of Harrison loves to be involved with projects that benefit our community. The Wonder Willa Playground, Cannon’s Cove Splash Pad, and Centennial Dental Clinic are just three examples of projects we have partnered with the city to build. We’ve wanted to be part of the Creekside Community Center. Several of us love to play pickleball, and when the need for outdoor pickleball courts was mentioned, our board was ecstatic to have an opportunity to participate in that project. We love our community. The Rotary motto is ‘Service above Self,’ so we love to serve others. We hope everyone will help us with this fundraising effort.”
“For the third year in a row, pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America, according to SFIA's Topline Participation Report. Pickleball has grown 51.8% from 2022 to 2023, and an incredible 223.5% in three years, with every age group seeing increased participation.”
Pickleball teams play at the Brandon Burlsworth Youth Center on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings and nights. Now that Creekside is open, two additional indoor courts are available for members.
Mayor Jerry Jackson has been researching the sport for a couple of months to see what the City could do to provide more courts.
In December, Jackson and Parks Director Chuck Eddington met with pickleball enthusiasts in the Kiwanis Room at Creekside to offer possible solutions to providing additional courts.
Eddington said he can place temporary lines on the First Community Bank and Farm Bureau Insurance Boone County courts when the city hosts pickleball tournaments. But he doesn’t want to make them permanent because those courts will host more basketball and volleyball tournaments and leagues.
The tentative plans presented to the pickleball players in December were to convert one of the outdoor basketball courts into four pickleball-dedicated courts.
Several people were thrilled with the possibility, noting that those four courts would be the first and only ones in Harrison with dedicated pickleball lines. They were happy with the possibility. When the Mayor met with the evening basketball players, they were thrilled with the indoor Creekside Courts and agreed to give up one of the outdoor basketball courts.
Now, with the generous donation from Rotary, the four proposed new outdoor courts will have permanent in-ground nets. The new courts will be built on the land adjacent to Crooked Creek between the existing tennis and basketball courts and the soccer fields.
The project's design phase has already begun and hopefully will be completed before this summer.
Email parks@harrisonar.gov if you have questions or comments.
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