New pickleball courts coming to Goldsboro
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on August 23, 2015 1:50 AM
A different kind of pickle craze has hit Wayne County and, unlike Mount Olive pickles, this kind can't be eaten.
Pickleball, a sport that is played on a tennis-like court with oversized ping pong paddles and a ball reminiscent of a wiffle ball, has skyrocketed to popularity among senior populations in Goldsboro.
Due to the ever-climbing popularity of the sport, Goldsboro Parks and Recreation will be constructing two to three concrete pickleball courts at the Herman Park Center off East Ash Street within the next 45 days.
"Assuming all goes well, what will ideally happen is when the crews that are pouring the concrete footings for the F-86 going downtown are finished there, they will move over to Herman Park and pour the concrete for the courts," Parks and Recreation director Scott Barnard said.
The Goldsboro City Council allotted $20,000 in the budget to build the new courts, Barnard said, but Parks and Recreation hopes to get the job done for $17,000 to $18,000.
Goldsboro's Public Works Department will use its own crew to complete the project for Parks and Recreation after they finish pouring concrete footings for the newly restored F-86 Sabre fighter jet.
Currently, pickleball players use the Gray Room at the Herman Park Center, a patio area at the Herman Park Center, an indoor area at the Goldsboro YMCA and have used existing tennis courts around the city for tournaments. They have lined off their courts using tape.
There was some talk of repainting lines on tennis courts in the area, but both the Parks and Recreation Department and the Goldsboro City Council realized this would prevent any more United States Tennis Association sanctioned tournaments from being played in the city, causing a loss of tourism and travel income.
The cost of using in-house crews to construct the all-new courts will be roughly the same as the cost of repainting lines on tennis courts.
"The USTA is particular about having excess lines on courts used for tournaments," Barnard said.
Barnard said about 40 players attend each pickleball event held in Goldsboro, and many citizens play regularly each week at the various locations.
Pickleball has been described as a sort of tennis that combines elements of tennis, ping pong and badminton, and is more low impact than other sports, which makes it ideal for seniors citizens.
The popularity of the sport in Goldsboro can be attributed to having many citizens who have lived a little bit of everywhere in the United States, allowing them to be exposed to the sport that has gained traction in retirement communities.
When it comes time for Goldsboro residents to retire, they want to have things they've experienced elsewhere, such as pickleball.
"Goldsboro does have a lot of retirees, and pickleball is uber popular among the senior population," Barnard said. "Tennis and golf are sports that, until you're halfway decent at the game, can be incredibly frustrating to play. But pickleball is intuitive. If you put someone on one side of a net with a giant paddle and a wiffle ball they're going to know, 'OK, the point of this game is to hit this ball past you.'"