Pickleball, anyone?

What’s that you say – ‘pickleball’?

Oak Ridge Town Park allocates space for pickleball – in a parking lot, at least temporarily

by CHRIS BURRITT

OAK RIDGE – The fast-growing game of pickleball is coming to Oak Ridge, slowly.

One morning early last month, Oak Ridge resident Laura Peoples, her sister Susan Phillips and their friend Lynda Drewing christened the new pickleball court in the Town Park parking lot on Lisa Drive.

“Come join us,” Peoples called out to a walker passing by, trying to add a fourth player to the paddle-and-ball game, akin to tennis, ping pong and badminton.

Oak Ridge’s parks and recreation staff marked off the boundaries for the court. They’re blocking motorists’ access to the section of the parking lot from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. That’s when the area is reserved for pickleball.

Parks and Recreation Director Terry Lannon described the effort as “a dry run” to gauge Oak Ridge residents’ interest in playing the game. If its popularity proves strong, tennis courts proposed for Heritage Farm Park may accommodate pickleball, Lannon said.

Peoples could hardly wait to play in the parking lot. In February, she pitched the idea to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, which by unanimous vote approved the parking lot arrangements on a temporary basis. Lannon scheduled playing times to avoid late afternoons, evenings and weekends when the parking lot is crowded during sporting activities.

Peoples started playing pickleball with her sister and family at Bur-Mil Park last summer. As they embraced the sport, she said they thought it would be great to play closer to home, so she approached the Oak Ridge parks and recreation board with their idea. Before getting their pickleball game underway, players set up a net in the parking lot, where they contend with the wind affecting the flight of a perforated plastic ball and the inconvenience of chasing errant shots across the asphalt.

Even so, Peoples said, designating the Town Park parking lot for a pickleball court is “a first step” for Oak Ridge.

“We’re headed in the right direction,” she said.

Peoples expressed her appreciation

Photo by Chris Burritt/NWO Playing pickleball requires a paddle and perforated plastic ball that players hit back and forth over a net, like tennis.

recreation board with their idea. Before getting their pickleball game underway, players set up a net in the parking lot, where they contend with the wind affecting the flight of a perforated plastic ball and the inconvenience of chasing errant shots across the asphalt.

Even so, Peoples said, designating

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to the parks and recreation board and to Lannon and his staff for giving the game a chance.

The start of play in Oak Ridge last month coincided with National Pickleball Month, as declared by USA Pickleball, the sport’s official governing body.

The Sports and Fitness Industry Association estimates that pickleball has more than 4.8 million players in the U.S., an increase of nearly 40% over the past two years.

The sport is played on a surface the size of a badminton court (20 feet x 44 feet) with a tennis-like net separating the two teams. Players use paddles to serve and volley a plastic ball with holes in it, with games generally played to 11 points and a win by two, according to USA Pickleball.

As the sport has grown in popularity, Bur-Mil Park, operated by Guilford County Parks, reconfigured a portion of its tennis courts into 10 permanent pickleball courts last August.

Pickleball has emerged as the fastest-growing adult sport at Proehlific Park in northwest Greensboro after the COVD-19 pandemic “fast-tracked its growth because people were looking for something to do,” said Katie Allegro, the facility’s chief operating officer and pickleball director.

Playing the sport requires less skill than playing tennis, according to Allegro. The court is smaller, enabling people of various ages and levels of fitness to play the game. Like tennis, it can be played one-onone (singles), but offers more social interaction when each side has two players (doubles).

“It is fun, first and foremost,” said Allegro, explaining that, on average, as many as 25 people play pickleball at Proehlific Park during weekday mornings. On rainy days, the numbers are higher.

“It is exercise without realizing it,” said Sandy McGauvran, a pickleball regular at Proehlific Park. She plays more for fitness and social interaction than trying to win. “I don’t keep up with the score.”

Photo by Chris Burritt/NWO From left, Laura Peoples (foreground) hits a pickleball to Lynda Drewing and Susan Phillips during the group’s inaugural pickleball game in the main parking lot at Oak Ridge Town Park early last month.

pickleball in Oak Ridge?

If you’re interested in learning about pickleball at Oak Ridge Town Park, contact Laura Peoples by phone – text preferably – at (336) 314-3053.

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