pickleball

accommodated, Commonpoint center open

This summer, Queens residents of all ages can visit new and improved parks for some fun in the sun, whether it means prancing around the playground or trying their hands at up-and-coming sports like pickleball.

As the weather gets warmer and schools let out for the summer, Queens parks anticipated high volumes of visitors with their recent renovations, from childproof play equipment to ample exercise space.

Poured-in-place rubber surfacing has proven essential to play areas, especially for young children.

The Trust for Public Land installs this surfacing to its sites to prevent injuries, which is crucial to their work in schoolyards.

The Trust partnered with Councilmember Bob Holden (D-Maspeth) and the Department of Environmental Protection on an upgraded playground at IS 73 in Maspeth that opened in May.

Holden also brought PS 153 to the Trust’s attention, and a new playground there is slated to open next summer.

“We’re looking for areas that don’t have a lot of open space and have a large number of people who live within a 10-minute walk,” Trust for Public Land Playgrounds Director Mary Alice Lee told the Chronicle. “There’s about 15,000 people that live within a 10-minute walk of 153, and so we wanted to create this safe space for them to use after school and on the weekends.”

In Long Island City, PS 111’s new playground will open in July, and construction at IS 145 in Jackson Heights will begin in the fall.

The Trust works with schools on playground designs by distributing a survey to students, parents and the nearby community to hear their input on potential improvements.

In addition to safety surfacing, fitness areas and net climbers are popular among students in Queens, which Lee attributes to the iconic Forest Hills resident Spider-Man.

Modern designs from the city Parks Department also feature safety measures.

In Flushing, renovations at Maple Playground include safety surfacing around the play area and beneath both swing sets. Reconstruction is projected for completion in September.

With funding from the City Council, Councilmember Julie Won (D-Long Island City) and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Lawrence Virgilio Playground in Woodside will get safety surfacing, anti-slip mats and security lighting, along with a reconstructed play area.

Jamaica Playground is under active construction, slated for completion at the end of this month.

As part of a $33 million investment partially funded by FEMA 428, a federal program for safe school and other infrastructure projects, the Beach 59th Street playground in Rockaway unveiled a playground featuring new equipment, rubber safety surfacing and a new shade structure in June.

The investment also covers the brand-new Nameoke Park at the corner of Nameoke and Augustina avenues, slated to open at the end of the summer, and Shorefront Beach 98th Street Playground, with its tot play area situated closest to the 97th Street concessions and facilities.

With playgrounds for older children farther away, that follows a trend among recent Parks designs — separate playgrounds for children aged 2 to 5 and 5 to 12.

Challenge Playground in Little Neck also follows that model. It opened last May with more than $3 million in improvements, including new swings, a spray area and a cement wading pool.

In Briarwood, Hoover Playground’s design shows separate play areas for older and younger children, complete with 8-feet swing sets and monkey bars, slides and rock walls sized proportionally to each age group.

“I think it’s so important that we’re able to create a safe place for the kids to play, to have that resource so that they can play outside, get fresh air, exercise, and also for the social interaction,” Lee said. “It’s a great way of strengthening social ties in a community by having a playground that is a fun place to visit.”

Exercise and socialization have no age restriction — Commonpoint Queens Tennis and Athletic Center Tennis Director Aki Wolfson said pickleball is “growing everywhere” and creating high demand for courts, especially among older crowds.

With elements of tennis, badminton and pingpong, pickleball is accessible for all ages and skill levels, but can quickly become competitive.

Center is an indoor and outdoor facility that boasts 10 pickleball courts, seven tennis courts and a 40-by-60-yard turf field.

In addition to paid programming, tennis courts are open to the public with a permit from the Parks Department.

Other parks are starting to meet public demand for pickleball — handball courts at Ravenswood Playground in Astoria, St. Michael’s Playground in Woodside and Louis C. Moser Playground in Jackson Heights have spaces designated for it. Roy Wilkins Park in St. Albans also includes four lined pickleball courts on its tennis courts. Last summer, Rockaway Beach 102nd Street constructed a dedicated pickleball court.

“I believe the pickleball rage will continue to grow in the years to come, so installing more pickleball courts will definitely benefit the community,” Wolfson said.

Sporty types in Queens can take their pick of new games to try in upgraded courts.

Shore Front Parkway in Rockaway saw a newly constructed multipurpose sports field open in May, one that includes sand volleyball courts and table tennis tables. In Southeast Queens, Springfield Park is projected to see new basketball courts and a new barbecue area unveiled in July.

Future Recreation

“At the moment, we are starting to reach out to children to have them start pickleball,” Wolfson said. “Especially for the little ones, with the smaller space and lower net, it is a good way to start hand-eye coordination skills leading into playing tennis.” Commonpoint Queens, formerly the Central Queens Y and Samuel Field Y, is a nonprofit that has provided physical and mental health programs for more than 60 years, including recreational leagues, clinics and instruction for swimming, dance, soccer, basketball, tennis and more. One offering is wheelchair tennis — Commonpoint hosted the 21st annual Jana Hunsaker Memorial Wheelchair Tennis Tournament earlier this month.

Last year, Commonpoint partnered with Parks to begin operations at the Alley Pond Tennis Center. The Commonpoint Queens Tennis and Athletic

Cricket, which NYC Parks said is “one of the most widely played sports in the world,” is available at Baisley Pond Park, Cunningham Park, Rockaway Community Park, Roy Wilkins Recreation Center, Archie Spigner Park and Tudor Park. Among other park projects:

Thanks to Won, Mayor Adams and the Parks Department, Big Bush Park in Woodside is getting an $847,000 renovation that began in June to replace its old astroturf with new synthetic turf for soccer, baseball and other activities.

Community Board 7 voted last February to transform Field 3 at College Point Fields into a small soccer pitch ideal for youth league games. The plan includes synthetic turf and storm management infrastructure, with design set to be done in January.

For storm management in Rosedale, the National Audubon Society partnered with the Department of Environmental Protection and Parks to complete a $725,000 restoration project at Hook Creek Park in May. The project sought to preserve saltmarsh from sea-level rise, which provides habitats for birds to breed and safeguards against flooding.

The Chronicle reported that Alley Pond Park and Sunset Park are undergoing similar projects, as will Rockaway Community Park in Edgemere, Idlewild Park in Jamaica, Vernam Barbadoes Peninsula Preserve in Far Rockaway, Hamilton Beach Park in Howard Beach, Powell’s Cove Park in Whitestone and Spring Creek in Brooklyn in the future. Q