New pickleball courts ready for use

NORWALK — Three new pickleball courts are ready for use at Jaycees Park on Pleasant Street. The new playing surfaces are a result of recreational demand for more courts at the west side park and support for the project by City of Norwalk Safety-Service Director Mike White, who is an avid player. With the additional courts, the park now has eight spaces dedicated to pickleball, a sport that has been embraced across the U.S. by players from 8 to 88 years old and continues to gain in popularity. For several years, five courts lined for pickleball have been in use on the former tennis courts at the east end of Jaycees Park. During the past few weeks, the three new courts were painted in multiple coats by workers from the city's General Services department. The courts are located nearest to Pleasant Street at the west, between the driveway and Norwalk Creek. Red and blue paint delineate the two parts of each court, and all three are atop a massive concrete bunker that covers the underground components of the city sewer system's flood-control lift station. Ten feet separates each of the courts. City Council's agenda for its July 30 meeting lists a proposed $4,500 expense for new permanent poles and nets for the new courts, along with a fence on the south side to stop balls from going into the creek. If approved, the nets "will be ordered the next day," White said, and installed as soon after arrival as General Services can work that project into the schedule. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is being planned for the new addition to the park, along with the possibility of an inaugural tournament to "really celebrate" the city's investment in pickleball, he noted. "I played on one of the new courts on Sunday with my own net — they are great courts. Pickleball is a great game, lots of fun to play," White said. Two of the five courts on the eastern side of Jaycees Park have permanent poles and nets retained from former use as tennis courts. Portable nets are set up to play on the other three. In its second season this summer, the Maple City Pickleball League has 22 teams competing in three divisions. Play wraps up August 17 with a tournament at Jaycees Park.