The Chatham-Kent Pickleball Club is praising municipal council for approving 10 pickleball courts and exploring the addition of four more to create a hub.
At their meeting on Monday, Chatham-Kent councillors approved two pickleball courts each in Tilbury, Chatham, Blenheim, Wallaceburg, and Dresden and asked administration to report back on adding four more courts in one of the approved communities to create a hub.
Mayor Darrin Canniff pushed for the hub, saying pickleball clubs and groups could fundraise and the municipality could help with some funds to make it a reality.
The club has said all along that a hub is the way to go to host tournaments, set up leagues, and provide lessons.
New President Jay Salisbury told CK News Today "it's wonderful idea" and "a win-win for everybody." Salisbury said the club has the ability to fundraise for the hub through tournaments. He also said the club is also committed to help the smaller Chatham-Kent communities evolve the sport.
"We will be able to grow the sports and encourage all of these small centres in their efforts to grow their own smaller groups within their own community," said Salisbury. "We certainly do have the ability to do tournaments and stuff like that to raise funds to support the building of additional courts and are happy to do that."
He said pickleball is a very popular and growing sport and social activity, adding his club currently has 130 members. Salisbury also noted that other communities have created pickleball hubs in their jurisdictions and they're having great success.
Salisbury also said the problem with having just two courts in a community is the long wait sometimes for players to play because the sport is so popular.
Director of Parks and Recreation Rob Pollock said the municipality considered putting a six court hub at Ellis Park in Chatham, but the community feedback from a survey raised concerns about too much noise coming from the pickleball courts that could prompt complaints from the neighbourhood.
The 10 new pickleball courts will go ahead over the next year. The report on the possible hub will come before council in the future, but a date was not established.
The vote on the amended motion was 15-1.