Interest in pickleball is strong in the South River and the approximate 40 players who take part in the sport want increased participation.
However, the multi-use pad currently used for pickleball, tennis, and basketball games needs a major resurfacing job and the belief is the state of the playing surface is holding people back from taking part.
Sherri Hawthorne, the Village's retired Chief Financial Officer, led a delegation of players to town council asking for the multi-use pad to be resurfaced.
“The asphalt is in dire need of resurfacing,” Hawthorne told council. “There are a significant number of cracks that impact the playing surface”.
The multi-use pad was built in 1987 and over the decades cracks that developed were repaired but it has never been resurfaced in all that time.
Interest in tennis isn't as strong as it once was and the pad was unused for several years until pickleball came to town. Hawthorne says since then the site has been well used by pickleball players over the last few summers and players are both young and old.
“It's for people of all ages and appeals to the broader community,” she said. “It supports seniors' health and wellness, it promotes mobility, and is great for social interaction”.
Hawthorne says when the activity first began in South River, people played three mornings a week. However, since its inception, the sport has attracted more participants and Hawthorne says people play pickleball every day of the week and during different times of the day. But she added the current state of the playing surface is “hard on sneakers.”
Hawthorne says the pickleball community is made up of eager people who will help in any way they can to get the court resurfaced.
When the multi-use pad was created in 1987 Hawthorne told council the facility became a reality thanks to a government grant plus the Lions contributed money and the community came together to fundraise. She believes something similar can happen again and says a needs assessment process would identify the path to take.
The council discussion revealed that depending on the nature of a re-surfacing job, the cost can be as little as $15,000 to as high as $100,000. One suggestion was to grind down the present surface and replace it with a hard rubberized skin.
In addition to attracting residents of South River and the Township of Machar, Hawthorne says pickleball has also seen residents from surrounding communities show up to play the game. The multi-use court is an asset that is cost-shared between South River and Machar and is maintained by the South River-Machar Arena staff.
Next spring the plan is to seal the existing cracks as a temporary measure. This way the pickleball players have a reasonable surface to play on in 2024 until a permanent solution is found.
The pickleball players plan to appear at the Machar December 11th council meeting to tell elected officials there of the need to resurface the multi-use pad.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the North Bay Nugget. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
