Huntingburg adding pickleball courts

City crews will break ground on pickleball courts in Huntingburg City Park in the coming weeks if the weather holds.

Parks Director Dale Payne wasn’t sure when they would open for the public but said foundation work should begin after the department finishes the parking lot at Northside Park. The three new courts will be located just south of the existing tennis courts in the park.

If you are unaware, pickleball is a sport that has rapidly spread in the area after the City of Jasper, at the request of a few residents, agreed to convert tennis courts in Gutzweiler Park to pickleball courts in 2012.

Pickleball is played on a court about half the size of a tennis court. Players use hard carbon fiber or plastic paddles to knock around a wiffleball-style ball. The singles or doubles matches start slow with a single bounce rule on the serve and return but quickly ramp up with fast-paced volleys across a 14-foot zone called the kitchen. It is fun, and with the smaller court, doubles can be intense matches without the exhaustion from covering a larger court.

Since the initial conversion at Gutzweiler, Jasper has added six courts at Bohnert Park, and six more were opened at Buehler Park on the north side this year. Additionally, Schnellville has added a court at Schnellville Community Club. In the winter, the Tri-County YMCA converts basketball courts in Ferdinand into courts, and Jasper does similarly at Cabby O’Neill Gym.

We’ve heard pickleball is being played in local churches with indoor activity areas.

Also, DC Multisport hosts an annual “Battle of the Paddle” tournament in September. You can sign up here.

Payne said he knows folks are excited for the new courts to be up and going.

The department is also finishing up a fishing pier at the lake in the Northside Park this summer.

Huntingburg was also recently included in Smithsonian Magazine as one of the 15 best small towns to visit this summer. You can read about it here.

Cover photo by Aleksander Saks on Unsplash