Wellesley pickleball players in less of a pickle over playing space

The pickleball players of Wellesley last year, faced with intense competition for court space, urged the Board of Selectmen (BOS) to OK a move to change one of the outdoor tennis courts in town over to the increasingly popular paddle sport. The BOS agreed in Spring 2018, and one of the Schofield School tennis courts has been pressed into pickleball service. The plan had to go through the Natural Resources Commission (NRC), which is responsible for the Schofield courts.

Once the BOS and the NRC were on board, the Recreation Department was able to install a new outdoor/portable pickleball net on one of the three tennis courts at the Schofield area courts at a cost of about $150. The Parks division of the Department of Public Works lined the court for pickleball use.

Outdoor pickleball, anyone?

The Schofield pickleball court is open for business, and an informal drop-in group will be meeting at the 27 Cedar Street location on Wednesdays at 1pm. All the Schofield courts are open dawn to dusk.

“We’ll see how it all goes before we go ahead and put a permanent net in,” said Recreation Department Director Matt Chin. He’s optimistic given what he learned last month at the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) conference in Baltimore. Pickleball was all the buzz among both attendees and conference organizers. At a session, Chin learned that pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the country, and residents in communities everywhere are asking Rec departments to start programs.

Although Wellesley has since 2017 hosted games for the sport that borrows from tennis, badminton, and wiffle ball at spots such as the Rec Center at the Warren Building and at BSC Wellesley, the level of demand for court time was consistently outstripping availability for playing space.

Indoor pickleball at Wellesley Rec, 90 Washington St.

Mondays and Fridays, noon – 4pm
All ages
$5 for Wellesley residents, $10 for non-residents
Reserve a space by calling (781) 235-2370

Thursdays, 11am – 2pm
55-years old and up
$5 for Wellesley residents, $10 for non-residents
Drop-in, no registration available

Why it’s called pickleball

It all started with US Senator Joel Pritchard from Washington (served 1973 – 1985), according to the USA Pickleball Association. Lore has it that the senator and a couple of his friends created the game in 1965 on Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound, Washington, for their kids who were bored with the usual summertime activities. From boredom sprung creativity, and the game evolved and eventually took on a life of its own. As for the name, the story goes that the game was officially named after the Pritchards’ dog Pickles, who would chase the ball and run off with it.

That crazy Pickles sounds like he’d fit right in with the good dogs of Wellesley.