Narragansett wants to expand Pickleball options at local fields | News

NARRAGANSETT, RI In front of Narragansetts City Council, there is a need to get more seats to play a popular sport, and there are up to eight new fields to host games.

Council President Pro Tem Susan Cicilline Buonanno, who sits on the Recreation Advisory Board, said the board has received numerous requests from pickleball enthusiasts who want more places to play the game in town. Places or costs have not yet been determined, he said.

We’ve heard visitors and residents like the game, he said. It’s a rising game and people seem to like it.

The council voted on Monday to direct park and recreation director Michelle Kershaw to investigate more places and costs for more courts.

Kershaw said adding courts to Clark Road’s existing pickleball fields is problematic.

It’s basically a painting, of old tennis courts, he said. This whole area should be dug, and I don’t think it’s cost-effective.

The city spent about $ 62,000 three years ago to make a tennis court a pickle. Kershaw said he will investigate more four to eight courts, perhaps at the north end of the city.

According to Council President Jesse Pugh, the desire to have more basketball courts should not overcome other recreational needs in the city, such as improved playgrounds and a skate park.

It was obviously a success, but we have other needs in town. It’s just research and it’s great, but we don’t want to fall short of our other needs, Pugh said.

Invented in the children’s backyard in the 1960s, pickleball is a type of paddleball that combines badminton, table tennis and tennis.

It’s a growing sport, Kershaw said.

Two or four players use solid paddles made of wood or composite materials to hit a perforated polymer ball, just like a wiffle ball, over a net.

The sport has similar features to other racket sports: the dimensions and layout of a badminton court, and the net and rules, which are somewhat similar to tennis, with several changes.

There are thousands of national tournaments, and numerous international championships.