Pickleball gaining ground in South Jersey

One of the South Jersey crew’s outdoor courts.

South Jersey emerging as a great place to play pickleball

Pickleball update submitted by Denise Donald

We started playing pickleball three years ago at a local tennis club. They offered two days a week for two hours for a fee of $10.00 each time. Now it is only once a week. Other locations were 45-60 minutes away, across a bridge and in a different state. With most of the group being seniors and on fixed incomes we decided to find a tennis court we could use. We used masking tape and started our own group using signupgenius. The group started with 8 people.

Last winter we contacted Moorestown recreation and they offered the use of a basketball court during the daytime. They put a program in the lineup and we picked up 10 more players. Last summer Cherry Hill Township resurfaced several tennis courts and agreed to paint pickleball lines at 2 different schools giving us 4 outdoor courts. We picked up more players that were only available evenings and weekends. This spring they will install motion detector lights on the courts. The group has grown to 41 players. We play 2 weekdays, 2 evenings, and weekends. I got Pickleball Rocks Here signs and posted them at all locations. I also purchased a USAPA banner with Rocky Clark’s approval to draw more attention to the group and the great sport of pickleball.

This winter the Moorestown recreation department added Saturdays to the lineup in addition to the weekdays. Saturdays gave us more players who were only available in the evenings and weekends. So when Cherry Hill asked if I would be willing to do a program with their recreation department in the evening I was thrilled to have something to offer the working crowd.

The Burlington County Times came and did an article on the Moorestown Recreation Pickleball program. I am hoping to get the Courier Post to do an article on the growth of pickleball here in South Jersey and on what I believe to be the first public courts to be lined for pickleball in the area. We will be meeting with the new Kroc center in Camden N.J. in a few weeks. They are excited to offer us weekday daytime pickleball year round.

I would like to get get permission to do a pickleball demo at the Senior Fare here in the spring and also at the JCC. I have listed all our Places to Play on USAPA and put our information on Sportsvite. Our locations outdoors will soon be added to the New Jersey Leisure Guide.

I have a great group of players who love the sport and do all they can to support me and the growth of pickleball. They share their love of the game with anyone and everyone willing to listen. I have had 5 of our members join USAPA in the past few months and have given everyone an application and explained the benefits. There is a tournament in April in Glen Mills P.A. which is sanctioned and I am encouraging them all to become members and enter. We are now all ages and all levels.