BEDFORD – Wilson Park saw a crowd today as onlookers and excited locals gathered for the Bedford Mayor and Jimmy Jones, the Parks Department Director, to cut the ribbon on the new Pickleball Court.
The Mayor spoke on the impact of the pickleball courts. The Pickleball court project has been talked about for a long time.
Before Jimmy Jones took over the role of Parks Director, Mike Mitchell had the idea to start the project, and Jimmy consulted with him during the process. They visited other pickleball courts to get a good idea of the scope, and put together a court that was “as good or better” than many that they looked at, according to Jimmy.
Jimmy Jones harped on the fact that Mike was integral to the success of the courts, which he had wanted to do for six or seven years ago. “He amazed me with how he could see things coming before anyone else could see them,” Jones said “There’s only two sports a grandfather and son can play together competitively and that’s golf or pickleball.”
Pickleball, according to Jimmy Jones, is “a smaller version of tennis and a larger version of ping-pong.”
You’re on a court like tennis, but the set-up is smaller than it is for tennis, and more like a ground-level ping-pong table with paddles.
The sport has been around since 1965, invented by Congressman Joel Pritchard, but is more recently seeing a surge in interest.
According to USA Pickleball, after playing golf one Saturday during the summer, Joel Pritchard, a congressman from Washington State and Bill Bell, a successful businessman, returned to Pritchard’s home on Bainbridge Island, WA to find their families sitting around with nothing to do. The property had an old badminton court so Pritchard and Bell looked for some badminton equipment and could not find a full set of rackets. They improvised and started playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball.
At first, they placed the net at a badminton height of 60 inches and volleyed the ball over the net. As the weekend progressed, the players found that the ball bounced well on the asphalt surface and soon the net was lowered to 36 inches. The following weekend, Barney McCallum was introduced to the game at Pritchard’s home. Soon, the three men created rules, relying heavily on badminton. They kept in mind the original purpose, which was to provide a game that the whole family could play together.
Today, this mishmash hybrid of a game is a growing sport, and one Bedford now can partake in. Thanks to the Bedford Parks and Recreation Foundation, the Bedford Parks Department, Mike Mitchell, Jimmy Jones, and many others. The Pickleball courts are spacious, providing a space where multiple generations can play a game together effectively.
“What makes Bedford a great place to live is the community involvement,” Mayor Sam Craig said. The whole community pulled together for this project, especially the Bedford Parks Department maintenance team, who were responsible for a lot of the work to keep costs down.
Greg Flynn and Sons gave the department a deal on the asphalt, and the Parks Department did all the paintwork.
“We found ways to save some money without lowering the quality a bit,” said Tom Elliott Bedford Recreation Foundation President.
As the Mayor said, “It’s been a development for the community,” and it should be a good one. With a new Pickleball court and a new base for our law enforcement in the same week, the future looks good for Bedford, Indiana.
