Pickleball to gain a new venue in South Frontenac

Jeff Green | Aug 07, 2019

Among its assets, The Point Park in Sydenham has a fenced in court, which has fallen on hard times.

“Right now it is not being used at all,” said recreation Supervisor Tim Laprade this week.

In the 2019 township budget, $8,000 was set aside to paint lines, do some surface work, and install tennis nets to turn it into a functioning tennis court.

All that changed when an anonymous donor offered the township $25,000 on the condition that the scope of work on the court includes a more premium resurfacing process, extra coats of paint on the surface and the lines, and crucially, the creation of two Pickleball courts in addition to a tennis court.

Laprade said that Pickleball has become very popular in South Frontenac, and the courts at Centennial Park in Harrowsmith and Gerald Ball Park in Sunbury are very well used.

It is a case of if you build it they will come, as far Sydenham is concerned, Laprade thinks

“This donation will likely result in a lot more use for the court,” he said, “a lot of Pickleballers from South Frontenac are playing in Kingston and would prefer to play closer to home.”

Although this will give the township three locations in the warm weather seasons, it does not solve the problem of late fall to early spring, when indoor courts are required.

Southern Frontenac Community Services organises Pickleball in the gym at the Harrowsmith Free Methodist Church, but the gym is not available all the time, and there is a demand for an alternative somewhere in the township.

The possibility of putting courts in at the Frontenac Arena has also been discussed, but that would only be in the summer season and there is a heat factor as well since the arena is not air conditioned.

A proposal regarding an expedited process to sole source contracting out the $32,000 project on the Point Court went to Council on Tuesday night.

While Councl rejected that proposal on procedural grounds, it is still the township's hope that the project can be completed this fall.