New outdoor Pickleball courts at 2 Palatine parks
Palatine Park District offers a variety of Pickleball options for the community.
The newest opportunity to play can be found at Sycamore Park, 901 N. Clark Drive, and at Locust Park, 100 E. Morris Drive, in Palatine. These parks were formerly the home of two tennis courts each. When the courts were recovered this summer, the space was converted to hold one tennis court and two Pickleball courts. There is no fee to play at the outdoor courts.
"Pickleball is a fun game that is played on a badminton court with the net lowered to 34 inches at the center," according to the U.S.A. Pickleball Association. "It is played with a perforated plastic baseball (similar to a whiffle ball) and wood or composite paddles. It is easy for beginners to learn, but can develop into a quick, fast-paced, competitive game for experienced players."
Pickleball can be played as singles or doubles, and offers a fun way to fit a new racket sport into your recreation regimen.
Indoor Pickleball is offered at Falcon Park Recreation Center, 2195 N. Hicks Road, throughout the year. Pickleball for the 50-plus crowd is played on Mondays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon. Participants pay a daily fee of $3 for residents or $4 for nonresidents. A prepay swipe card is also available for purchase. The first visit to this group is free for all players.
Drop-in Pickleball for adults, ages 18 and over, is played on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon. This program is offered on a drop in basis for $2 for residents with a current Palatine Park District ID or $3 for those without an ID.
For information on Pickleball at the Palatine Park District, visit www.palatineparks.org or contact Todd Ranum, athletic coordinator, at (847) 496-6238 or tranum@palatineparks.org.
The following history of Pickleball was found at www.usapa.org, the website of the USA Pickleball Association: "After playing golf one Saturday during the summer of 1965, Joel Pritchard, congressman from Washington State and Bill Bell, a successful businessman, returned to Pritchard's home on Bainbridge Island, Washington, 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, cutting shafts off the damaged rackets, and found a perforated plastic ball. The rackets didn't work very well, so the dads created four wood paddles, similar to today's wood paddles. At first they placed the net at the 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.
"The Pritchards had a cocker spaniel named Pickles, who became interested in this new game. Whenever a ball would come his way, he would take the ball and run off with it, because you see, it was Pickle's ball. And that is how the game got its name."
For information on Pickleball including rules and videos, visit www.usapa.org.
The mission of Palatine Park District is to provide a variety of safe, enjoyable and affordable parks and recreation facilities and activities that will enhance the quality of life by promoting good health and well-being for all residents and visitors of the Palatine Park District.
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