The Shelbyville Parks and Recreation Department with help from the city’s Street Department is building pickleball courts at Blue River Memorial Park.

Parks department director Trisha Tackett provided an update for the parks department board Wednesday afternoon. The street department has created the area for the courts which will be located south of the softball fields at the city’s largest park.

The bid for asphalt laying was approved at Tuesday morning’s Board of Works meeting at City Hall. Once the asphalt is laid on top of the dirt pad created by the street department, the next step will be laying the pickleball court playing surface, which needs to be completed by Oct. 15, according to Tackett, to keep adverse weather from hampering the project.

The parks department is creating eight dedicated pickleball courts with the intention of hosting tournaments at Blue River Memorial Park.

There are currently two pickleball nets at the Kennedy Park tennis courts (photo) for use. Pickleball also can be played at the parks department’s civic center gymnasium.

Pickleball, a racket or paddle sport played with a hollow plastic ball, is the fastest growing sport in the country, according to usapickleball.org. It can be played indoors or outdoors.

A pickleball court is the same size as a doubles badminton court and measures 20 feet by 44 feet. Both singles and doubles pickleball matches are played on the same court size.

In other board business Wednesday:

• Board was informed that the Meridian Park Family Aquatic Center will be open three more times this season – tonight for a night swim, Saturday for normal daytime hours (noon to 6 p.m.) and Sunday for “Doggie Day” (1 to 3 p.m.) which is a fundraiser event for the Shelbyville/Shelby County Animal Shelter. Admission is $7 per dog Sunday.
• Basketball goals that will be installed in Morrison Park at the site of the former skate park have been delivered. Installation by parks department staff should start soon, according to Tackett, and create two basketball courts in the park.
• Parks department Preschool “Meet the Teacher Night” is Aug. 23. The first day of school is either Aug. 28 or Aug. 29 depending on class registration.

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