By Scott Sullivan
Editor
Double Threat
Thok-thok-thok. One blow after another is good in pickleball for the players. Less so for editors who assume — i.e. make an ASS of U and ME — Saugatuck City Council March 9 would rubber-stamp its Parks and Public Works committee’s recommendation to replace the Village Square Park combined tennis/pickleball court with two pickleball courts, no tennis.
Guilty. It’s like this, judge: I tried to multi-task that Monday night: shoot the 23-1 Saugatuck girls basketball team’s regional opener at Grandville Calvin Christian tipping off at 5:30, then hustle 30 minutes home at halftime to zoom into the 6:30 council meeting.
So I missed the second half of the game, wherein Kent City came back from a 33-16 deficit to win 72-67, and first part of meeting where council rejected the PPW recommendation 5-2 in favor of keeping the park’s single hybrid court.
So my Page A2 headline “Pickleball in, tennis out at town square park” was wrong. Julie Sowa called me early next day, voicing disappointment in both council’s action and my gaffe.
Seems the city, armed with a $150,000 state grabt and $100,000 private gift earmarked for improving basketball, tennis and pickleball courts in tVillage Square’s two east quadrants, hired Fleis & Vandebrink engineers to present options for how to spend the booty.
All five Fleis brought back showed enlarging and improving the basketball court, adding bleachers and sprucing up park plantings, among others. The pickleball/tennis court was the variable.
The PPW and council exchanged volleys, with the former favoring scrapping the tennis court in favor of two for pickleball. But council, which had final say, opted 5-2 to keep the sports’ single combined court.
Councilman Russ Gardner, who voted with Joe Clark, Scott Dean, Chris Peterson and Gregory Muncey to maintain the dual court, said it better reflects the village square’s nature as a quiet respite — fewer thok-thok-thoks — from downtown traffic.
“There’s no lack of pickleball courts in the greater area,” Gardner said. “We’ll bring back a shuffleboard there too.”
Sow, 65, a longtime tennis teacher here who, like many, had taken up pickleball as less-wearing on an aging body, said nonetheless the vote disappointed her. In her words to city hall Dec. 28:
“I am a lifelong Saugatuck resident and have kept my family cottage since 1927. I grew up taking tennis lessons downtown at age 6 in the 1960s (there were two courts back then). Later, in the 1970s. I taught tennis lessons for the city and facilitated an annual tournament for children and adults for four years. Last summer, I also was an assistant tennis instructor for the city (via the Saugatuck Public Schools’ Community Recreation program).
“Over the years,” she went on, “those courts have provided hours of fun and exercise for many in the community along with creating lifelong friendships when playing tennis.
“I believe that the downtown court that remains should be dedicated to only one sport, specifically pickleball. The suggestion to try to make dual-purpose use is impractical. There are many problems with that plan.
“First,” Sowa said, “the court dimensions and net height of pickleball and tennis are very different. This causes confusion and disruption in timing and stroke strategies. In addition, the idea of taping the courts (for both sports) leaves residue on the surface and can lead to tripping hazards.
“In my view, the solution of a dual purpose represents a cheap fix to a highly-visible recreational site in downtown Saugatuck.
“I feel that new pickleball courts would be a valuable way to showcase recreational opportunities for our community. Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in America and can be played by all ages with very little expense to participate. Meanwhile, the tennis courts at the high school should be properly maintained for the public to safely enjoy. The maintenance of these courts is long due, and I invite you to walk inside them to properly see the problems.
“I have written to (city manager) Ryan Cummins and school superintendent (Mark Neidlinger) suggesting that the downtown court be converted to 1 or 2 dedicated pickleball courts (2 courts can easily fit on the one tennis court) and that the long-neglected high school tennis courts be improved by resurfacing them, replacing the aging nets and providing water access and proper signage for use (i.e. no rollerblading and trash).”
The PPW concurred but council didn’t. My assumptive reportage blew it.
I felt blue too about the girls losing. I’d watched them grow up as players into young women and, having played hoops myself, enjoyed how they’d developed skills and teamwork.
Kudos to Kent City: that night their kids were better. Had I left after one quarter, I might have got back home in time to see council’s vote as well.
So it goes for a double-duty photojournalist. Try to do both at the same time, just like tennis-pickleball, something gives, both suffer.
I’d turned 71 three days earlier, the last 47 of those years as a photojournalist double threat. Thok-thok-thok. As I’d learned playing sports: take your blows, learn from them and move on.
