Ribbon cutting held for new pickleball courts

The sport of pickleball is gaining in popularity and that was never more evident than during the ribbon cutting of the new courts at the Sikeston Recreation Complex Tuesday morning.

Nearly 50 people turned out for the ribbon cutting, many of those pickleball enthusiasts who have been filling the newly open courts nightly.

“I talked about pickleball in 2016 and everybody looked at me like they didn’t know what it was,” said Sikeston Parks and Recreation Director Dustin Care. “Then we tried it out in the Corporate Games in 2018 and then from there as the community got more acclimated to it, it’s just continued to grow.”

In February of 2021, Sikeston Parks and Recreation applied for a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant to add two newly constructed pickleball courts at the Recreation Complex. The cost of the grant-funded project was $150,000 and the city budgeted $30,000 for their part of the match funding.

Sikeston was not awarded the grant, but the need for the pickleball courts was growing.

“We didn’t get that (grant) but through the help of the city and Jay (Lancaster) and (Jonathan Douglass) a lot of you here today, we were able to still push through with the project,” Care said at the ribbon cutting.

One of the tennis courts at the Complex was repainted and converted into a pickleball court. It was a hit so Parks and Recreation did a survey in which 128 of 140 people who responded were in favor of converting the south tennis courts at the Complex into six permanent pickleball courts.

The courts are now finished and have been getting plenty of use.

“We’ve had a lot of support along the way from the community. A lot of you kept me on my toes asking me when they were going to be completed,” Care said. “I made a joke the other day that out of all the projects that we’ve done in the city this one has probably given me the biggest relief.”

Care said the courts have been a long time coming and hope they bring people to Sikeston

“I hope everyone comes out here and has a great time,” Care said. “We’ll look forward to hosting some events and hopefully some tournaments coming to town and make Sikeston a destination for pickleball.”