Pickle Ball; a Solution??
We all should realize, and many know, Mira Bay is cash strapped at the moment as we move towards building out the Seawall, adding more financial stress does not seem like a good idea at this time. Most large projects of this magnitude there will be pitfalls and cost over runs which are typically inevitable. We must have what little reserves available for those contingencies.
I am reading the latest on the want for more pickle ball courts, Lets review….
Mira Bay currently does have 2 pickle ball courts; albeit it appears not enough time is available since they are shared with the basketball court, but non-the-lees we do have the 2.
Some time ago I was approached by residents to ask about the Tennis courts supporting another pickle ball court, I took it to a board meeting and “lobbed” it over to Paul since he is more familiar with the tennis courts and IMO he would best know how to handle that.
However, since it was me that was approached, and the conversation on pickle ball has increased, I took another look and come up with a possible solution:
Doing a little research yielded a couple of ideas to utilize one of our tennis courts, depending on the length of our current Tennis courts the following link https://www.usapa.org/temporary-court-setup/ shows how up to 4 courts can be added to a tennis court.
Clay Courts? Yes! There are plenty of you tube videos showing pickle ball played on clay courts, what may be missing, and the key to getting the proper bounce, is the type of ball. Yes…. not all pickle balls are made the same!!!
A quick cursory look we found a few types; Onix Pure 2, Dura 40, Franklin X-40 and the Onix Fuse; they each have their own characteristics. Here is a detailed look at all 4 http://applecountrypickleball.blogspot.com/2018/02/playing-with-four-different-balls.html
Considering we don’t have the funding available and possibly no room to properly build out new courts; My recommendation will be first to utilize a Tennis court (as in the first link above), then find which one of the 4 pickle balls (or others) in the (2nd link) and see which one works.
Problem Solved? Well….. let’s find out!!!