By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Three Bowling Green area residents made a pitch for pickleball courts to City Council Tuesday evening.
Brian and Debra Sell began playing pickleball right before the pandemic hit and facilities were closed to the public. The couple wasn’t willing to quit the new game they were hooked on.
“COVID made us a little more innovative,” Debra Sell said. The couple measured out a court on their driveway, drew in the lines, and got a portable net.
“We are addicted pickleball players,” Brian Sell explained. “I’ll come home a day early to play pickleball from vacation.”
Soon after, their son and his friends in their mid-20s tried out the driveway pickleball court.
“After 15 minutes of instruction, they were hooked,” she said.
“They want to play here at home,” but they have to travel to Whitehouse, Maumee, Oregon, Perrysburg or Findlay to play pickleball.
Debra Sell said a group of 25 or so Bowling Green residents often go to Perrysburg to use the six pickleball courts there. After they play, they stop for lunch, get some ice cream, or do their grocery shopping in Perrysburg – since that’s where they are, she said. The city of Perrysburg has plans to build another six pickleball courts on the other side of the city, she added.
Though often referred to as a sport for seniors, Debra Sell said the sport transcends generations and genders.
“This game isn’t just for seniors. It’s a great sport for males, females, all different ages,” she said.
Sometimes the pickleball group plays on the basketball courts in the Bowling Green Community Center. Inevitably, some people walking on the track upstairs come down to the courts to check out the pickleball.
The Sells asked City Council to consider using some of its American Rescue Plan Act money to build outdoor pickleball courts, either at Carter Park or next to the community center.
“I cannot think of a better investment for this community,” Debra Sell said.
Dave Saneholtz also confessed to being a pickleball addict. He travels to Toledo, Perrysburg and Oregon to get his fix in the winter, and Perrysburg, Findlay, Holland and Rossford to play in the summer.
“It’s an activity the older generations can enjoy,” Saneholtz said, describing the game as like tennis on a smaller court. The courts are 20 feet wide and 44 feet long – split by a net.
But it’s more than just good exercise, he said.
“It’s a great social game,” Saneholtz said.
Saneholtz and the Sells offered to be resources for the city.
“We’re more than willing to show you the tricks – but not all the tricks to the game,” Saneholtz said.
Two other speakers who came before City Council Tuesday evening on different topics also made a pitch for pickleball.
“For what it’s worth, I’ll advocate for pickleball. It’s in Tiffin as well,” said Joe Steinmetz, who was at City Council to answer questions about the party bike business he wants to bring to Bowling Green.
And John Whitson, of Findlay, who is proposing an apartment complex development in Bowling Green, said the pickleball courts are prime real estate in his city.
“In Findlay it’s hard to get on the courts,” he said.
At the same time that City Council was meeting, the city’s Parks and Recreation Board was meeting in the Simpson Park Building Tuesday evening.
The city’s Parks and Recreation master plan includes pickleball courts, according to Kristin Otley, director of the Parks and Recreation Department. The next step is to get architectural plans and a cost analysis, then start looking for funds, possibly grants, she said.
The goal is to build the pickleball courts in 2023, Otley said.
