Fishers Board of Public Works and Safety voted Aug. 9 to install six new pickleball courts at Holland Park. Parks and Recreation Dept. Director Sarah Sandquist said the courts should be open by the end of October.
The project will be completed by the Charles C. Brandt construction company and will cost the city $359,900. The money will come from the Fishers 2022 budget.
The project also will include seating around the courts for players waiting to play or for spectators. The courts will be south of the soccer fields at Holland Park.
Lisa Farley, president of the Indy Pickleball Club, said pickleball is growing and she is excited to see new courts in Fishers.
“My husband teaches beginner pickleball classes and there’s 24 beginners every month (in his class). That means the need for pickleball courts is just going to continue to increase,” Farley said. “So, we’re all excited about having more courts open up over there (at Holland Park).”
Cyntheanne Park also added lights on four of the eight courts to allow for nighttime play. Funds for the lights were raised by local pickleball players in honor of two fellow players who died suddenly last year. The lights cost about $40,000, and the Fishers Parks Dept. contributed about $6,500.
One of the deceased players, Chris de Monclin, died suddenly last year of a heart attack at the age of 46. He and his wife, Carole, could be seen playing well into the evenings during the summer, Farley said.
Last summer, the central Indiana pickleball community also lost Rosie Hall Mitchell, who died of cancer. Farley said Mitchell was popular in the pickleball community.
“Pickleball was her lifeline,” Farley said. “She kind of found her family that she had gone through several different life experiences and people really supported her in pickleball and it was really a saving grace for her.”
The new lights cost $28,000. Most of the money was raised through GoFundMe pages and some was via two $5,000 anonymous grants.
Farley said the new lights have allowed people to play later on the courts, and with a longer allotted amount of time to play.
“Pickleballers are truly a community,” Farley said. “And it showed when these two people passed away, they came together and said, ‘Let’s honor them in such a cool way. I think both people really loved the community and would have wanted to, in their way, support the community.”