Game on! New pickleball courts opens at Beban Park
The new courts are fully fenced and equipped with event power and a water fountain. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm
Rain or shine Nanaimoites came out to celebrate the opening of eight new pickleball courts at Beban Park highlighting the popularity of the sport in the city.
Joining other sports amenities at Beban Park, the Beban Park Pickleball Courts are officially open as of Thursday, October 31. CHLY attended the ribbon cutting where around 50 eager players awaited to get their paddles on the courts. Dressed as pickle, Richard Harding, General Manager of Community Services, opened the ribbon cutting with a land acknowledgement.
Mayor of Nanaimo Leonard Krog spoke at the opening saying it was safe to say this project was a very popular one for the city.
“It has been a wonderful way to encourage good health and build community in this town, and I am grateful for the work of all of you who have helped secure this facility today, the contribution that's been made by the contractors, all of the workers,” Krog said.
He said while he still has yet to try the sport, he is grateful for all the hard work put into the project and can see how the new courts will benefit those in the community.
“I suspect this facility is going to see an incredible amount of use,” Krog said. “The take-off of pickleball as a popular sport is unbelievable, and it must be successful because so many of you are out here standing in the cold listening to me.”
After the ribbon was cut, players did not let the rain stop them and quickly filled up five of the eight courts, starting games with whoever was ready to play.
These new courts come after Nanaimo city council voted in December 2023 to create eight new pickleball courts at Beban Park to replace the six courts at Beaufort Park after hearing concerns from nearby residents about the noise from the courts.
According to the City of Nanaimo, the former Beaufort Park pickleball courts will be turned into youth courts for mixed recreational opportunities including basketball and hockey in the coming months.
The $518,000 project is partially funded by the Province of BC’s Community Works Fund through the Canada Community-Building Fund.
The new courts are fully fenced and equipped with event power and a water fountain.
The courts will also feature a windscreen around the courts but as Pete Entwistle, Parks Project Coordinator for the City, told CHLY, the screens are currently stuck in border customs.
“Then we have some bleachers coming. So we designed this middle area as a 20-foot gap so we could basically host tournaments, that type of thing. So we're about five/six weeks away for those bleachers,” Entwistle said
Werner Mollenhoff and Eva Hamori were two players who braved the weather to come to the opening
Mollenhoff is a long-time pickleball player who has been playing for over seven years and Hamori is a new player who, since September has only played a total of 11 hours of the sport.
While Mollenhoff said he is excited about the new courts, he is going to pass on playing any outdoor games during the rain, but he still wanted to come out and watch a couple of games.
“I play three, four times a week, and right now, actually, I'm playing indoors, because it is cold out here,” Mollenhoff said. That's always two-hour sessions and Saturdays two and a half hour sessions.”
Hamori, who has been playing at Beaufort Park said after recently moving to Nanaimo she is excited to try out these new courts.
“Usually I go to the one down [at Beaufort Park], and we're always fighting over space,” Hamori said. “So when I heard that this was opening, I thought, "What a great way to meet new people in my new city, right?”
As a newer player, Hamori said Pickleball has been an easy sport for her to pick up.
“So generally you can play the first time you learn. That's kind of the cool thing about it is you really progress quite rapidly,” Hamori said. “You can play against intermediate people pretty close to right away.”
She said she got into pickleball after she moved to Nanaimo and wanted a place to meet new people.
“So it's a great way of meeting people. It's very social. But again, it's a really fast game. You meet a lot of people very quickly, and being new to this city, this is a great way of meeting people,” Hamori said. “Even though I'm not a senior, they are full of life, full of energy, they're very open and talkative. It's a great group of people.”
She said it was very easy to find people to play pickleball with and everyone has been supportive of her learning the sport.
“Actually, I just bought the rackets, and I just started asking people if they play, and then we'd meet up,” she said. “I just walked down to the courts, and they just welcomed me in and said, ‘Do you want to play?’ And I'm like, ‘absolutely.’ It's a very inclusive game.”
For those who may now want to start playing pickleball, Hamori advises that people just come down and give it a try.
Mollenhoff said everyone has to start somewhere and the pickleball community is very welcoming to new players.
“You have to come out, but it's a very social sport, and you can learn it fairly fast. Within two months, you [are a] decent player or faster [at it], and it's a lot of fun,” Mollenhoff said “I don't know any other sport where people laugh as much, that they're really happy when coming out here playing and meeting new people.”
Mollenhoff said in the last seven years he has seen the popularity of the sport double with players enjoying the very fast-paced and highly sociable sport.
The pickleball courts are located at Beban Park next to the golf course and driving range.
Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.